How would you describe Aspergers in your own words?

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If you met someone and they had no idea about Aspergers, how would you describe it to make them understand?

It's like the classical autism, but without the expressive or receptive language delays, which indicates a less severe neurological disability in general.

You might have to put it more simply, though.

Say they didn't know about autism or aspergers...
How would you simplify the facts of information about it for them?

It's like living in a foreign country and having to learn how to assimilate. You don't know what's rude and what's not, and you have a hard time fitting in with the locals.

I have always liked the analogy of an anthropologist from another planet.
In my own words: Biological hiccup.

I typically explain it as being one of the few sighted people in a world where everyone else is blind.

I would tell them it's a developmental disorder and it's a form of autism. It effects how they communicate and relate to people and they tend to have narrow interests or intense interests and they may have repetitive behaviors and routines. The only difference between autism and AS is they don't have a language delay and they develop normally except for in social areas. But lot of doctor's don't seem to follow what the criteria says anyway because kids who are autistic get diagnosed with AS or get diagnosed with it later on in life when their diagnoses gets changed to that from autism.

HFA and leave it at that

HFA ?

High Functioning Autism.

I find people rarely know what that means and if they're showing interest, they are probably looking to further understand what it is I or my children experience.

Lack of social instinct mixed with a pathologically all-absorbing hobby.

Gets across the two main symptoms.

Thank you all for the replies. I have such a hard time explaining it to others when I am explaining me. I just wanna be like ...ya know what just f it... but then I think of my children and I want them to be understood. So I try to spread awarness and inform those who have know idea why a child is acting out or why things are just too much for some people or, the ones who stared when my son would be having a meltdown in the middle of Wal-Mart. I remember one day about 5 years ago, he was in the floor, screaming and this woman told me that I needed to dicipline my child better. I told her he has autism and she said, "HE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE HE HAS AUTISM." hahaha.........REALLY WOMAN, TELL ME...WHAT DOES AUTISM LOOK LIKE??????

Another time I was at McDonalds.......(stupid me) my son was up in the play he!! and he did his thing, where he's over stimulated and he didn't hurt the kid, but he touched him and made his face he makes. The kid told his mom. And there it started. She told me I should be a better mom instead of being a whore? wth? I told her he had Autism and I wasn't a whore...she continued arguing with me. I had to just up and leave. I was 100 miles away from home and I thought...I'm gonna go to jail. Some people are so insensitive and it's pathetic.

So, again thank you for your responses, I can use all the help I can get. I tend to fumble around with words, I suck so bad on the spot. I have to prepare for everything.

"aspergers" is a nine letter word.

A little like asking a fish to discribe "water". Or asking a NT to describe "neurotypicality". We are the ones in the middle of it so we dont know what its like to be out of it.

But Ill give it a shot.

One analogy that ive heard that I like is Neurotypicals are like automobiles and aspies are like rail road trains. Nt's can constantly switch lanes. Aspies can move just as fast forward but since we are on rails we cant steer side to side as flexibly. So we go in for special interests. Dont responde to social cues etc.

When I meet people for the first time I blurt it out, I can’t help it.

Then I spend time trying to explain what aspergers is, most of the time they don’t have a clue.

Aw, somebody already beat me to the fish-to-water line! I've had severe times and a lot of milder times, but I've never known what it's like to not feel my clothes all day and hear every noise in the room as if it were the most important.