When people tell you they are on the spectrum...

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Angnix
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20 Jan 2020, 4:16 am

There is a guy that leads the Christian groups at my Apartments...

I discussed with him the pros and cons of moving, or trying to work...

I said "I don't know if I can hold a job, I'm disabled"
Guy says "I understand, I have Asperger's"

So ummm... I spent the entire evening trying to figure out how he was on the spectrum and came up with nothing...

But could he have suspected I was possibly too? But he didn't say something like the word "too" after Asperger's... Which would be the correct grammar to imply that...

Has anyone else been so horribly disturbed by something like this??? I really do have an obsession in this area... Now I'm awake at 4 in the morning over it... 8O


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Fireblossom
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20 Jan 2020, 4:52 am

Umm... I'm sorry, exactly what are you disturbed about? The fact that he has aspergers but you can't see any tell tale signs? The fact that he brought up the term after you said you're disabled? Or are you wondering if he guessed you are on the spectrum too or not?



kraftiekortie
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20 Jan 2020, 4:56 am

He feels a kinship with you because you are both “disabled.” You told him you are “disabled.” Maybe he senses you have Asperger’s, too.

I wouldn’t see a “problem,” frankly. Rather, I would see him as sort of a “comrade in arms.”



EzraS
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20 Jan 2020, 5:03 am

Maybe he meant he understood what it is like to be disabled because he has Aspergers. Not that he also has Aspergers. The same as if he said "I understand I have cerebral palsy". In other words maybe he brought up his having Aspergers without thinking you also are on the spectrum.



Angnix
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20 Jan 2020, 5:07 am

I'm going to talk to my therapist about this... But my therapist thinks I am on the spectrum so idk what she would say exactly... But I'm having serious identity issues I think.


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kraftiekortie
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20 Jan 2020, 5:14 am

You’re a person first. An Asperger’s person second.

That’s my identity.



kraftiekortie
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20 Jan 2020, 5:33 am

One could feel kinship with someone who is disabled, if one is disabled.

One could also feel kinship, if one is disabled, with a person who shares his/her interests.

Wouldn’t you feel kinship with a non-disabled person who is a zoologist?

Your identity is much more than you being “disabled,” I feel.



aquafelix
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20 Jan 2020, 7:52 am

He said he understood when you said you had a disability. It seems to me that he recognised something in you that he had some familiarity with himself, but I don't think that necessarily means he thought you were a fellow aspie. I had a friend once with celebral palsey who wasn't autistic, but I "understood" some of his struggles like being judged as intellectually disabled as I have experienced a similar brand of others ignorance myself.