Elderly people with Asperger's

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I am doing research for my Master's degree in Special Education. I am seeking anecdotal information about individuals with Asperger's, regarding their education (or lack of it) during the periods before Asperger's was identified. Also, has anyone received a diagnosis of Asperger's at an elderly age (say, past 60)?
My son has Asperger's and the difference in his educational supports and those of students 5 years younger is significant. I cannot imagine the difference from 40 years ago.

Thank you for any help.

Candy

And Merle is the youngest at heart!

I have a father who is undiagnosed but most certainly an Aspie.

My personal background is an undergrad degree in Speech Pathology. I moved frequently during my first marriage so i had many jobs in the teaching realm. I began as a swimming instructor during my college years. I went on to work in elementary. preschool, daycare, kindergarten and each time ended up being place with a child or children that i now believe were misdiagnosis. , but had behaviors of ASD. So somehow i must have been able to be patient with them and worked effectively with them too.

I have so many anecdotal stories and situations about my own parent because after a divorce in 1999. I came to work and care for my aged parent, even living in the same house for a time. I moved out for my own sanity but continued to work and care for him, i thought for the money, but probably because i desired to have a positive relationship with the unemotional, rigid , seemingly unloving man. I am coming to terms with this after intensive studies on Asperger over the last 3+ years. I happened to hear the author of a book about her family , specifically her son and a light bulb went on in my head. At last i had finally found the answers to the behaviors, seeming illogical thinking, oddities, receptive & expressive language issues. This has been my salvation, for i have been on the verge i mental & emotional collapse for 12 years. The grace of God saved my sanity and gave me the reasons i had been seeking..

Daddy is 88, difficult, friendless, OCD-like, riturals, sensory issures, etc. If you want to ask me questions or hear more then write me. It will surely help me to talk about it. I do know ,having run across a recent report card of my dad's, that he was promoted to 9th grade in 1941 at the age of 17. His 2 years younger brother was promoted to 9th grade in 1940. These 2 brothers rarely speak, usually on one of their birthdays annually.

I have other family members that have this too, again in denial and undiagnosised but i am hopeful for them to eventually seek helpf and not live their life as a wondering about themselves.

I am 69 and trying to get a diagnosis. I'm currently seeing a therapist, but she and her Psychologist PHD partner seem either slow or somehow unable to confirm or eliminate this diagnosis. I've been in therapy/counselling at least a dozen times throughout my lifetime with a bunch of dxs such as bi-polar (wrong) depression, anxiety, but usually "normal", as in the therapists usually felt I was reacting normally to abnormal situations, but one can hardly live a normal life with constantly occurring meltdowns. I believe my "Aspi-ness" has hindered my being able to respond correctly and cope with the difficulties of life and has caused family and people in general to shun me as weird or crazy. I also think my father, always with his nose in a book and holding himself remote from life, my two reclusive bachelor brothers and my sister, an alcoholic suicide all were/are aspies too.

i am 59 and self-diagnosed when reading about my nephew's diagnosis four years ago. i wish i'd had some social skills training early on. my father was born in 1927. he died in 2008, but he was most likely an aspie. he dropped out of ninth grade, though he had an IQ of 126. he could have used some support.

You have connected with a long-ago post. Someone may reply but might not, too.

I got a diagnosis at 61. I know an elderly gentleman (over 80) who is textbook Asperger's. He has not been diagnosed and I feel sorry for him, as he has damaged relationships with his children and grandchildren. I'm not sure what good it does for someone that age to know, so I don't think I'll tell him my suspicions.

It sounds like you might have to be more pro-active to get a diagnosis from someone with that specialty. Your current team doesn't share your perspective, it seems, and it may annoy them that you don't agree. Even so, if this seems important to you, I support your going ahead. You can either ask them to help you, or do it without telling them. A teaching hospital may have some of the specialists you seek.

Good luck. It will probably help you to participate in forums here. A lot of our community on this site are not officially diagnosed, feeling it is not important to be or they cannot arrange it. But most folks here are accepting of diversity.

How can an aspie make it to old age in the first place?

I´m 62, got dxed about my 60th birthday.

Being at university was difficult, because of PEOPLE. Lots of them!
Managing life, understanding others and myself was allways mysteriously difficult for me.

I´ve had many dxés: Borderline (not true), depression, social anxiety, some OCD, avoidant-, mixed,- and nearly narcissistic personality disorder (not true) AND "autistic traits".

At school I really didn´t need extra help - ecxept for math, but it would have been nice with a social mentor.

Are you sure that's true? Is there data to support it, or are you speaking anecdotally?

I have known quite a few Aspie's who have substance abuse issues.

I am 7O, of German/Irish descent and was diagnosed with Asperger's this past year. It explains much of my life's difficulties. Most of my life I hid my oddness behind alcohol. I seldom really drank a lot but people thought I did, because with just one drink I could relax and be myself and people would just assume I had more. Once diagnosed I told my daughters because they are of childbearing years and deserve to know. It was the last straw for them when they could no longer blame what they saw as my failings on alcohol. They have now rejected me entirely. I have never had any family support or any steady person for very long in my life, as people cannot abide my candor and extreme emotionality. I have (or rather, did have ) a 145 IQ but It and my autodidactic education has never earned me any respect. On the contrary, whenever I feel the urge to share my knowledge I seem to be perceived as arrogant and attempting superiority. I am now alone and trapped in the city experiencing daily stress from noise and insomnia from the vibrations, noises and light of the city around me. I am also increasingly fearful of people.