Hi! I'm Kelly, from Calgary and sometimes Victoria, Canada.
I'm never sure what I'm expected to write as an introduction. Is there a standard rule for this somewhere? I'm 21, a University student majoring in anthropology, which subject I severely dislike, and am trying to get out of if I can figure out what I actually want to do with my life. So far, this hasn't gone well. I've felt really 'weird' all my life, but until two days ago, I didn't know AS existed. I just thought I was kind of a geek, and I'd grow out of it. I've been reading through everything I can get my hands on for the past couple of days, and wow. I miss some of the sterotypes; I'm not particularly clumsy, I'm utter crap at math, and I don't have major problems with sounds, lights, or touching (if anything, I'm too touchy), but everything else is pretty much correct. Including the little professor tendencies, the obsessive tendencies (it's been bothering my mother for YEARS that I kind of bounce between topics, obsessing over them and then losing interest), and all of the social awkwardness. Also the copying. I saw it mentioned that one of the stereotypes is that people with AS tend to copy other people; I do this really badly. To the extent that after spending a day or two with someone, I'll start using their exact speech patterns, in an effort to fit in with them socially. Do other people do this to that extent? I've tried to stop, because I know it doesn't work, but so far not much luck. Also the scheduling; I've always had huge problems with time, and with remembering mundane things like eating; now I know there are solutions to this. And that's a huge relief. And it's good to know that I'm not the only person who freaks out to an unreasonable extent when things don't go as planned; I was at the airport last week, and the ticket agent said something different about my luggage than the airline website had claimed, and I freaked out and almost couldn't function to deal with it. I'm lucky a friend was there; usually I travel alone.
Anyway, that was quite long enough, I think, and more information than anyone required. But it's such a relief to find other people who (judging from the posts on the forums here) think like I do and have the same problems. Thank god (or the supernatural and/or natural phenomenon of your choice) for finding this place.