Are you "okay" with having Asperger's?

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I never got the high-IQ bonus, which is one reason I'm bitter. I feel like things such as school could've come much more easily to me, and I would be good at a wider variety of things. As it is, I'm just good at editing stuff.

Yes, I finally found out what the 'problem' was all my life, after years and years of searching for answers. And yes, there are other people like me, some even very successful and accomplished, and no, I don't need to do everything I can to look and behave 'normally'.

I might not be the genius kind but I still enjoy little sensory things I loved as a kid, things that many people don't care about at all. I'm never ever bored, there's always something to look at, something to touch with an interesting texture, something to taste. I can watch sun rays moving underwater, on the sea floor, for hours while just walking and walking... there's always a stained glass window that will catch my eye, a crystal reflecting light in a beautiful way. Interesting topic to explore, knowledge to be discovered, books to read. I don't need to travel far to find that, I don't need much money to be content.

I don't get clingy, I don't need to drag people into my life to feel good, I'm not bothered about social hierarchy, property ladders, whatnot. I will always be a wide eyed child absorbing the world with my eyes and feeling wonderfully connected. Maybe not to people, but hey... I do embrace my weirdness, I work on my weaknesses, I do belong here, not on another planet

Amen, said the atheist. Inspirational stuff. Thank you very much RandomFox.

Randomfox stated my thoughts perfectly.

For me, I made it through a Masters Degree and 5 years on a job before I was diagnosed. Yes it explains my quriks, and yes I'm still trying to navigate this new world, but I would not change it for a bit!

I have only been recently diagnosed although, obviously, I've had to deal with the symptoms all my life. I think, on the whole, I'm at peace with who I am but I consider myself one of the lucky ones; I have a wife and children who understand me and my quirks and a job that is ideal for someone with my restrictions. I guess I could do without the meltdowns but I've learned to anticipate them and minimise their frequency and magnitude.

However, my aphantasia is not so nice!

Warning: use of metaphor; may not make any sense.

I have come to realize that the wall that I am banging my head against, trying to get around it, is actually my own limitations. As much as I would love to be content just living on this side of the wall, there are people who I am dependent on who will not let me. They show me "inspirational" images of military guys in training climbing over walls and tell me to do the same. I want to tell them that those guys are healthy, that after getting into peak condition they are capable of climbing that wall, but that I am in poor health and will never be capable of climbing my own wall. But I am afraid that if I stopped trying then they would abandon me on this side of the wall with no food and I would slowly starve to death.

I really want to work. As much as I struggled at my first job after finishing college, I miss it. I have come to realize that I could not do the job without any accommodations. I have come to realize that it would not even be reasonable for a company to hire me given that the accommodations that I need would cost more than I would be able to earn. So, practically, I cannot work.

I could be happy never making any money or prestige, though I would miss the act of working and the feeling of being self-sufficient. But I am dependent on other people who have made no acknowledgment of my problems or diagnosis, not to mention any acceptance of the accuracy of my diagnosis or prognosis. So I have no hope for the acceptance of my needs, limitations, or value as an autistic person. Until I do, I can not let myself embrace it. If I did, they might stop helping me.

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31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

Sometimes I just feel inadequate and sad.
Sometimes I can say "it´s part of the package, mate".

My parents think I’m denying it or if I’m embarrassed by it. I don't have a problem with having Aspergers; I just don't want people to look at me like I’m different. I want to be treated like I don’t have it. I don’t want people to look down at me because of it.

I spent years in self-help groups for dysfunctional family members before I realized that my mother and I had/have AS. One thing I learned is that it is almost impossible to move on in life without accepting where you are so you can deal with it realistically. You can't fix a car or a house without knowing what causes the problem. You can't plan a detour without a map. You can't take a step without knowing that lifting one foot won't break the surface your other foot stands on.

I honestly would love to see what it would be like to NT, maybe just for a day. I don't even remember what my life was like before having Asperger's (for the first 10 years of my life), and now I really understand the saying "Ignorance is bliss" because I think ever since that day, I have constantly been bombarded with Asperger's this and Asperger's that and it's a whole vicious cycle in my mind that makes me feel uneasy everyday.