How old were u when u knew?

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I was about 32, a friend of mine who taught life skill to autistic adults told me that he had a degree of autism. I didn't realize it was possible to appear normal and be autistic, then I looked on the internet, read a few books, and realized that was my problem all along. This self diagnosis was very liberating. I'm 38 now.

I've know it my whole life. Though 13 years isn't really that long to have known something

I can't remember when I first knew that it was because of I something I was born with though. Probably around 6 or 7.

Last edited by FieryGatoh on 11 Jan 2009, 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well, I was officially diagnosed with AS at the end of January of '07 when I was 21 years old. However, I think I always kind of thought and knew that there was something different about me. Like when I was a teenager, I always thought that I had more problems and issues than just the normal teenage angst and stuff like that.

since I was like 4, even though my speech was delayed at that point, I still was able to walk around announcing that "I am different". But it wasn't until this past summer it was finally confirmed.

35 years, 1 month and 14 days when I was able to put a name (Aspergers) to it. very enlightening.

you honestly i look back on my life and didnt really think i was different very much, i just sorta lived in the moment and notice everybody wasnt getting or understandin me, but didnt really fully notice i was different until i was prob a teen, i didnt really care much or even notice there was a difference i think i was too in my own world...

I found out on my own, at age 30, but didn't receive an actual diagnosis until I was 32. Life could have been much different, had I knew earlier. I try not to let it bother me though, it's just not worth it.

Well, I think I've since childhood had the idea than high intelligence is in part an inborn neurological difference. But as for the other traits that make me different, I don't think I had any notion at all till sometime in my 30s, not sure exactly when. And it's not till within this past year (I'm 39) that I've really truly come to understand it.

Always.

But I got diagnosed when I was 7.

I've always known I was different. Whenever anyone asked me to describe myself, I used the words "weird" "odd" and "out of place." I went through years of people telling me it was psychological and then watched them muddle through their confusion when their medication did nothing to change me.

I was 30 when I was diagnosed with Asperger's.

Up until I was 20 I thought I was just odd. At 20 I began to suspect there was something up with me that went beyond that, something inbuilt. At age 25 I discovered AS by researching on the internet.

Let me do the math...9!

I was first tested (WAIS) when I was 6 years old. I wasn't given a disability label then, because even though there was a huge discrepancy between my verbal and performance IQ, my verbal IQ was extremely high and my performance was below average but not enough to warrant intervention. In fact, I was labelled as 'gifted', which was nonsense. My scores were too drastically different to even average out a global IQ.

I finally got my AS 'label' after dropping out of school at 14 (surely not something a 'gifted' child would be expected to do?), which was reinforced at 21 with an addition of 'dyspraxic tendencies'.

But in brief, dx'd with AS at 14. Knew I was 'different' since school began.

It looks like many people here are answering the question in the subject heading, with an assumption about knew what, rather than answering the question in the first post. Too many "always knew" type answers. Which doesn't fit with the question in the first post.

Understood that I was "odd" - 15 or 16, learned how it is called - 25. Not diagnosed.

I wanted to see how many people on WP reached an advanced age without knowing there was an inborn reason and that the capacity for voluntary change was limited.