Hello, New and looking for some insight

Post Reply New Topic

As I picked on my profile I say Aspergers but not diagnosed, I am not wanting to go to my GP first, not because I fear an official diagnosis and label etc, but because the act of making an appointment and generally being in the waiting room is something I would greatly wish to avoid unless I had a sure reason to go other than my own speculation.

My own research into aspergers is relatively basic, what made me come to the possibility I have it is based purely off various internet sources, so if I am very wrong and off track please do not assume me a self educated internet expert who thinks he knows all about it :S It's a reason I have decided to sign up here also.

I am 22 and have 1 person I would call a friend over the last 8 years, I have been a baker for 6 years and the last 4 were in a single bakery following the same routine of production daily, I greatly appriciated this way of things but the job was only part time,
I very recently succeeded in getting a job in a large supermarket bakery for full time hours with better hourly rate and I thought nothing but good things were to happen from this, However the enviroment in much more social, I have more workers around me, many are my age and want to talk plus there are customers who want to speak or request information, This atmosphere never even occured to me as existing for some absent minded reason, but most importantly neither did my own reactions to it

I become extremely anxious when customers question me about a subject I have worked in for years despite having all the information in my mind, I cannot give it to them without breaking down into some form of stutter before eventually referring them to someone else, When the people I work with try to talk to me similar things happen and it is very problematic when they are trying to give me information on tasks and I lose what they are saying after a few seconds.
This was never a problem in my previous 2 jobs because I worked in a non customer bakery out of the way with people in thier 40-50's since I left school, they only ever gave me directions to the point them left me to it.

My parents are unable to grasp what I try and tell them and repeatedly say how its just nervous being in a new job, But I had been to many schools as a child due to moving houses and this would be my 4th job, never have I had problems like this before, So with my traditional points of help unable to do anything I turned to the internet to try and find what was going on.

If this kind of thing sounds familiar to anyone here please get back to me, I will post a reply below this post stating the symptoms often / sometimes related to aspergers and life events that I feel are signature to what I found online, Thanks to anyone who replies to this.

Hi there

I have only just been diagnosed with Aspergers but for me the environment (and the "types" of people around me are part of that) is far more important than the type of job.

I have worked as a:
hospital cook - ok as I worked with one other person who kind of directed me on each shift
cashier in a diy store - only difficulty was with colleagues. I was 19 and not expected to know about paint or wood or ladders, etc.
pensions officer - ok as my workload was independent and it was a quiet office, though I had issues with the phone and socialising with coleagues
university administrator - ok as v quiet and liberal people around me (phone issues remained)
NHS adminstrator - ok especially when going to do the filing on my own. Not so good at the chat with the secretaries
support worker - fine until a new member of staff started who tried to control everything and was touchy feely
employment support worker - ok until I had to network

So you see there is a pattern for me in employment. I know you probably don't need my cv so I'm sorry about that. I have trouble writing only what is needed while still getting my message across.

I also had the same issue with the gp - how would I say that I needed a referral? I chickened out and went private. This may or may not be realistic for you. Some sort of legislation has recently gone through which supposedly ensures adults can get a diagnosis though. I haven't got all the info. The NAS will be able to help.

If you envisage needing changes at work then you will need a diagnosis of some sort (even if it's stress, social anxiety etc.).

Good luck.

"People with Asperger syndrome often display behavior, interests, and activities that are restricted and repetitive and are sometimes abnormally intense or focused."
I have always liked the "grinding" in games I play, My main game is called Wurm online and most of it is clicking
thousands of times to make bricks / planks / mortar and such to build structures, I never really thought of this at
all until I saw this listed as symptoms, Also when I was in school my "doodles" when bored were drawing lines or
circles in repeating patterns as similarly as possible simply because it pleased me.

"individuals with Asperger syndrome acquire language skills without significant general delay and their speech typically lacks significant abnormalities, language acquisition and use is often atypical."
I have never been considered to have any learning or speech abnormalities, however over the years many people
have questioned me on words I use saying that certain ones don't need to be there or go too far into detail much
beyond what they needed to hear, I usually just put this down to the fact I am from Wales and the majority of people
I talk to are not, and I found they have much different sentence patterns all over the rest of the UK.

"Children with Asperger syndrome may have an unusually sophisticated vocabulary at a young age and have been colloquially called "little professors", but have difficulty understanding figurative language and tend to use language literally."
This one I feel is very significant, When I was 3 years old I wanted a nursery teacher to put me down and I said
"Don't you think I am getting a little too heavy for your lap now?"
I mainly remember this because my mother made a significantly pride filled fuss about it at the time
The same school then had some people come in and examine me for any signs of child genius and
at the time I had no idea they were doing it and was told in later life (They found nothing by the way
I have never taken any tests and by all accounts am of average intelligence)

On the same note, The most significant use of literal language I can recall was when I was around 5-6 and
The class and teacher were telling eachother "why did /animal/ cross the road" And I came out with some
factual plan on how to use a crane to get an elephant across a busy street, I found it amusing but I got
little more than a polite smile and odd look from the teacher and vacant expressions from other children
later in life I had a better understanding of what people found funny and realised why I got the reactions
I did, I can often make jokes about an event to amuse people now, But I hardly ever find it as amusing to
myself and mainly use it to disengage a conversation,


There are many others I have feel match up also, but at the same time I could be going down a path I am completely wrong on, If possible I would like somebody who has alot more knowledge, personal or otherwise, on the subject before I list more stuff if neccecary

I never thought to mention it until you brought it up, I abhor needing to answer phones, I have never had a job where It was specifically my duty to do so however, but when they have rang in work places in the past I would tell someone, and if they said to pick it up I would bring it to them.

You don't need to list any stuff here if you don't want to.

What I would advise (though getting the childhood stuff sorted is good for any assessments) is reading about how adults with ASD are affected. I guess that is why you are here, but I found different blogs gave me a better perspective on the day to day issues of others on the spectrum, and the sheer range of positives and negatives that come with it. The criteria has been focused on (male) children for a long time. If you have Aspergers you will have developed countless coping mechanisms which can mask the condition so the criteria may not seem such a good fit in some cases.

You will need information from your parents or someone who knew you as a child for an assessment I would guess. I had to ask my mum but she was getting suspicious so I was limited.

There are a selection of online tests as well that you can take which may also point you in the right direction or give you an idea of where you stand. Of course the usual disclaimer of them not being diagnostic tools stands. There are links on this forum somewhere for those.