Do strangers think you are abnormal but relatives normal?

Post Reply New Topic

My relatives treat me like a normal person. The only complaint I heard is that I have a complex, and they didn't even say it in the "go get therapy" sense of the word, but more like "change your attitude."

And at times like this I wish I didn't have relatives, because I am tired of getting mixed signals from relatives and strangers. It messes with my head and causes me anxiety.

I wish my relatives could see all the ill treatment I have received from people. Would they defend me or gape at me the next time they saw me?

My parents were always in denial of my condition. It took my aunt to point out how awkward and strange I was to the psychologist to get my functional assessment done recently.

The first time I was assessed for AS, my dad said I "was a cheerleader and had a little boyfriend when I was 11 and that I was perfectly normal."

So, they didn't evaluate me further and told me I must have a personality disorder instead.

In truth, I was a cheerleader for a while in 5th grade, but I was so uncoordinated, I was asked to get off the team. I had this kid that was my friend that I went out skating with one time. He was not really a boyfriend.

But, my aunt told them about my childhood hand and arm flapping, my running away from them and hiding when they came over and my extreme social inappropriateness as a child.

It's normal for parents to be in denial, esp. when they have autistic traits themselves (and I'm sure my mom was full-blown AS) and they are often not the best resources when getting an assessment done.

Anyway, I've had to have multiple assessments in the past 3 years to qualify for various services. I now have 4 professionals that have diagnosed me with AS.

I don't know, Mw, but it's not cool you get treated like that by people you don't know. At least your family are nice about it, huh?

I think that it is pretty normal. Remember that this is not a common condition, so in order to understand it and/or accept it you have to know the person for some time. I remember a meeting where my brother spend half an hour explaining his friends my bahavior before the met me, that way they wouldn't be surprised. I hated that, but at that time i did't know i had Asperger.

Now i understand what he did.

i will probably never mention any of this, aspie stuff to my mother. she will take it personally, and get angry. she also insists i am normal, ive ALWAYS struggled, my whole life, and she would deny all of it. even simple depressions, she would tell me were nonsense. i think she wants to be the "black sheep" all by herself. issues.

my dad knows im "a bit off" tho, he insisted i be taken to a shrink ever since i was a kid.

Yes.

When I went to school it was like being in a completely different culture to the one at home or at relatives houses.

No wonder I was so confused when I was really little.

My relatives do treat me as a normal person, they do know I have a diagnosis of Asperger's. Strangers (and those who don't know I have Asperger's) usually think I'm weird.

I do better with strangers than family. I monologue a lot, and because my family doesn't understand half of what I say, and I say so much, they just ignore me. At least strangers listen to me with a little respect.

My relatives treat me fairly normal. Of course, in retrospect, my father definitely has AS or something close to it and I believe my mother does as well. They've always thought I was a little weird (I seem to be the most 'touched' in the family) but I seemed to fit in ok. (I thought) Everyone else thought I was a goofball encyclopedia.
I also had a lot of brothers and sisters around growing up so they, more or less, beat social graces into me and made it very clear when I was being annoying. (Which was most of the time)

I still have major issues with mimicking accents and have to be VERY careful when I speak to people with really neat ones. LOL People get so offended by it and I view it as flattery. If it's unique enough to trigger my tick hard enough I can't stop it, you've got a super neat accent to me.

I DO know a few people who have a child they suspect has AS. I'm pretty sure he's much lower functioning than I am and they're sure he's going to grow out of it.

They're the type that don't want to get a 'label' put on him. This kid is going to need some serious help by the time he reaches school.

I pity some kids.

I think my family and close friends consider me to be a lot weirder than strangers and acquaintances do. This is because I tend to 'pretend to be normal' unless I know someone very well and am comfortable to be fully myself in their company.

I was more accused of being arrogant than of being "sick in mind" until I became diagnosed in 1999 year. Often, I could point out to teacher where information was wrong, and correct teacher. I have always seen myself as more knowledgeable, and yes, more worth than others.