Aspies who don't know?

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I visit a forum called social anxiety support quite regularly because I like the website and have used it for years, and one thing I have noticed is that a lot of the people on it seem like they might have Asperger's and it kinda makes sense. Personally, I was on the website for years before I found out I have Asperger's. My doctors only told me that I have social anxiety all my life, and it wasn't until I made the connection by myself that I am on the spectrum that I started to truly understand myself. Also, it seems that when you search online about being a social outcast you are forwarded more towards social anxiety than autism related links. I'm going to take a big bite out of the cookie based off my own experience, but I believe that SA is most likely a symptom of being on the spectrum, and the fact that this isn't more well known (if it is it wasn't for me) pisses me off. If I had known I was on the spectrum earlier I believe it would have been much easier for me to cope because I would have known WHY I am the way I am and I would have learned to cut myself some slack earlier in life and work with what I had instead of building bad thinking cycles for so many years. Sure this is all possible without being diagnosed, but it would be nice to not have to figure everything out alone.

In my experience the SA is a result of my Aspergers, or made worse by it, or I am prone due it for that reason. I know what you're saying about being mad that it wasn't identified, but I personally am not mad, but grateful, for the following reasons.

Historically speaking I feel like I am tremendously fortunate to have access to the support & resources that I do. Without the internet, I likely never would have found the information that led me to my current state. My therapist said that AS wasn't diagnosed until the 80s. That's when I grew up, but I had never heard about it until well after 2000. How many aspies throughout history have there been that lived and died without ever having the answers that we have? I have heard absolutely tragic stories from others on this site about the ways in which society has harmed people with autism in the past, particularly those who can't "pass", as many aspies mostly can. And sadly this continues in many places even today. I feel an obligation to educate NTs and to help, if I can, further improve our situation and connect aspies to resources that can benefit them.

Another angle on aspies who don't know... I see them sometimes at work and I wonder if they realize it. But I don't want to out them or make them uncomfortable so I don't normally say anything