Aspies For Freedom

For all you nuerotypical people out there.....what do you think of Asperger's syndrome? Do you think people like that are weird?
Perhaps, insane? I need to know the answer from a person who KNOWS what Aspies are and that we can do things. Please post. Even if you aren't a NT.

all people are weird.

I'm afraid a lot pf people don't notice us nearly as much as we think they do. The whole world is busy with itself. Sorry! Don't want to be a downer, but that's how I see it. Sure, we get noticed, for the brief moment that we do something noticable, but then its gone and they (whoever they are) are back in their own moment with their own demons to wrestle with.

There is some strong points and weak points to everyone, even if they have a weird status or not.

I think living with someone who has Aspergers is challenging.  I'd like to think that at my age a lot of behaviors can be accepted, but that's only true if I'm on my medication.  The most aggravating behavior is repetition of a statement to make sure the the listener heard it.  Life with Nellie isn't typical, normal or even purely Aspergian, just frustrating.  I NEED TO FIND MY MEDS, NOW!!!!!  Good night.

I agree with you there.  Most people are oblivious to AS period, and even if they know about it they don't really care.  I think it's because, just like us, they are wrapped up in their own reality.  In my reality AS/NT interaction is sort of important just as the social sciences are.  Actually, I think I really got wrapped up in AS/NT relations through the social science fascination which in turn spawned from my inability to naturally understand most things social.

Anyway, back on track.  It has been my expirience that the NTs who have heard of AS or autism period have no clue what it is and assume that were either mentally handicapped or complete outcasts as a whole.  So here's the deal...

I think they that think us to be very eccentric and intelligent but don't realize it because they don't recognize those eccentric and intelligent persons as being Aspie.

NTs know very little about AS in general. I used to think that autistic people all sat in a corner without speaking and that I'd never met one, until I found out that I had actually married an undiagnosed Aspie and given birth to one (now diagnosed). Then I started to read about it.

Now I chafe at people's lack of knowledge, but I keep reminding myself that I used to be the same and must be patient. There is a lot of work to do here, folks. The psychiatrists are useless at it, with very few exceptions, so it'll have to come from you (and the likes of me). I'm just so happy I found this site!

Ditto!

Thank you all for posting. I guess I let some random kid/or adult bash my thought process on NTs and Aspies. Not that big of a deal. I'm sorry for all my past posts that seemed bad to AFF. I hope you all understand....but you don't have to because I'm stopping. Thank you.

the Somethingwful forums talks about Aspergers a lot, but that's mostly due to self-diagnosed people who use AS as an excuse for being offensive without any repercussions.

the most recent topic about it is this:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthr...genumber=1

please note that they are not hating on real Aspies, but as mentioned, people who claim to be aspies without a professional diagnosis

Thanks for the link. Interesting, to me, because I am forty years old and while the idea of Autism has been around in the general public for a long time, the label "Aspergers" has not. There really, truly can be a lot of people my age with AS undiagnosed by a professional because there was no one talking about this when we were kids. No one knew what it was to even consider a diagnosis. We fumbled our way through and most of us survived and a lot of us became productive in the eyes of the world without any excuses because there weren't any being offered.

I think they find it difficult to live with us because we seem insensitive to their emotional needs far too often.  Otherwise most people I know superficially seem to think I'm smart and unusually reserved/laid back.  I think there's definitely a sense of weirdness, but I don't think they would classify me as abnormal or insane.  People respect me for what I can do.  It's hard to genuinely make friends with anyone.

How true raew. I'm 60.  When Mom first read about ADHD she said "That's Leslie Exactly."  I was so hyperactive and disregarded safety so much that the neighborhood "bad" boys moms wouldn't let me play with them in the 1950's when I was in my single digits and they were 5 or 6 years older.

Everything I brushed off about Nell saying, "She's just like me.  It's nothing."  turned out to be the PDD/NOS or HFA or Aspergers.

I remember recognizing early that my son was a lot like me, and I worried about him a lot. I didn't realize of course, then, that being like me meant AS. I'm glad I can help him, though, because I understand what he goes through. Just today I was explaining  to him that sounds are so much more annoying and painful to him than they are to others, just like light is to me and I think he got it, finally. He really thought people made noises on purpose to annoy him.

No, not weird. Not insane. I know plenty of people who ARE insane and AS people are not like that.

There are a lot of things about people with AS that I like, for example, they don't talk meaningless crap, so you can have good, in-depth conversations on topics (if they are interested in the same things you are). You don't have to put up with meaningless, shallow smalltalk. Also, they are a lot more honest than most people and a lot less manipulative.

Then there are things that I find a challenge, but which don't so much upset me as just make me think I have to work very hard on behalf of my friend to make the situation succeed. I mean things like my friend's difficulty getting anywhere on time, organising things, remembering to contact me, etc. I also get frustrated sometimes that  feel like he never really understands what I am trying to tell him. I feel I often don't really get through to him at all. But like I say, these things don't upset me, they just make life more of a challenge.

The aspects of AS that actually upset me are the feelings of walking on eggshells, never knowing how he is going to react to something. This is only since he has had a meltdown on me for the first time. I feel constantly on red alert, hypervigilant, in case I accidentally trigger another full-blown rage that is directed at me. I realise that part of this is because I was an abused child and my friend's furious meltdown on me triggered the reactivation of all the long-buried self-protective defense mechanisms I had as a child when trying to defend myself against the attack of an abusive parent. I don't want to have to tell my friend this, because I think if he knew I felt like that he would be very upset.

So in answer to your question, regarding my friend with AS, there are many positive points to his personality and on the negative side, I don't regard him as a weirdo, or insane, just as very unpredictable and someone who has to be treated with caution in order to avoid getting hurt.

Capricorn