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The story of my diagnosis

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Ark
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14 May 2012, 9:12 pm

Well hello, this is my very first post on WP (I just joined today) so I wanted to first formally introduce myself to you people out there. You can call me Ark! I would greatly appreciate your friendship if you are willing to extend it to me. I am very very new to all of this and I desire to build friendships with others like me in order to build a foundation of support and also because I would like to make some nice friends.

Anyway onto my story:
I am 18 years old currently, my journey began two years ago and has just recently become more intense.

I was 16 years old the first time I heard about Asperger's Syndrome. My mother called me out of my room to show me something on T.V about somebody who had Asperger's Syndrome and she said that she thought I might have it. Earlier in the week she had been talking on the phone to the mother of one of my friends who lives in another state. My friend apparently has Asperger's (I didn't even know) and her mother suggested to my mother that I may have it too seeing as how her daughter and I were similar in some ways. So I asked my mother a little bit about it and she had just told me about the research that she had conducted online earlier that week when she was trying to see the traits that correlated with me. After talking with her I went into my room and began to research Aspergers and I continued to research it for a couple of months. One day a couple of months later I was having an extremely bad day and was in the middle of a raging meltdown and eventually as I began to calm down and become more rational again I brought up the possible reason for that meltdown (as well as the countless others that I have always had throughout my life). I told my mother that it was one of the traits of Aspergers (at this point I knew way more about asperger's then my mother did because I researched it more). Anyway I told her that I didn't want to always suffer from these things without knowing exactly what it was so she suggested that we get a professional opinion and I agreed. It took months for my mother to get an appointment with a psychological health professional (mostly because she had to do allot of paperwork for my insurance). During this time I remained a bit skeptical, never considering myself to be officially on the autistic spectrum (as some do) because I wouldn't be able to believe it unless I had a professional's opinion. Finally, just two weeks after I turned 18 years old (which was last march) I got an appointment with the professional. On the day of my Asperger's examination I was nervous but also extremely interested for the professional's opinion and as it turned out I "Definitely have Asperger's" (according to the lady). I was officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome about a month and a half ago and I have been seeing a specialized therapist ever since and she is trying to help me with the problems that my Autism gives me. She says that I am High Functioning in many ways but I have rather poor social skills. She also has helped me realize that I lack Empathy far more than the average person HOWEVER I believe that I do have the ability to empathize, It just comes harder for me but I am working on it. I am also suffering in other areas but she says that I appear to have strengths as well such as my Intelligence and logical mind. She compared many Autistic people with the Vulcans.

Anyway so that is my story from 16 years old to my present age ( 18 ). I am a newly realized High Functioning Autistic male. I signed up on this website to meet other who I can Identify with and hopefully make some friends. I have never had a girlfriend either -ha- but I have hope that I will one day.

Anyway thank you for reading this and I hope to gain feedback from the community and even more importantly, friendship.

~Ark



Rascal77s
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14 May 2012, 9:21 pm

Ark wrote:
Well hello, this is my very first post on WP (I just joined today) so I wanted to first formally introduce myself to you people out there. You can call me Ark! I would greatly appreciate your friendship if you are willing to extend it to me. I am very very new to all of this and I desire to build friendships with others like me in order to build a foundation of support and also because I would like to make some nice friends.

Anyway onto my story:
I am 18 years old currently, my journey began two years ago and has just recently become more intense.

I was 16 years old the first time I heard about Asperger's Syndrome. My mother called me out of my room to show me something on T.V about somebody who had Asperger's Syndrome and she said that she thought I might have it. Earlier in the week she had been talking on the phone to the mother of one of my friends who lives in another state. My friend apparently has Asperger's (I didn't even know) and her mother suggested to my mother that I may have it too seeing as how her daughter and I were similar in some ways. So I asked my mother a little bit about it and she had just told me about the research that she had conducted online earlier that week when she was trying to see the traits that correlated with me. After talking with her I went into my room and began to research Aspergers and I continued to research it for a couple of months. One day a couple of months later I was having an extremely bad day and was in the middle of a raging meltdown and eventually as I began to calm down and become more rational again I brought up the possible reason for that meltdown (as well as the countless others that I have always had throughout my life). I told my mother that it was one of the traits of Aspergers (at this point I knew way more about asperger's then my mother did because I researched it more). Anyway I told her that I didn't want to always suffer from these things without knowing exactly what it was so she suggested that we get a professional opinion and I agreed. It took months for my mother to get an appointment with a psychological health professional (mostly because she had to do allot of paperwork for my insurance). During this time I remained a bit skeptical, never considering myself to be officially on the autistic spectrum (as some do) because I wouldn't be able to believe it unless I had a professional's opinion. Finally, just two weeks after I turned 18 years old (which was last march) I got an appointment with the professional. On the day of my Asperger's examination I was nervous but also extremely interested for the professional's opinion and as it turned out I "Definitely have Asperger's" (according to the lady). I was officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome about a month and a half ago and I have been seeing a specialized therapist ever since and she is trying to help me with the problems that my Autism gives me. She says that I am High Functioning in many ways but I have rather poor social skills. She also has helped me realize that I lack Empathy far more than the average person HOWEVER I believe that I do have the ability to empathize, It just comes harder for me but I am working on it. I am also suffering in other areas but she says that I appear to have strengths as well such as my Intelligence and logical mind. She compared many Autistic people with the Vulcans.

Anyway so that is my story from 16 years old to my present age ( 18 ). I am a newly realized High Functioning Autistic male. I signed up on this website to meet other who I can Identify with and hopefully make some friends. I have never had a girlfriend either -ha- but I have hope that I will one day.

Anyway thank you for reading this and I hope to gain feedback from the community and even more importantly, friendship.

~Ark


Welcome to WP Ark. In what way was your therapist comparing ASD with vulcans, the logical part or the emotionless part of vulcans?



Ark
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14 May 2012, 9:27 pm

Rascal77s wrote:
Welcome to WP Ark. In what way was your therapist comparing ASD with vulcans, the logical part or the emotionless part of vulcans?


Thank you, it is a pleasure to be here.

She compared me (and others with Aspergers) to Vulcans because of the literal thinking patterns and logical minds. Also because I have hindered ability to experience empathy (according to her) however I stress the fact that I can feel empathy, it just doesn't come as easy to me so it is something that I am constantly work on.



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14 May 2012, 9:33 pm

Ark wrote:
Rascal77s wrote:
Welcome to WP Ark. In what way was your therapist comparing ASD with vulcans, the logical part or the emotionless part of vulcans?


Thank you, it is a pleasure to be here.

She compared me (and others with Aspergers) to Vulcans because of the literal thinking patterns and logical minds. Also because I have hindered ability to experience empathy (according to her) however I stress the fact that I can feel empathy, it just doesn't come as easy to me so it is something that I am constantly work on.


Just seemed like an odd comparison. I've heard several psychopaths and sociopaths compare themselves to vulcans but obviously for the lack of emotion.

You're right, you have to work at strengthening weaknesses constantly. There was a recent thread called "aspergers so what" iirc that was just along that line.



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14 May 2012, 9:39 pm

Rascal77s wrote:
Just seemed like an odd comparison. I've heard several psychopaths and sociopaths compare themselves to vulcans but obviously for the lack of emotion.

You're right, you have to work at strengthening weaknesses constantly. There was a recent thread called "aspergers so what" iirc that was just along that line.


Strange that you brought up sociopaths because that is what I was afraid of being considered similar to. Which is why I emphasized the fact to my therapist that I CAN feel empathy and remorse. She thinks that Autistic people can too, Empathy comes harder to some of us though so that is part of the reason that she compared the Vulcans some of us.



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14 May 2012, 9:48 pm

Ark wrote:
Rascal77s wrote:
Just seemed like an odd comparison. I've heard several psychopaths and sociopaths compare themselves to vulcans but obviously for the lack of emotion.

You're right, you have to work at strengthening weaknesses constantly. There was a recent thread called "aspergers so what" iirc that was just along that line.


Strange that you brought up sociopaths because that is what I was afraid of being considered similar to. Which is why I emphasized the fact to my therapist that I CAN feel empathy and remorse. She thinks that Autistic people can too, Empathy comes harder to some of us though so that is part of the reason that she compared the Vulcans some of us.


Sociopaths have problems with sympathy, HFA have problems with empathy, opposites. Remorse is sympathy. Don't read into this comment, it's just a comment.



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14 May 2012, 10:05 pm

Hi Ark! Welcome to Wrong Planet! Check out the many interesting and helpful forums here. You are among friends here at WP! :D


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14 May 2012, 11:04 pm

Welcome!



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14 May 2012, 11:29 pm

Rascal77s wrote:

Welcome to WP Ark. In what way was your therapist comparing ASD with vulcans, the logical part or the emotionless part of vulcans?


Actually, it was revealed in one of the novels, _Spock's World_ if memory serves, that the term generally believed to mean lack of emotion really means "Passion's Mastery" Vulcans have emotions, but don't show them . . . . . which still makes it an accurate comparison -- we have emotions, but we don't always show them in ways that NT's recognize. :-)



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14 May 2012, 11:57 pm

CuriousKitten wrote:
Rascal77s wrote:

Welcome to WP Ark. In what way was your therapist comparing ASD with vulcans, the logical part or the emotionless part of vulcans?


Actually, it was revealed in one of the novels, _Spock's World_ if memory serves, that the term generally believed to mean lack of emotion really means "Passion's Mastery" Vulcans have emotions, but don't show them . . . . . which still makes it an accurate comparison -- we have emotions, but we don't always show them in ways that NT's recognize. :-)


Thanks I love Star Trek trivia :) but I'm thinking his therapist didn't read that novel :lol:



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14 May 2012, 11:58 pm

I've always been more a Data, btw how many know the planet and its inhabitants are named after volcanos?

Welcome to the warmest place I've found myself in the past few weeks. Any particular current interests?



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15 May 2012, 2:09 am

Ark wrote:
She also has helped me realize that I lack Empathy far more than the average person HOWEVER I believe that I do have the ability to empathize, It just comes harder for me but I am working on it. I am also suffering in other areas but she says that I appear to have strengths as well such as my Intelligence and logical mind. She compared many Autistic people with the Vulcans.

~Ark


Hello Ark and welcome.
The Asperger diagnosis is also new to me (even though I am a lot older than you), and I have also read about the lack of empathy. On many of the danish official pages (doctors webpages etc) it is stated that Asperger people lack empathy. Then I read Wrong Planet, and I realised how wrong and oldfashioned some of these information sources are.

It might be that you lack empathy, we are all different, but try to have a look around WP. There seems to be quite a few discussions about this issue. I am quite sure I don´t lack empathy but I might not be able to see the social cues that mark when another person is feeling bad. I have a hard time deciffering these nonverbal signs and when I don´t see it, how could I know that I should feel sorry for this person? Another issue migth be that some Aspies see this signs, but then they do not know how to deal with it.

Btw. I primarily have Cognitive empathy not Emotional/affective empathy. I am still exploring all my "issues" with Aspergers, but I think this type of empathy allows me to see both sides of a case/person. I do not let my own emotions get in the way, and therefore I can analyse both sides of a case (well, obvisioly this do not always work, sometimes I have a deep emotional involvement and then I am unable to analyse rationally).

Here is an interesting thread about empathy
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt185020.html

Sorry for the rant, it just annoys me to see the erroneous statement that a diagnostic trait of Asperger is the lack of empathy.

Helle



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15 May 2012, 2:24 am

2wheels4ever wrote:
I've always been more a Data, btw how many know the planet and its inhabitants are named after volcanos?


Not to be a nitpicker, but actually, it is named after the Roman god Vulcan, the god of fire and smithery. That is also where the word volcano derives, indirectly. Vulcan was believed to make his home on Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy. His forge was considered the source of the fire, eruptions, and earthquakes that took place on the island.


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15 May 2012, 9:14 am

Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs personality test or the Enneagrams ? You may just be a thinker, or perhaps an extreme thinker. Maybe you are an introvert, or a judger( on the organized side rather than a scatter brained type). I wouldn't be surprised if you have actually have empathy, but don't express it in the manner which is approved by the mental health types. Your personality style may be just different form the rest, Not BAD at all, but simply not what the extraverted,, feeling, psychological types want you to be. You don't have to become one of them. Just be yourself



Ark wrote:
Well hello, this is my very first post on WP (I just joined today) so I wanted to first formally introduce myself to you people out there. You can call me Ark! I would greatly appreciate your friendship if you are willing to extend it to me. I am very very new to all of this and I desire to build friendships with others like me in order to build a foundation of support and also because I would like to make some nice friends.

Anyway onto my story:
I am 18 years old currently, my journey began two years ago and has just recently become more intense.

I was 16 years old the first time I heard about Asperger's Syndrome. My mother called me out of my room to show me something on T.V about somebody who had Asperger's Syndrome and she said that she thought I might have it. Earlier in the week she had been talking on the phone to the mother of one of my friends who lives in another state. My friend apparently has Asperger's (I didn't even know) and her mother suggested to my mother that I may have it too seeing as how her daughter and I were similar in some ways. So I asked my mother a little bit about it and she had just told me about the research that she had conducted online earlier that week when she was trying to see the traits that correlated with me. After talking with her I went into my room and began to research Aspergers and I continued to research it for a couple of months. One day a couple of months later I was having an extremely bad day and was in the middle of a raging meltdown and eventually as I began to calm down and become more rational again I brought up the possible reason for that meltdown (as well as the countless others that I have always had throughout my life). I told my mother that it was one of the traits of Aspergers (at this point I knew way more about asperger's then my mother did because I researched it more). Anyway I told her that I didn't want to always suffer from these things without knowing exactly what it was so she suggested that we get a professional opinion and I agreed. It took months for my mother to get an appointment with a psychological health professional (mostly because she had to do allot of paperwork for my insurance). During this time I remained a bit skeptical, never considering myself to be officially on the autistic spectrum (as some do) because I wouldn't be able to believe it unless I had a professional's opinion. Finally, just two weeks after I turned 18 years old (which was last march) I got an appointment with the professional. On the day of my Asperger's examination I was nervous but also extremely interested for the professional's opinion and as it turned out I "Definitely have Asperger's" (according to the lady). I was officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome about a month and a half ago and I have been seeing a specialized therapist ever since and she is trying to help me with the problems that my Autism gives me. She says that I am High Functioning in many ways but I have rather poor social skills. She also has helped me realize that I lack Empathy far more than the average person HOWEVER I believe that I do have the ability to empathize, It just comes harder for me but I am working on it. I am also suffering in other areas but she says that I appear to have strengths as well such as my Intelligence and logical mind. She compared many Autistic people with the Vulcans.

Anyway so that is my story from 16 years old to my present age ( 18 ). I am a newly realized High Functioning Autistic male. I signed up on this website to meet other who I can Identify with and hopefully make some friends. I have never had a girlfriend either -ha- but I have hope that I will one day.

Anyway thank you for reading this and I hope to gain feedback from the community and even more importantly, friendship.

~Ark



Ark
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15 May 2012, 2:27 pm

2wheels4ever wrote:
I've always been more a Data, btw how many know the planet and its inhabitants are named after volcanos?

Welcome to the warmest place I've found myself in the past few weeks. Any particular current interests?


I don't know too much about star trek in general but I have seen a few episode of the next generation and I always liked Data.

Yes I have a couple areas of interest. I would say that my strongest currently is the Renaissance. I love video games also such as Silent Hill, Minecraft and a ton of games on steam. I also enjoy other areas of science such as Entomology and physics.



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15 May 2012, 2:30 pm

Ataraxis wrote:
2wheels4ever wrote:
I've always been more a Data, btw how many know the planet and its inhabitants are named after volcanos?


Not to be a nitpicker, but actually, it is named after the Roman god Vulcan, the god of fire and smithery. That is also where the word volcano derives, indirectly. Vulcan was believed to make his home on Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy. His forge was considered the source of the fire, eruptions, and earthquakes that took place on the island.


I wonder if there was ever a plot idea, maybe when Rodenberry was first conceiving the series, to have the Vulcans have some sort of collective meltdown. It seems a bit like a foreshadowing technique there. I can't see any other reason to name them after Vulcan.