Hey everyone,
I am Jay Bowers, I am an 18 year old Aspergian ( I view the word "aspie" as a patronizning pet name which makes it seem like Asperger's isn't that bad, so I never refer to myself is such) from Columbia, South Carolina. I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist at age 9, after being diganosed with ADHD at age 6. I can honestly say that Aspeger's has ruined my life. If what I'm about to say depresses you, go ahead and stop reading. I'm not going to sugarcoat any of this. Growing up i was called a "genius" by some, and a "ret*d" by others. The latter, or "some" were mostly adults and more mature, compassionate kids who were impressed with my immaculate memory and storage capacity for trivial facts. My advanced vocabulary also won me fans among the aforementioned types of people.. The "others" were more mean spirited kids who placed no value on any other type of intelligence but social skills, and would often exclude me from activities due to their belief that I would just screw everything up. One time at church, when I was about 9, a kid had a Razr scooter, (this was 2000, the peak of it's popularity) there were about four other kids, all of which were allowed to ride except me. The kid noticed my odd mannerisms, which, to him, demonstrated incoordination, he thought that I would break his scooter because I wasn't capeable of balancing on it. Expirences like these were common throughout my childhood, as for some reason people took one look at me and decided I was a screw up, who couldn't do anything right and was incapeable of changing. I didn't realize why, even after I was diagnosed with the disorder. That changed after I left private school for public school at the end of 10th grade. The private school I had gone to was mainly populated by children with ADD and ADHD who "got" me and accepted me as one of their own. However, when I got to public school, I realized how judgemental people, especially immature high schoolers, can be. I tried to talk to this kid at a local church youth group, and he seemed receptive and willing to be my friend. However I heard that he was telling people I was ret*d, just because of my awkward behavior. Most people don't recognize my intelligence, because as I said before, the only kind they value is social intelligence, and if you don't have it your stupid in their book, nothing else matters to them. I always was defending myself agaisnt people who asked me if I was ret*d. I would rather be a less intelligent meathead, who may not have the few, and ultimately irelevant skills I do have, just so i could relate to people and have friends and stuff to do, than be intelligent and have noone recoginize it or be able to relate to you. but thats just me.
09 Jan 2010, 3:19 pm
To WrongPlanet! !!
