Am I Right To Be Bothered By This?

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In this article, one mother speaks of all the things she doesn't have to deal with regarding her two young boys, both of whom are apparently autistic. However, most of what she mentions "being free from" are the polar opposites of my experiences from childhood. Contrary to her kids, I almost always ask "Why?" about many things. I complained about not having things others did in school, and whined my head off as a child (thankfully, both are mostly gone now). One of my greatest desires was and still is to be socially invisible, because cruel people can't torment what they can't see. This clashes with my desperate desire to be married someday though, since I hate the idea of being alone. I still wrestle with greed sometimes too, though not to the level of a young child. I watch the same movies a lot of times, but I also grow bored if the repeats are too close together.

I know this is basically one long ramble, but reading this article frustrated me. I've known I was somehow "different" for most of my life, and was diagnosed with Asperger's last September...but that article was almost the completely opposite from me. Any suggestions?

I am a little confused. I don't think I understand what you are directly asking. Are you thinking that these kids are opposites of you and that somehow that might affect your sense of your own Autism?

Precisely; you hit the nail right on the head.

Her kids are apparently full blown low functioning 'classic' autistics.

Not HFA, nor aspergian, like you and I.

I asked "why?" ( to find out about the world, not so much 'why do have to do such and such) constantly. Had a fair amount of sibling rivalry etc. I dont relate much to what she's talking about either.

A ladyfriend worked as a nanny for an autistic boy in another city. I had just gotten dxd with aspergers. I asked her to tell me about the kid (thinking I might have some insightful pearls of wisdom for her about the kid since I just learned I was on the spectrum). She heaved a sigh- and then described his issues. If anything I was a little bit FARTHER removed from understanding this kid than the average NT person. Needless to say- no pearls of wisdom came outta my lips that day about the child,

Even folks on the same level of functioning on the spectrum differ quite a bit. Her kids might not be exactly like other LFA children the same age in another family. Like "when youve met one aspie youve met one aspie".

I'm an only child, but as a child I was very jealous so if I had had siblings there would have been rivalry.
I was jealous of any child who got any sort of attention from a family member of mine.


No. That wasn't true for me. I wasn't into fashion, but I was into other things. I used the "everyone else has one" when I wanted something. I refused to wear the same clothes as a particular girl in school, and I wouldn't use the same brand of crayons as they did on the Steiner school, because that was lame. As soon as I discovered uncool it was important to me to not be that.


No, I would have been disappointed as a child if I felt I got few presents for Christmas or birthday. And if something was divided between me and another child I made very sure it was justly divided (read: that I didn't get less).


There have been times where I drove my mother nuts with my whys.

And why on earth would anyone ask a question they knew the answer to as she says they do. That's something I might have done when I was very little (preschool), but only as a ritual. They had little patience with it anyway, so it stopped itself.

Like the boys in the article I wanted the same food over and over as a child, and I would watch the same stuff a lot and reread the favorite parts of my favorite books.

So like you Moviefan2k4, I'm not much like she describes either.

Are you doubting your diagnosis now also? If so, what traits do you think you have that DO show you're on the spectrum? What prompted you to get a diagnosis? Did the process of getting the diagnosis seem accurate at the time?

I think that a lot of people forget that autism isn't a personality, the author and you included. Yes, there are some standard things that a lot of autistics have and do, but it'd be kinda weird if 1 person had ALL of those traits. I mean, it's not just the varying levels of the severity, but also what specific aspects that you yourself have that affect you. It's not that much of a surprise that both of her kids are also quite similar to each other too, being brothers and all.