A question for the students....

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How has your experience been with your school/school friends knowing about your ASD?

Would you prefer that the school/people didnt know or is it better that they know?

I'm interested in hearing about anything you wish to share

Thanks

I went through school without anyone knowing - and for the most part not knowing myself.

I'm glad nobody knew. I'm functional enough to get by like everyone else - even though it can be stressful. I prefer not getting special treatment, though I have to say that in some situations it would have been helpful.

I just prefer not to be looked at differently because of the label of a disorder, so I continue to keep it to myself.

Thanks for reply

So your teachers didnt know either?

Was it hard for you not knowing that you had it? Was there an age that you would like to have been told?

None of my teachers ever knew. They could see I was different, but nothing else was ever suspected, as far as I know.

I do wish I had known earlier. I grew up wondering why I was so different. During my early teens I actually became worried for myself, and did research on mental illness to try and figure myself out. I was convinced there was something seriously wrong with me.

I would have understood myself, and been able to function better if I had known about Asperger's earlier.

Thanks heaps for sharing that with me...

My DS is 4 and recently diagnosed, so I'm looking into all aspects of ways I can help him at school. So many things to think about!!

Thanks again

I went to regular, public school without anyone knowing of my ASD. It was okay, and by that I mean that I passed. I doubt that there would have been any support for me if they knew. Even now Asperger's is still pretty unknown in Germany.

People did think that I was strange and called me 'Freaky' or thought that I did drugs though...

I wish you luck with the decisions you make. I have mixed feelings about the way things went with my childhood, but I'm glad I was treated as a normal child. I feel that was very important to my development, and I hope the school your child is going to attend respects the privacy of the condition. Just my personal opinion - children vary, so it may need to be dealt with differently. I'm just basing my opinion on my personal experience. School officials or professionals may know better than I.

I'm glad I could be of help!

Thank you. I'm glad you were treated as normal... cos of course you are That's just the thing... I'm hoping to make DS school life (and home of course!) feel to him as normal as can possibly be... like anyone on the spectrum, we are all equal human beings.
I certainly hope the school that DS attends will be descreet about his condition as well. I really hope I'm doing the right thing by him by telling the school... This is why I'm interested to hear from the students here.
I dont particularly think that the professionals know any better than those that are living it

Thanks again

Thanks lostinemulation for your reply also

I found what worked for me was having it a secret, but if I made any really close friends (which was rare) I let them know about it. In the case of true friends, having them know can be a good thing because they then understand you better and can be more supportive, but they also need to be mature enough to handle the information. I was only diagnosed at 11, but I didn't let any friend know until mid to late high school.

I think the absolute worst thing is if the Aspergers becomes general knowledge, because then it is like giving a torture tool into the hands of bullies. I think in Primary school it is better if only the teachers and staff know, as children are probably too young and immature to handle the knowledge. For me, the more teachers and staff members that know about it, the better my situation was at different stages in my schooling (and in uni, where I am now - then they also understand why if I have a stress breakdown, as I am also having now, and can be more understanding about granting extensions and the like).

Although, at uni, many people do now know about my AS - it's not quite general knowledge, but it might become that way if I start getting involved in activism. I think that once people are adults, they are mature and understanding about it and don't use the label against you.

Not from what I've seen.

They either deny it, are ignorant, tell you not to label yourself or start talking to you like a very young child, and that includes professionals.

They can use the label against you when it comes to making insurance claims or anything else like career opportunities.

All the majority of them seem to need is an excuse.

That's what lawsuits are for.

my teachers have to know.

students? I don't know... I'm sure people will ask why I'm only there half days or why I get to type everything etc. I'll just shrug and smile like I do with everything.

If they start patronizing you, try to talk over their heads and embarrass them in front of their colleagues. If that doesn't work, play dumb and allow them underestimate you while you secretly plot their ruin.

At school, I tended to be treated much better if:

-It wasn't obvious I was receiving help

-No one knew I was labeled



I'd actually much rather that I hadn't been labeled with a "syndrome" at all.

If I'd been in charge, I wouldn't have called it a syndrome: I'd have called it another way of perceiving and interacting with the world. A trade-off: focussing on details in the physical world at the expense of details in the social world.


Maybe if others had been presented with these things in a informative, non threatening way, and the word "syndrome" had not been used, maybe they would have been more understanding

At one school, there was a sneaky "via the back door" approach to help and physio.
I was confused because one parent had told me that I had been signed up for gifted sports classes. Maybe the other parent had lied not to upset him because it was a basic coordination group, not a gifted class.

That was a nice school, but I wish they'd just been more open and informative about the whole thing. I had friends at that school that could have understood and helped me.

I feel isolated and regretful now, because with the right information, those students could have helped me so much socially. They weren't bad people.

I don't think that the "problem" is AS, but how AS is presented to others.

If AS could be presented in a fair, informative, non-patronising and non-threatening way, without negative labeling; I believe that many more people would be prepared to understand and wouldn't dismiss the issues.

Different wiring, I'd wish I'd heard that phrase about 15 years ago .

We're talking doctors, nurses, therapists and psychologists here.
We're talking about people who've been through medical school or intensive training.

Maybe that isn't such a good idea.

I'd either get thrown out or talked down to even further.

People can be knowledgeable in high places, but still be ignorant.
Yes that's possible.

They only talk to me in that way when I'm labeled.

If they don't know I'm labeled, they talk to me like a normal human being.

I was only diagnosed a few months ago so I wonder what school would have been like if I'd been diagnosed earlier. At uni, it's not been a big deal for people to learn about my AS, especially as I'm usually with my housemate (also AS) when it comes up.