Older Aspies and Younger Aspies

[Crossbreed]

The big one is that non-ASD gifted have a natural instinct for NT protocols that I absolutely do not have. It is like they are neurologically bilingual, but their hyper-focus strongly resembles ours.

 

[StephF]

I was diagnosed at 54. I had many problems at school although I wasn't in any way educationally retarded. Far from it, my teacher and my classmates just did not understand.

 

[DogwoodTree]

The big one is that non-ASD gifted have a natural instinct for NT protocols that I absolutely do not have. It is like they are neurologically bilingual

That makes sense, thanks. I've studied people so intensely that sometimes I can pull off the performance too well for people to believe that it's not natural. If only they knew how much mental work goes into that performance...

For me, I think sensory sensitivities are another huge difference between AS and non-AS gifted. It comes and goes, but there are times when I'm absolutely overwhelmed with certain streams of sensory data, and no amount of "relaxation techniques" can tone it down.

 

[Crossbreed]

For me, I think sensory sensitivities are another huge difference between AS and non-AS gifted. It comes and goes, but there are times when I'm absolutely overwhelmed with certain streams of sensory data, and no amount of "relaxation techniques" can tone it down.

On a related note, both Aspergers and non-ASD gifted tend to have more allergies and more inclination to myopia.

This tendency for allergies is considered a possible factor in the recent increase in LFAs; that they are possibly the allergy-injured children of these two camps.

 

[DogwoodTree]

On a related note, both Aspergers and non-ASD gifted tend to have more allergies and more inclination to myopia.

Interesting. I have Asperger's, and I was always classified as gifted, but I don't have allergies or myopia.

I think they will eventually find that there are a huge range of factors that contribute to an autistic presentation, which is why there is such a wide diversity of autistic trait constellations in people. Will they later group AS people by cause (e.g., "this gene" or "that gene", or "this environmental trigger" or "that environmental trigger"), or by characteristics (e.g., "this set of deficits/strengths" or "that set of deficits/strengths")?

 

[Crossbreed]

...but I don't have allergies or myopia.

I have seasonal allergies and a mild[?] allergy to bumblebee stings, but no myopia. (I have presbyopia, now, though.)

 

[Crossbreed]

Will they later group AS people by cause (e.g., "this gene" or "that gene", or "this environmental trigger" or "that environmental trigger"), or by characteristics (e.g., "this set of deficits/strengths" or "that set of deficits/strengths")?

Right now, the dividing line seems to be cognitive function or dysfunction.

 

[HappyHermit]

Interesting thread!

I'm 37, knew since childhood due to an unusually early diagnosis that was described to me as 'mild autism' then.

No accommodations, though. Parents panicked and weren't nice people in general, so, although they should have known better, tried to force me to be normal by making my life circumstances more like those of an NT social butterfly. No downtime, little quiet, out of the house and around others as much as humanly possible.

Learned that I had to pretend to be normal at all costs.

Fairly intelligent, but gave up on school somewhere around 7th grade and just went through the motions.

Crashed after school, worked and travelled for a couple of years on my own, interacted as little as possible or only one-on-one. Recovered enough for uni, which was bad enough for other reasons, but that's a different story.

Did better at uni than at school. Did a lot of self-directed learning on the way.

Crashed again after the first round of uni.

Always supported myself out of necessity, but paid the price for an essentially NT life.

Work part-time these days, no career. Europe is one of the few places where I suspect I can just about function, because of workers' rights and affordable health care.

Started acknowledging AS in my early 30s because powering through and crashing was becoming a theme, despite a lack of obvious reasons for it.

Got a second diagnosis, just to be sure and for validation, because the old one was so dated and had actually only been told to me by my parents, not the doctors and therapists who had seen me back then.

Can't say that it has changed much. I'm a bit less hard on myself because I know I couldn't brush off the sensory assault of even an average day with nearly the same ease as an NT person. But other than that...

There is no help, no accommodations. For children, yes. Adults have to sink or swim.

 

[cherryq]

I was diagnosed ten months ago at 22. Now I'm 23. I always thought I was different, but I didn't know why. Other kids certainly thought I was different and made sure I knew it. I was often made fun of for being quiet, awkward, and "too smart." I never really understood how someone could be too smart. Anyway, my teachers didn't think anything was wrong because I made good grades, and my parents just thought I was shy and was mature because I insisted on following the rules. I went to a small school through 8th grade, and a relatively small high school, so I had a very limited view of what Autism/Aspergers was because I had very limited exposure to it.

It wasn't until I started doing some pretty intense research in high school about different mental and cognitive impairments (during a time when I was in therapy for severe social anxiety) that I actually learned that there were different functioning levels on the Autism Spectrum and what Aspergers was. I suspected that I probably had it and that's why I had such a hard time around other people, but I never said anything to anyone, including my therapist. It wasn't until I realized how quickly I was losing general skills when I moved out on my own that I sought out a diagnosis and started looking for help.

I can see where knowing about it from the time I was a kid would have been helpful, but not having a diagnosis meant that no one was telling me I was limited by anything but my imagination. My parents and teachers pushed me to pursue a college education after high school, and I succeeded. I was then prompted to go to grad school, and I'll be graduating this May. Knowing the way I respond to others' opinions of me and what I'm capable of, I would have placed limitations on myself for the rest of my life if I had been told as a kid that I was on the Autism Spectrum. Being treated differently because of a label would have made me feel less than as a child. I would have decided that I wasn't good enough, and I would have never imagined the possibility of a Master's degree. I'm thankful to finally have a diagnosis now though, and while it may make starting a career more difficult, I know that if I need help, I can turn to others for support.

 

[cherryq]

On a related note, both Aspergers and non-ASD gifted tend to have more allergies and more inclination to myopia.

This is interesting to me as I have very bad seasonal allergies, along with allergies to many skin products and some foods. I don't have myopia, but I do have other vision issues.

 

[Phlogiston101]

I enjoyed your response Mike, thank you.

Agreed, knowing earlier would not have significantly changed anything, for me the concept of knowing is deep within me rather than externally.

For example.

I am not prone to loneliness because I understand it is my nature to be alone, I do not seek its opposite. That doesn't mean I am never lonely, as I can be when I put my mind to it.

When I used to be asked; 'why do you keep shaking your leg?', 'why do you sit staring?', 'why does everything in this part of the room have to stay the same?', all I could say was 'I don't know'. That is a small selection of so many 'I don't knows'.

In understanding my true nature I also remove the 'I don't knows' because now I know why.

When we know why we are empowered. Nothing is greener, nothing has probably changed, except our viewpoint of self.

I am indeed glad that I have gotten this far in one piece. I have had adventures enough to write a book or two, yet along the way I have lost loved ones because all I could say was 'I don't know'.

I like what you said about removing the "Idon't knows". I'm 52 and diagnosed just a couple years ago after my divorce. For me getting rid of "I don't knows" led to self understanding and not feeling like such a weird person now that I know why I behave/feel the way I do. So for that reason alone it would have been good to have a diagnosis at a younger age.

 

[dragonfire42]

I don’t really fit into either group (as usual, I have to be different). I was diagnosed at probably somewhere in the 8-10 age range (so 17-19 years ago), but I had not the slightest idea what it was until at age ~16 that I remembered hey, don’t I have something called Asperger’s syndrome? And then I looked it up and it explained a whole heck of a lot. My parents also didn’t really understand for most of my pre-college years. So I wasn’t recently diagnosed, but I also didn’t have much in the way of assistance/accommodations/understanding/etc. during childhood and into my teens.