[OctobersBlackRose]

Hi, so I have posted here on the autism thread a few times, some of you may know me but for the ones that don't here is a little bit about me.

Iam a 20yr old female in college full time, I was born with a visual impairment but wasn't dx'd until a year old but my whole life I felt different. I have been involved in marching band but not this year due to classes and know how to play trombone and baritone.

And I just found out after 8hrs of neuropsych testing that I have mild aspergers and some level of bipolar disorder, which I find quite unusual.

So if anyone has any advice or something of that nature on how to better explain this to other especially family members, I would appreciate it.

I was wondering about you. Thank you for sharing your results.

Are you in a hurry to share your diagnosis? If not, perhaps you can explore what it means with your therapist first. If you are in a rush, I suggest you do some reading, since most people have no idea what Asperger’s really is. If you mention ‘autism’ it almost always conjures up images of Rainman. It is also possible that some people may not believe you. So, it is a good idea to be able to respond to such reactions, especially with family.

Are you more effective at conveying news and feelings through written word? If so, write a letter. If you are a good verbal communicator, you should choose a time when you have the other person's full attention.

I can relate to the confusion the diagnosis can bring. Overtime, you will discover a lot about yourself and understand the difference you have always felt. It is different for everybody. For me it is about healing and living.

[OctobersBlackRose]

Originally Posted by Didgee Eeyou

I was wondering about you. Thank you for sharing your results.

Are you in a hurry to share your diagnosis? If not, perhaps you can explore what it means with your therapist first. If you are in a rush, I suggest you do some reading, since most people have no idea what Asperger’s really is. If you mention ‘autism’ it almost always conjures up images of Rainman. It is also possible that some people may not believe you. So, it is a good idea to be able to respond to such reactions, especially with family.

Are you more effective at conveying news and feelings through written word? If so, write a letter. If you are a good verbal communicator, you should choose a time when you have the other person's full attention.

Sharing my diagnosis was easy, since my parents knew about the Asperger’s before I was diagnosed. Prior to my diagnosis, I wrote a letter to my mother explaining why I thought I had it. Her response shocked me, since she never told me about her suspicions. After, I was diagnosed she asked if she could tell my siblings. I gave her permission.

I can relate to the confusion the diagnosis can bring. Overtime, you will discover a lot about yourself and understand the difference you have always felt. It is different for everybody. For me it is about healing and living.

Thank you for yor reply. Im not s omuch in a hurry to tell anyone that I do not see or talk to on a daily basis so it may have been the wrong wording, but I do agree that I have to find a right time to tell others. It is confusing because I am still trying to explain it to my mom and my grandparents as my mom has short term memory issues and well my grandparents are set in their ways.

But since I have both aspergers and bipolar it is even more confusing for everyone involved, as both need equal attention when I work on my goals, but the psychologist recommended that I put the bipolar ahead of everything else.

But thank you for your advice, I have in the past years researched aspergers and autism for a school research paper so I know a little about it. It will just take a lot to convince my mom that none of this was her fault and how she and i can better figure out how not to get into fights when I don't understand something or can't express myself with the right words and phrases verbally.

Sorry, I did not understand what you were asking.

Originally Posted by OctobersBlackRose

It is confusing because I am still trying to explain it to my mom and my grandparents as my mom has short term memory issues and well my grandparents are set in their ways.

It will just take a lot to convince my mom that none of this was her fault and how she and i can better figure out how not to get into fights when I don't understand something or can't express myself with the right words and phrases verbally.

Have you tried posting this issue in another forum? ie. Other Mental Health Discussion. You will probably get a lot more responses there. You can also discuss this with your psychologist.

Did your research paper discuss issues with pragmatics, semantics and prosody? How it impacts communication?

[OctobersBlackRose]

Originally Posted by Didgee Eeyou

Sorry, I did not understand what you were asking.


Have you tried posting this issue in another forum? ie. Other Mental Health Discussion. You will probably get a lot more responses there. You can also discuss this with your psychologist.

Did your research paper discuss issues with pragmatics, semantics and prosody? How it impacts communication?

Thanks, you're okay for not understanding what I asked, reading back on what I wrote, I have a hard time also understanding it and it was my own question

But thank you for your advice and reccomendations, even if it may seem like not much advice it actually is helping me figure this all out. Especially since I have issues with re-acting too fast in any situation.

As for my research paper it was more about how to write a proper college level paper, more than how content based it had to be. So to answer your question no; but I did take a communcation disorders course during spring semester of my freshmen year and we did dicuss those issues, not too indept but enought to know where and how to look up information on that subject.

Thank you again your feedback actually is helping more than words can express, because you have the first person point of view and that helps.