When did you first hear the word "Aspergers"?

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Just curious to how different people on here learned about AS. I first learned the word i when I was surfing the web about 11 years ago and stumbled across article on AS and said to myself, "Hey that's exactly like me" (with the exception that the article said AS people are good with computers which I'm not). I didn't seek the official diagnosis until 10 years later though. From what source did you first hear or read the word "Asperger" from?

I was with my sister and she was talking about some guy who's a conservative, and she was like "yeah maybe he has aspergers or something" I asked what aspergers was and she responded "It's just like a lack of empathy".

I proceeded to look it up online and find out what it was really about though.

Years ago when I read online that Gary Numan has it. I knew very little about it until much later; I wish I'd researched it right away.

When I was diagnosed, in 2004.

Early 1980s Tme Magazine article. I was surprised to learn that there's mild Autism. I previously thought that those with autism were unable to communicate.

But it's not until my Godson was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 5 a decade ago that I started to become familiar with it.

When my mom told me I have it. I have vague memories of some of my past due to my past depression, but I think that there was one time when I have posted my problems on a forum and somebody suggested Asperger's. I then looked at some videos about it on YouTube, but didn't take it seriously. I don't think I even realized back then that it's an actual condition. There's no way for me to verify this, unfortunately, as I tried looking for that forum and I couldn't find it. The only thing that suggested to me that I did this is that once I started watching videos about Asperger's on YouTube again, some of them seemed vaguely familiar.

I was diagnosed as a child, and I mean a young child. I was only 5, so I heard it from my parents.

Science Channel program "Ingenious Minds" about John Robison.

My mother told me.

A book review in the New York Times of the book Shadow Syndromes, in 1997. I was startled by how much it sounded like me, and bought the book, but then I mostly put it out of my mind (mainly because I couldn't find any psychiatrists who knew anything about it) until last year, when I sought a diagnosis.

A friend told me, I think it was in either 2007 or 2008. We were having lunch at school and he asked me straight up if I had Asperger's like he did. I knew about autism because I have three autistic brothers but I knew nothing about AS, I thought he was wrong until I read a book about it and I realised he was totally right.

Tony Attwood's book - I was just in the library and was like "Ooh, this looks interesting..."

2003. I found out that an acquaintance from high school (one of the few I kept in touch with at least for a bit after high school) was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I was talking to his sister about it (I had not kept in touch or seen him in years) and she made a comment about how he fixates on his interests, and I kind of wondered. I did look it up online after meeting another Aspie on a video game forum, but what I found didn't sound like me (as in, I did not understand what I was reading or how it related to me).

Truthfully, nothing I heard about autism that wasn't written by autistic people made any sense at all to me.

I was told by my parents that I may have it in 2006, two years before diagnosis.

I found a book about it under my Mum's pillow! I was a little bit (translation VERY) naughty back in those days, saw her reading something which she swiftly hid under her pillow when I came to talk to her. Needless to say I was curious et voila, I discovered AS.

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )