My life as an autist

Post Reply New Topic

Hello people.

For those interested, I use my website to post stories about my experiences in various areas in life as a person with High Functioning Autism.

It currently has three articles concerning various subjects which are specifically aimed at Non-AS'ers to give them an insight into what makes a person like me tick and how I interpret the reality around me.

You can read all three of them here:
http://site.jteeuwen.nl/autism/

Comments, criticisms and whatever else you may have are always welcome in this thread.

I don't really believe in telling NT's what it's like, whenever I'm asked what it's like I generally refuse to explain anything. I know there are criteria's and lists of symptoms but I don't think any of it properly explains what I've experianced everyday and that it is beyond having difficulty making friends. I am offended by such descriptions..it's a bit more profound to me then anything I've seen written, but that said I have a lot of comorbids.

I agree with you in that a list of symptoms and a clinical description of what the eggheads /think/ it is supposed to be like is not in anyway conductive to a good understanding.

This is why I write my articles. They tell the story from my personal perspective. My own little idiosyncrasies and quirks, independent of what a DSM might say.

I find that people respond much more positively to this approach.

I'm going to tell my classmates that I have Aspergers when I graduate this year. Either they won't see me again or they actually might make an effort to contact me. Either way, it's going to be difficult to explain properly. No two aspies are the same

There's a start.

exch,
Great articles! I could really relate to the ones about HFA and phone calls. I am in the midst of the process of receiving a diagnosis; I just started with a new psychologist I really like who says he is pretty sure I have AS but wants to have a couple of more appointments to make sure we are considering all the possibilities- he thinks I may have some co-morbids as well. I think your articles would be very interesting and informative to NT's, and anything that helps increase understanding is great. People are most afraid of what they don't understand. The only way NT's will ever know that HFA/AS are more than just "not making friends" is to read articles like yours ( or approach people with the condition, which most are unlikely to do).

@Rhiannon0828

I'm glad you liked them. I hope your diagnosis goes well.

Explaining to an NT how things work for you really is very difficult to do during a simple face to face conversation. For everything you do mention, there is so much more you tend to leave out because you may not even consider it important to mention.

Writing all this down helps them get a more complete picture, but also makes me think about everything I do in a lot more detail. I have learned some things about myself as well while creating those. I very much recommend doing this at least a few times.

This is actually something I did quite recently. I made a list of things about me that I find "weird" or different that might be related to AS and broke it down into different catagories ( communication, social skills, sensory, executive function, misc.). I did this partly to show to the psychologist because I forget so much of what I want to say in an appointment and also for myself. The list was quite long but I feel l learned more about myself by really thinking about how I differed in these ways. It made me doubt my conclusion of having AS less. I have also written in a journal from time to time - I should really make an effort to do it more- and found it to be helpful in organizing and analysing my thoughts.