When did you learn what Autism and Asperger's really were?

[DHS]

Personally, I have spent the majority of my life being oblivious as to what Autism and Asperger's syndrome were. For much of my life I had a single mental image for each, for Autism it was Rain Man and for Asperger's it was Jerry "Hands" Espenson from Boston Legal, making me at least 20 before I had even a misinformed view of Asperger's.
Skip forward from the mid 2000's to around 2010, with The Big Bang Theory becoming something that everybody watched and I started getting likened to Sheldon, something I'm sure many others on the spectrum have encountered. While I don't imagine many people are quite like Sheldon in real life, when people suggest that he has Asperger's / Autism, those of us who are compared to him are also brought into consideration.
As for things that aren't from TV and what lead me down the path of researching and eventually an official diagnosis, was first of all a friend who was concerned about some traits in her first born son, as she read up on the traits she managed to rule out her son as being on the spectrum, but everything she read made her think of me. Shortly after that was just a passing comment from another friend, although I would say the second one was more of a "Big Bang Diagnosis" (Is that a term, because it probably should be).
So when I found myself unemployed I pursued an official diagnosis, as job hunting and anxiety issues were become a genuine concern at that stage in my life. So I would at the age of 28 that I had an accurate idea of what the whole spectrum really was, considering I am now 31 with an official diagnosis, I find it remarkable that I spent so long with no idea at all.

 

[Bolletje]

I was vaguely aware of it ever since high school, but learned more about ASD in med school.
It wasn't until I got diagnosed myself that I really delved into it though.

 

[Suzanne]

I first came across the word: Aspegers, in a magazine called: The Awake, in 2008. About a young girl who has aspergers and as I read through, I had a sense of: my goodness this is could be me! But, on first reading her traits, I thought: mmm, perhaps not ie montoned voice and emotionless, both of which I am not.

I also read it is a form of autism and so, decided that I can't have this, since I am not autistic.

But it wouldn't leave me and I became obsessed with finding out more information, especially as it seemed to open of a flood gate of questions and I did not even know I got into obsessions or that I take things literally, until my husband pointed them out to me! I was even more intriqued that rarely are females diagnosed with aspergers and discovered that is because we are good at mimicing. I would consider, however, that I am not good at socialising; I cannot put on that mask and pretend.

I have, since learned so much about aspergers and decided to see if there was a forum and that may help me to realise that yes I do have aspergers or I don't and one thing that really shouted out to me, as I read though, was that no one writes in text form and lol my vocabulary has widened out even more!

I realised that I have learned, subconsciously, to read facial expressions, but still am at a loss on how to form friendships. I find that I cannot offer a friendship. So, like I went out for the day with this female, but for the life of me, could not say that I really enjoyed it to her, despite having enjoyed the time. I was waiting from a cue from her and it came and it made me feel good.

She and her husband only live 2 minute walk from us and yet, I honestly am in the dark on how muc is too much and so, refrain from going over there, desite having the invitation.

Where I live, I cannot get a formal diagnosis.

 

[xudo]

I knew they existed and some of the basic issues that people on the spectrum encounter. I've never seen Rain Man, and I can't stand Big Bang Theory (although I've seen the odd snippet on Sheldon and assumed he had ASD).

It wasn't until I got diagnosed myself that I really delved into it though.

I started to learn some more when my best friend was diagnosed HFA, and then really started to look into things when my husband was going through the process of diagnosis, and then even more so again when I was going through it too.

 

[toothless]

i had no understanding of autism till i was 18, i had no self awareness nor awareness of other people so i didnt know i was any different but i had been diagnosed around 2 and a half.
at 18,when i was moved into the intellectual disability institution,i was told there were lots of other autistic people but they all had very bad learning [intellectual] disability, all of us were non verbal apart from one lad who was verbal;he also had anorexia and only ate corn beef hash every day-that had been put through the blender.

my multi year long stay at the institution triggered my interest in finding out more about my condition,the social services learning disability team told me what i had been diagnosed with as i had very little contact with my parents at that point [i had been quickly moved out as my mother was attacking me with knives during her alcoholism fueled drinking and also long term using all of my benefits money on drink as she was in charge and because of this i was hated by my dad and my sister like it was my fault].

in the internet cafe i would read about autism alongside my usual interests-cats,rats and thomas the tank,and i didnt relate to a lot of it,but i did when it came to severe classic autism.
people dont understand that you can be 'quite there' in the mind and still be severely autistic,so i didnt get good support online and i was even taken advantage of and bullied by a mentally ill individual who also copied my experiences word for word to gain pity when i posted them to show you can be like me and feel free.

ASD and intellectual disability are now my specialist subjects,i love reading about them.

 

[Jimbo]

I had never even heard the word Aspergers until age 44. A friend of mine who is a veterinarian posted a Temple Grandin video and when she started describing her childhood and Aspergers I knew right away I was one too.

 

[WereBear]

I knew a lot of theory from reading about psychology, a passion of mine. I also have a degree in it.

So I had a better than average academic knowledge, but didn't know what it was really like until I read Journal of Best Practices. Even then I was, "Oh, I have sensory issues like someone with Asperger's."

But it planted a seed, because I started reading more accounts of what people with Asperger's thought and felt like, and wound up taking an online test.

Yes. This is me.

 

[Adder1234]

Honestly I still don't exactly know what it is, all I know is that I have it and that it means that I think in a different way to everyone else.

 

[WereBear]

Honestly I still don't exactly know what it is, all I know is that I have it and that it means that I think in a different way to everyone else.

From Neurotypicals. Maybe not from fellow Aspies

 

[clg114]

I did not know anything about Asperger's Syndrome until I was 60 years old. My understanding of what Autism is, was about the same as the average NT, very limited. I have always known that I was different from everyone else, I just did not know how or why. I guess I was just to busy living my life to figure it out.

When I was 60, I saw a documentary about John Elder Robertson and while I watched, it felt like it was about me! After that, I researched AS to find out all I could about it. By the time I was 62, was convinced that I had AS. But I wanted to know for sure, so I got my GP to refer me to a doctor with a lot of experience with AS. After three visits, I got a diagnosis. My diagnosis was done with the criteria in the DSM-IV and the diagnosis was Asperger's Syndrome (DSM IV 299.80).

I felt a lot of relief after that. This explained a lot about me and why I am the way that I am. I was also relieved to know that there are others like me. Finding this forum was a huge help. Research told me about the facts of AS. Aspies Central told me about the personalities of AS.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I knew my second cousin had it since I was about 13-14. But I didn't know what autism was until I was 24, I had heard it a lot - in the recent years it's said so much now. My mum said she thought I might have had it when I went to see my cousins that time but we had forgotten about it until I had a breakdown at 24. My mum read about it at the time and my care co-ordinator suggested I might have had it when we first met each other. For about a year from then my psychiatrist was gathering information to make a informed diagnosis. I don't know if he ever did exactly; it was disclosed on almost every letter about each appointment to me and my GP. He got me to do the AQ and the EQ and then he left. My one since then has been utter crap in terms of talking about these things, he's much too much of a psychologist to be a psychiatrist. I have a new one now, so I wonder where things will go now.

 

[EstimatedProphet]

I never heard of Asperger's until I read Michael Lewis's book "The Big Short." One of the analysts who figured out the real estate collapse and financial crisis of 2008 years in advance, Michael Burry, has Asperger's. It'd be 5 long years before I put together the rest of my puzzle.

 

[Pondering]

At first, I only knew autism as coming in extremes and even then, I didn't know the details for a long time. I hadn't even heard the word "Asperger's" until I was 16 or so when someone mentioned it. I didn't begin to research it until someone said they thought I had it. I never knew that Asperger's could be so varied or different from person to person. I read the same things on the internet: 'inexpressive', 'average to high intelligence', and 'tend to focus on one subject/hobby'. I found it hard to understand at first, strangely enough. Which is why I found it so helpful to come across this website and find so much clarity from first-hand perspectives.