Autism

[Sharop]

Since there are quite a lot of people around with a form of autism I thought it might be interesting for people to post their experience or knowledge of it - either knowing someone who is autistic or being autistic yourself. Talk about your struggles with it and the problems having it can cause, or even talk about the good side of it.

I'm supposed to have Asperger's Syndrome which is quite a mild form of autism although I think that even AS can come in different stages, some more mild than the other. (I say "supposed" because I've never been diagnosed and have never even seen a professional about it, but I do fit a lo of the main criteria and my mother has strongly believed for several years that I have AS.)

I like to have a comfortable routine and can become uncomfotable, and, at times, distressed, over sudden changes, even quite minor ones. I do also tend to have an obsessive nature (not in a dangerous way, mind! :) ) but I tend to obssess over things, again, even small things, and when I worry about something, that's it, it's in my head all day and I can't get away from it until the situation is resolved.

Social problems...I've always been shy around people and didn't have many close friends in secondary school (high school.) Also, making friends wasn't very important to me back then. However, since about the age of about 17, I have finally realised how nice having actual friends is, having friends offline that you can hang out with, go and have a drink with, have coffee with, etc. Going to university has improved me socially. I'm still shy and it's not always easy for me to talk to people but I'm a lot better than I was when I was 12/13. I was even worse when I was REALLY young, 8/9. I hardly spoke at all in school then and always used to stand by myself instead of playing with anyone. I do regret now that I didn't make more of an effort to form stronger friendships when I was in my early teens.

I've also known several people who ae autistic and my friend Kris has ADHD.

[Hollow]

i have aspergers as well. i don't really know much about it or how it affects me. i only utilize my diagnosis when people attempt to lecture me about the horrors using the term "retarded" as an insult.

[howierules86]

Count me in as one of those who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, but even though I'm trying not to let it get to me too much right now, it was part of the reason why I had so many bad school years growing up.

[Lee]

I have a mild form of autism

[PZelda]

I do not have AS or autism, but I do know of one other poster here who has autism - Brian. That's his username... Brian. He doesn't post here on CC much anymore, altho I see his name pop up on the CC subforums often. He's talked about his autism before - he's very high-functioning and actually wrote something about autism that got published. I need to go find the thread, it was just VERY recently (earlier this year).

Okay, here it is.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=227139

I have to say, I'm mighty proud of him, because he's accomplished so much. :)

[Jo_Luvs_Ketchup]

As most people know here, my brother has Aspergers Syndrome. I think his must be a more severe case though. He's not like others with AS I have seen. It's a constant struggle. He's good when he takes his pills but he refuses to take his pills:lol: He hates doing anything hygenic so when we have to force him...oy not good.

[MrCleveland]

I have a mild form of autism

I do too, and being the only one in my family having a disability is real difficult.

I am the oldest child in my family, but I still live at home, I still can't drive, and I still don't have a girlfriend.

It takes me longer to get these things and I feel like a boy rather than a man.

[sunshinefizzy]

My brother has autism. He is definatley not high functioning but he's not really severe either. He has tantrums, he has really strong food preferences, and he flaps his hands. He also has seizures, loves to be naked because he doesn't like being hot, and doesn't like to be touched. All connected to sensory of course because it si a neurogical disorder.

I might have asperger's. I was never formally diagnosed but I have read books describing symptoms and it sounds alot like me. I'd rather be home watching tv or reading a book than go to party most days. I also have attention problems that go hand and hand with a.s.

Well, now that I told my whole life story....:lol:

[Chocoholic]

I have worked with several students who have milder forms of Aspergers. I think one of my cousins has it. He has never been diagnosed, but he meets some of the criteria.

I can't believe how much autism and similar disorders have increased these past few years. Are we just getting better at diagnosing the problem (Even back when I was a kid, they were just the "weird kids" or "mentally ill".) or is there truly something in the environment causing it?

[Furienna]

I think autism has always existed, but people just weren't diagnosed. The severely autistic people were just considered as "retarded", and the mildly autistic people were just considered as "weird".

And yeah, I'm an aspie too.

[dawsongirl]

I can't believe how much autism and similar disorders have increased these past few years. Are we just getting better at diagnosing the problem (Even back when I was a kid, they were just the "weird kids" or "mentally ill".) or is there truly something in the environment causing it?

I have to wonder if some people are being labeled with something they don't have as well. Some doctors or parents might read into social quirks too much and say a child has AS or whatever. Which is irresponsible. Just like the huge increase in kids on ADD pills when they don't even have ADD. Kids have energy and bore easily....it's not necessarily a problem severe enough to drug. ohno:

Anyhow, I work with kids with these abnormalities. We had one kid who was just hard to deal with. He'd get very angry at not getting his way and throw the loudest tantrums imaginable. He's in a special school now and I hear he's made a very big turn around. Our school is so pathetically ill-equipped to handle autistic kids. Makes me sad for them. They are forced to sit through gen ed classes when to be honest, they have no place there. The autistic kids who don't speak and are so far locked in their own world need 1-1 instruction specifically adapted for them and sorry, but gen ed classes and public schools can't do it. I understand integration, but I think that only works for higher functioning children. We have a child who I heard may be mildly autistic (he certainly seems to have DPD), but he can talk normally, understand to a degree what you are teaching him, and he plays well with peers. Public school is fine for him. Kids whose only method of communication is the occasional wail need a better suited school. If I were the parent of an autistic child, I would look into a special school before I ever considered public school.

[Furienna]

I think most of us really have problems, when the doctors give us a diagnosis. I sure know I have problems.

[sunshinefizzy]

^ Thank you for saying that!!! They say intergration is good so that both genre of children can get something out of seeing one another. Frankly, I think it just opens up a new can of worms of ignorance on the functioning child's part and more frustration on the autistic child's part.

[dawsongirl]

I think most of us really have problems, when the doctors give us a diagnosis. I sure know I have problems.

I have to wonder if some people are being labeled with something they don't have as well. Some doctors or parents might read into social quirks too much and say a child has AS or whatever.

[MusicJunkie]

I have Aspergers, wasn't diagnosed until I was 28 (the age I am now).

I think that autism was a four letter word up until a few years ago and people always associated the disorder with being like Rain Man, and more and more people are getting diagnosed with it and are high functioning. It's good that more and more people are starting to get the right diagnosis instead of the old days where you were "weird" or "retarded" or "quirky" or whatever label people like to throw around. I was always a little bit on the outside at school or wherever... I used to think it was because I was gay (even tho I wasn't out until 17 and even then I wasn't out to anyone at school, just family and out of school friends) but even when I'd go to gay bars and the sort, I still didn't fit in. I just have a hard time striking up conversations with people I don't know and I also am a passionately private person. I admit that I love to drift off into my own world and hate getting distracted when I'm in deep thought.

[Furienna]

Why weren't you diagnosed until so recently? Didn't the school start to notice these things in the 90s? I was diagnosed when I was fourteen, and some people thought that was late.

[MusicJunkie]

Why weren't you diagnosed until so recently? Didn't the school start to notice these things in the 90s? I was diagnosed when I was fourteen, and some people thought that was late.
I think I slipped through the cracks because I functioned well enough that people just mistook me as "quirky". I'm not sure how it is in Sweden, but in the US, up until the past four or five years, people heard the word "autistic" and associated it with mental retardation and the movie Rain Man (which is a great movie, but I see very little of myself in the Dustin Hoffman character, which pretty much became the posterchild for what people thought of when they heard the word autistic). It's just in recent years that people are beginning to realize just how many high-functioning people are around who have a form of autism or another. People are beginning to get serious about autism and realize that it reaches a far bigger number of people. I think nobody knew enough about it in the 90's to pay attention and wonder if I had it. I am sure that my mother would've had me tested had she known more about autism back then, but back then, autism and especially Aspergers was very much in the dark.

[Furienna]

Well, I guess the awareness of Asperger's grew during the 90s, and I think that goes for all occidental countries, like the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zeeland. People didn't know much about autism before the 90s, but when more and more people, especially children, got a diagnosis, the awareness grew. I still think it's weird, that you didn't get a diagnosis at least in High School, but yeah, you must have "slipped through the cracks". Maybe people didn't know enough about it at your school to notice that you had it? Because the reason why I got my diagnosis is because the right people noticed it.