I see my AS as a white elephant gift. It has its merits, but for the most part, it's more trouble than it's worth. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant.) Having AS and its comorbid symptoms caused me countless problems throughout my lifetime so far, and it wasn't until recently that I learned to either handle them or work around them. I got mistreated by family members, had no friends from age 10 to age 16, didn't go on my first date until age 18, didn't kiss a girl until age 20, and didn't lose my virginity until age 22, and that was to an escort. I had all those problems because of AS. What were the benefits? Intelligence, observation skills, being good with computers, being able to impress adults with my intellectual talk when I was little (that is, until I learned that they were actually laughing at me), and learning the thrills of paid sex. Other than that, not much else. And I could learn these things just as easily if I were NT. I see threads about being proud one's AS, but I see no reason for it. AS is a birthright, not a matter of pride.
For a physical analogy, imagine getting a huge record collection (those black vinyl discs) from your grandparents, which they wanted to pass along to you. You don't own a record player, have no interest in records, no extra space in your apartment, and no storage area in your building. And it's just wrong to sell, regift, or give back the records, because your grandparents had them for most of their adult lives. So what's the right thing to do? Probably find a closet to keep them in, clean them once in a while to keep them in good condition, and look at them out of curiosity. But still, it would be somewhat of a burden, because they'd be taking up space, you have to worry about their safety if anything happens to the apartment. You ponder the possibility of donating them to a museum, but it'll be years before that's possible. Now, are those records a bad gift? Not at all! Are they giving you more things to worry about than things to enjoy? Yes, unfortunately. Same with AS.
