Explaining Asperger's To People

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I usually don't tell anybody about having Asperger's. At first, I only told the people that I really trusted. Then, my LD teacher was informing all of my high school teachers about Aspergers.

Then college comes along. My first year started and I had my first roommate. I kind of started out getting to know her and for her to get to know me before I told her about AS. I then told her about AS and it seemed as if she didn't really care about it. She didn't really give me any feedback as to whether or not she was okay about it or not. Anyways, I moved out and went to another residence hall. Half of the year went by and I got a room with another roommate. I was kind of debating whether or not I should tell her or not because I didn't think that I could handle knowing that she didn't care. Besides I didn't want to try and find another roommate if this one went bad so I just didn't tell her. Anyways for those who are going to college and staying in the dorms, my advice to you is to tell your RAs or CAs, etc. (people that are in charge on each floor) because if there's a problem they are already aware of AS and they can kind of help out with the situation if needed. You can tell your hall director about your disability, but they most likely already know because they know everything about everybody (that's their job).

Anyways, I'm getting a new roommate this year and we've been e-mailing each other back and forth all summer long. Question: do you think I should e-mail her before school starts and tell her about having AS or should I just wait until we meet each other at school?

If I usually tell somebody I usually like for the other person to get to know me better before I tell him/her about having AS. That way, they see some other side of who I really am and not just the AS side of me.

I have one week, one day before I get to meet my roommate, and I'm going to have to tell him that I have AS right off the bat because my verbal stimming and echolalia are going to drive him nuts after one night. Either that, or find a way to shut my self up, which I've never been able to do.

I just don't know how I'm going to go about doing it as of yet.

Things like this make me wish I'd heard of AS back in April when I filled out the housing information sheet.

I think it depends on how bad your stimming/sensory issues are. If you have really strong stims then its probably best to just mention that you have 'something called aspergers syndrome' if not just take your time and wait until, if ever, you are comfortable enough.
a few of my friends knew i had problems before the diagnosis- that i went to counselling because of self-harm. i told them and some other friends that im close too about my asperger's over the week or so that followed. one of them took me a few months to tell because she hadnt exactly responded in a nice way when i originally told her about my counselling (she laughed- something she now denies).
'pick and choose' basically. if you want or need to tell someone tell them. i sent my friends a link when i told them (i think it was to the oasis site) so that they could read about it. some chose to look up more, some didnt but most of the time they forget about it because they are used to me and my eccentricities.

Here's a few links (within links) which may interest anyone seeking positive views of AS:

http://www.aspergia.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?t=1051

which has an extract I've been unable to find on the web (but I'm hoping to have some contact with Professor Baron-Cohen on related issues soon...)

I tell people that I'm very eccentric and I don't have a problem with it.

I realize this topic/posting is half a decade old-- Just might help posting that the link is broken. Going to aspergia(dot)com brings you to a dead-end page with symbols resembling ancient columns. Rather grainy images too.

When I ended up telling one friend who didn't know what AS was, I told her it was kinda of like a "social dyslexia that makes it hard to read body language and know what to talk about" and then sent her the wikipedia link.