What is the final fate of people with Asperger syndrome

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Hi Pengu1n, you and I are in the same boat. I'm 25 and I was just diagnosed a few weeks ago. I think it will end well for people like us. When I was diagnosed, it explained so much. Why I was the way I was. I wasn't bored of reading books, when I started reading adult books, my brain couldn't process the relationships between sentence fragments. I wasn't not a people person, I just had poor social skills. I wasn't weird for only having a few interests, few friends, and the inability to focus. It was just how my brain developed.

Now that I'm diagnosed, I can get help and learn the things I need to. I also refuse to use asperger's as an excuse because then I won't get better. I've heard a term for people like us on this forum. They refer to our generation as the "lost generation" because we went through our entire childhood not knowing what was wrong with us, but now that we do, we can work to turn things around.

I will swell and glow bright red, eventually consuming the planets that revolve about me as I begin burning helium and heavy metals for fuel. Finally I will cast off shells of hot gas and stellar dust, revealing an intensely glowing nuclear core, incredibly dense and on the verge of winking out of this universe entirely.

It's too early for me to think about that. I'm sure that I will go to Heaven when I die.

I was diagnosed at age 24, and if anyone is truly one of the "lost generation" of in-betweeners, it is I. I think I've had the opportunity to see the best and worst of it.

I had a terrible adolescence and early adulthood, growing up undiagnosed...... however, I think those experiences toughened me up physically and mentally in a way I would not have been had I been yanked out of the herd when I was young and quarantined as a "special" child.

I think perhaps I would have had more opportunities and more early support, but I don't think I would have been the same person, and I would have lost alot of the "edge" I feel I have today. In my school district, kids with AS are now almost totally isolated and grow up in kind of a cocoon associating mainly with other kids who have "problems." I see them where they are sequestered off in the room with some other kids with "behavioral problems"....... there's no real academic challenge, and it sets up the perfect situation of bully and patsy with a naive AS kid interacting with a street-thug NT goon. I'm thankful I did not have to go through that as I would have exploded having to associate with such a crowd....... no offense to the "special" type of child, but I would have gone crazy with that low level of mental stimulation and those low expectations.

I was expected to completely function as an NT growing up....... not only that, my situation in my hyper-overacheiver family had them expect me to dramatically excel over my peers. I tested as gifted when I was very young, so incredibly high expectations were thrust on me.

I think on the whole I came out better being hammered and ground down as a boy. I think I would have been a much weaker person as I had been diagnosed as a boy...... coddled, isolated, with no expectations. Now, things are different.

Sorry I did not read this thread. But I was diagnosed when I was 18, my parents decided not to accept the diagnosis until I ended up in the hospital a year later. To answer your question: basically feeling inadequate, having expectations put on you that are too much for you, seeing your peers in some sorta social jungle and feeling very lost. With all of that, having no(or a false) answer to why things are like this. Feeling like a loser, freak, weirdo, and eventually going down the path of becoming suicidal.

In my school district, kids with AS get completely quarantined in the exact same way with other "special education" children. They get treated and "educated" all in the exact same classroom. (I know this because my mother is staff at my district high-school and she gives me the complete report.)

Its a terrible road anyway for kids DXed now (and I was only 7 or 8 years behind them) They have the exact same "life skills" curriculum as the other "problem children" have in the "resource" wing. There lessons are things like "functional math," "consumer math," "life development," etc. Its a hard way and a terrible road. There's nothing mentally stimulating, and I would have gone ape-shit in there if I was so isolated.

They are also thrown in with the worst of the young juvie thugs and criminals who no doubt overlord over them, and they are in there with most of the "slow" children or dropout-potentials who are all chucked in that pot. In my district, the kids with Aspergers rarely get the opportunity to take advanced lessons in their areas of skill, since most are now DXed and pulled out at age 6 or 7 or so, and have basically no chance to even grow or find out what they are good at. (they wouldn't get a chance anyway since their "wing" is totally isolated from the rest of the student body)

Its a crap situation......... I suggested to my mom that she raise hell and ask about improving the lot of these kids....... my idea is mabye hopefully they would be allowed to make exceptions for AS kids and let them in AP classes in their subjects of skill. She doesn't really understand it though and thinks its all "severe autism."

In my daughter's school the kids with ASD and a variety of kids with learning difficulties are all in the same class as the NT kids, they just get extra help. Depending on the severity of their condition they either have a full time assistant who is with them during the entire school day or they will be in a group with a full time assistant in class (but not at lunch/playtime) usually 4/5 kids per assistant. Her school is really good at helping all kids out though, each child has a fortnightly 'family counsel' session in which they go into a side room with a dozen other kids and discuss issues in their lives. It helps the teachers to keep track of anyone who may be struggling in some way whether it's problems with school work, classmates or something at home.

As for myself I'm 28 and I've just been referred for assessment, discussing it with my mother a diagnosis back when I was a child probably would have helped me a great deal. For example I would not speak in school only whisper very very quietly and as such was often told off for it and at one point the teacher told my mother to take me to a psychiatrist as I clearly had problems. Perhaps if she had and I'd have been diagnosed then the teachers would maybe have been more understanding of my 'quirks' and tried to help me more.

Saying that though I didn't do too badly at secondary school (high school) still sucked socially but I managed to get a number of qualifications. Again with jobs when I was younger I didn't really have trouble I'm guessing they put my awkwardness down to being nervous / so young during interviews. I always knew what to say to get the job but I was always an outcast at work and sometimes became overwhelmed and would do strange things like hide in the bathroom for an hour or something.

I'm very very lucky that I managed to find someone who is perfect for me, we have alot in common and I think the fact he isn't NT himself (and has alot of AS traits too) has made us an ideal match. So relationship wise I've managed well, friendships are still non existant, I haven't had a job for years. I've tried uni courses (online of course) and initially I was fine but then things happened I fell behind and that was the end of that chapter in my life.

I don't know what my future holds, whether I'll be able to get a job or finish a uni degree or even manage to find a friend. I feel very much like my life is the film groundhog day, the same thing over and over, nothing changes, I'm not saying it's entirely bad because I love the routine and I love the things I do with my free time but it's like groundhog day in the sense of it never changing I don't see how it can either, so I guess this is me until I die

I think the best thing about a late diagnosis is no one cared 'why' I was this way and it forced me to find my own way. By all outward definitions my life is a tragedy, today and all the days I've been alive. But I observe the world and regardless of the outward 'picture' I have found that very few people have peace, inner peace. Because it was so painful and no one cared why I was this way, they just wished I wasn't, I accepted it. I got quiet and sat with myself and listened to my inner self. I discoved what I found fun, what I found upsetting. I found my definitions and then lived those definitions. Life finally became good. I stopped running with scissors. I'm not upset it looks like a tragedy. I found my path and 70% of the time I feel wonderful. I feel grateful I don't have health issues that would make finding the 70% EXTRA EXTRA difficult. When I stop, look and listen to the world, 70% is awesome.