does anyone feel the same way I do?

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I finally understand, why I never had any friends in school, was always picked on, etc. 1 girl in my school, was making fun of me because I made a F on the periodic table of the elements test. I did not understand it, and I still don't, LOL! I always thought I never had any friends because I was shy, but it is really because I have AS. I have 1 friend, that is also my sisters friend too, she is younger than me, she is 13. Does anyone else feel the same way as I do? Do you feel more comfortable with people older than you or younger than you? Thanks, Parrotnut.

It is a tremendous relief, isn't it. Now I struggle with the trap of trying NOT to use AS as any kind of crutch. I try to advocate the idea that it is a difference rather than a disability (although severity and co-morbids can certainly make it so for some).

I feel more comfortable with younger people, but this may be entirely due to my Special Interests (Dungeons & Dragons and video games). I've had the same interests since the days of Atari and blue-book Basic D&D

Also, and this is semi-related, it took me some time to start dating older women. When I was 17, for example, I was still dating 15 year olds. I think this is because I had "snapshotted" that particular age as the age to "date". It wasn't a matter of being a perv so much as that I had to remind myself to update my schema.

For me it's older the older people are wiser to the world etc. and my age are College bound which is great but that typical behavior is partying etc. which is NOT ME! So people who are older. I had a friend who is 4 years younger than me and we'd play with action figures together LOL! That was when she was younger she's now starting College DAMN I WISH I WAS BACK IN COLLEGE!

There's nothing pervy about a 17-year old dating a 15-year old. My second GF was two years younger than I was. Granted a 2-year spread at that age is about the limit of normal.

I was in Boy Scouts for many years, and everyone except me was 3-4 years younger. I was the only person my age who stayed in until I graduated. I didn't think that this was particularly weird until I looked back on it fairly recently.

This millennium, I've had a tendency to hang out with people significantly older than me. Most of my friends are at least 5 years older, some of them are 10, 20, even 30 years older. It's funny, though. I don't think about my friend who is 60 any differently than I think about my friend who is 35.

LOL -- tell that to her parents

But I always appreciate the backup, FP. For me it was more the same realization (epiphany?) that you had with the scouts. I didn't even notice until much later. Then it was like: "Oh...!" And then, at 40 when I discovered the incredible explanation of my life that is AS, it's like "Oh, now I understand the previous 'Oh...!'".

I think you get me, my brother

-- Vip

Yeah I remember when I did not have that many friends and part of it was related to my Autism, and well I still do have trouble with eye contact but nowadays I do manage to be able to go places like concerts and political conventions and so forth.

But oh gosh it took a long time for me to get where I am now and so forth.

Yes. I love older or younger people than myself better than anyone my age. Older people you can talk to about serious things, and younger ones still like my interests.

I get along well with older people and children. At 15, my daughter is emotionally older than me. :sigh:

Dont worry, I couldnt stand people my own age because they just werent interesting . . . and younger kids i could connect with since they hadnt started the ascent to adulthood and still find the world fascinating (much like we do on a daily basis . . . well, at least with our obsessed interest ). On the down side, i never dated, and at times the lonely aspect tends to kick in, but at the same time i have this paranoia about others in the sense that theyre gonna turn my life into a damn drama. I dont need that crap to compensate for my life . . . and hell with anyone who thinks to introduce it.

parrotnut, I don't remember really connecting with anyone. I had one special friend in middle school/high school who was a year younger, then later another friend who was a year or two younger. by the time I was in college age was fairly meaningless to me. I'm more interested in a person's mind and attitude, I guess. I like people who are passionate about things even if I'm not interested in the same thing.

yes, I have a hard time relating to people my age, I feel the same way.
I can't understand them, they don't have the same interests, and older people you can talk about serious, deep things, where as if you tried to talk to a teenager about that kind of thing, they would be like "lah, lah, lah" you know? Not paying attention, etc. Younger people are still kids, and have not gotten to that point where you hit a teenager and then you turn stupid, or very mean. I am not like anyone my age, I don't like the same bands, I don't like the same clothes they wear, etc, I don't know if this has anything to do with my Aspergers. Syndrome??

Well, a lot of females say they are more mature than males. 2 years isn't that bad, ESPECIALLY if the younger is 15 or older, and it doesn't include sex while either is a minor. Oh well, I don't think I would want to marry anyone more than 9 years younger, or say 3 years older than I am. I am middle aged.

steve

I've always been able to get along just fine with people older than me, as long as they were mature. Even when I was a freshman I could easily make friends with a bunch of seniors and juniors. But I've always been terrified of people my own age or younger. So when I went into my junior/senior years, I felt incredibly lonely and awkward. Thankfully no one was cruel to me then, some even tried starting up conversations with me or inviting me to their lunch table, but I always shyed away eventually with some excuse in my head to keep me from feeling bad about my decision. Right now however, I'm just hoping that I'll only ever want to avoid people around my current age, and won't just constantly avoid people in whatever my age range is. Of course ideally speaking, I'd like to grow out of it all eventually...