Were you always 'different' ?

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Yes, I've always been different, but it didn't really start becoming a problem until I entered kindergarten when I was 5. That's when hell began, and kept going thru and up to the present. The intensity of hell gradually went down starting in my twenties, but I still have a problem dealing with others, mostly family, now that I am in my late 50s. I am a hermit type person, and now live alone, so things are somewhat better now, except when I have to spend time with family. It's always very stressful being with them. Because of health issues I don't get out much anymore, but do encounter people when running errands. I am usually able to manage these short interactions okay. It's mostly with family that I have problems.

I knew I was different in High school.
I was honest and not affraid to give opinions.
Others are fickle, I was not.
Just never realised how different I was.
My mother probably knew - but she is affraid to talk about anything - so never got any feedback from her.

I knew I was different for as long as I remember. But Mom always tried to persuade me that I'm average, not at all different and should just stop being hysterical.
LOL. Now that I see it I want to laugh but it costed me long-lasting mismatched self-identity and reocurring depression.

Sometimes my dad could talk for a long time about how I rarely responded normally to any thing/situation when I was a small child.

I felt different from a young age because adults pointed out my differences and told me to improve.

Long time sensation that I am 'different' is what brings me here. My memories of being young are mostly of not being understood by my sisters and parents. And being sort of treated like I was delicate or something. That feeling stuck with me through my life.

Very early. My mom wondered about me from my baby-stage. An alien?
I reached my milestones in due time, but I was different - not easy to access - not wanting hugs - having my own mind - always systemizing things.
Kindergarten teacher said: "There is something wrong!"

I went on being different through school and I never found out how to blend in.
Even in adult years, I´ve been listening to people wondering about me - holding me in an arms length with tweezers while discussing what I was.
More than once have I heard the exclamation: "Ah! Now, I´now found you out!".

Actually - getting a dx was a relief!

Was I always 'different'? Easily, since age 4 (when I was forced to interact socially with others).

Everyone thinks they are different to the crowd.

i knew that i was different in high school, before that i just though i was a quite and shy girl and that is just normal, i am also half german and when i did something not that normal my class mate would say "that is because she is german", and i just thought they were right, however in my second year in primary school i felt that i was inferior to my classmates and coward because i didn't talk or socialize like them, but then i started drawing and they liked my drawing so i had a skill they didn't have and was satisfied with that, in high school i decided to start socializing and talking to my classmates, that is when i began to hear that i am weird a lot, i wan't shy anymore and realized that it wasn't me being shy that made my not to talk to other people i wasn't really interested in talking to them and stopped trying to socialize because it was boring and exhausting when i don't really want to, and since i had other half german friends i knew it wasn't because i was half german, my mother is social and very kind anyway unlike me

I knew I was different from the age of 4 or 5. I was very bothered by it and even asked adults about it, but no one could explain to me why or even understand what I meant (this was in the '60s). In elementary school I was just considered weird, but that wasn't so bad. In junior high, when social relationships become intensely important, things really went downhill.

I never considered myself to be different until I turned 16. All of my peers were interested in relationships, sex and their education, whereas I was still preoccupied with my obsessions - football and cricket at the time. I am still playing catch up now....and that was eleven years ago.

I've enjoyed reading some of the posts... I went through life with an attitude of, "it's them, not me", meaning that I thought there was something wrong with my family, my teachers, my peers, my GP, etc... I couldn't understand how so many people could be dis-connected from my way of thinking...then I met the National Autistic Society staff and everything made sense
I am oblivious to what others think about me, unless they're REALLY blunt

People often called me a psychopath or a weirdo, so it was hard to not think I was different. It was very frustrating because I tried to be nice and friendly but people kept being as*holes. After years of being called like that, I really started acting like one. But I blame it on the people I was forced to go to school with, because they were the ones truly stupid and rude.

I was always normal...until I wasn't. In my mid-20's I just got burned out pretending and pretty much overnight just said f**k it to 'masking' my symptoms. I lost all my social contacts, moved, and have been a semi-hermit ever since and don't regret a minute of it. Life is too short to be wasting time with people who have absolutely nothing in common with you, and if you're autistic that's probably about 95% of the people you'll meet.