I first got some when I was 10, and didn't wear them due to bullies etc. Eventually - 7 years later I got contacts as I needed to learn to drive. I wish I had been forced more, or at least my mum had made more of a fuss as I really appreciate them now.
Upon wearing contacts for 4 years now, if I take them out I have to wear my glasses - otherwise the world is somewhat screwed up and bleary (short sighted roughly -2 diopter)
I know what you mean about the window affect, but in reality - you see stuff in that window with greater clarity. As long as you keep the lenses clean, its actually really easy to kind of end up seeing past them and back into the world.
I highly recommend wearing them, as I firmly believe I would have performed alot better at school had I done so - on that though, presuming I have AS, thats 2 things the school didn't pick up about me, both I must have been squinting alot to see the board, and that I thought differently to the majority.
Interestling, it has kind of become an obsession, in that I remember anyone who has worn glasses for the first time in my company (so going from none to having them) and am fascinated by the affect different lense materials have on the bending of light around the face (with short sighted making it narrower and smaller eyes, long sighted enlarging eyes)