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Originally Posted by Rapunzel
I always felt like I did, but I was discouraged from "looking for more things wrong with myself." Finally I have a therapist who says I probably have asperger's. He said he's going to start asking everyone if they cut the tags out of their clothes (I don't because the stub that is left is worse than the tag. I love the tissue weight tee shirts that don't have any tag, and wear them almost all the time, under anything). I can't remember all the questions on his list - maybe I should ask him for a written checklist.
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Hey, dear, welcome to the Spectrum! Don't worry too hard about being an Aspie; like you say, you're still the same person you always were. Autism's part of your norm, and being different is something you've been dealing with your whole life. This can only bring good things for you--better self-knowledge, access to useful services, more opportunities to meet people who are different in the same ways you are.
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Does this change anything? I'm still the same person. It helps to validate and make sense of things that I always had trouble with. A past therapist said that I couldn't possibly have asperger's and be a therapist or be married or have children.
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Ha! Your therapist had no clue, did s/he? After all, autism is highly heritable; where does s/he think autistic kids come from, if not autistic genes in their parents? My mom's an Aspie and I'm autistic--she married and had kids (two of us also on the spectrum), and she's an occupational therapist working with the elderly and disabled.
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There are certainly challenges, but I'm sure that I'm not the first to have done those things anyway. I have had difficulties. I was rejected from a master's program in speech pathology because the faculty thought I was too weird and didn't have good enough social skills, and they told me to go back and get a second bachelor's degree in engineering. I never fit in or belong, and I can't seem to hang on to a job more than a year or two - people get tired of me.
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Heh, well, at least you can hang onto a job for a year; my record's three months and I ended up so burned out near the end that I practically stopped eating! Not that engineering is a bad idea; I love it, personally, and I'm studying psychology/engineering for a human factors degree. But if it's not your thing, then it's not your thing. And, let me tell you something: As a mental patient, I have often wished for a therapist more like myself: Nerdy, blunt, honest, willing to express his own opinions and focus on solving problems instead of discussing feelings. Plus, I know some people who are autistic and working as therapists teaching younger autistics, and they seem to be pretty successful, because they know better than to make assumptions about the students. Usually, their biggest problems are with their co-workers.
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Anyway, now I guess I can say that I have asperger's. That feels weird. As therapists, we are so cautious about diagnosing anything on the autistic spectrum. Over-cautious, I think.
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Meh. Autism's common. You're one of many. Anytime somebody tries to patronize you or pat you on the head and say you're "inspirational", feel free to smack 'em.