Hello out there

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Hi! I’m new here. I’m a high-masking, late-diagnosed autistic woman looking to connect with others and make some friends. My son was diagnosed when he was two and a few years later, I figured out I was autistic as well. I’m also a special education teacher who works primarily with neurodivergent students. I’m passionate about creating a neuro-affirming environment for my students, but it’s tough out there. Ableism is deeply entrenched in education (and everywhere else, it seems).

Autism is one of my special interests, as well as psychology and neurology. I’m currently reading How Emotions Are Made by Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett and it’s blowing my mind. I also love Star Trek, Avatar TLA, She-Ra (2018), and Pokemon.

I have a question for y’all. It surprised me that this website is still using the Asperger’s label. Do you guys identify as aspies? And, I hope this doesn’t offend you, but why would you rather be associated with a literal n*zi instead of embracing the broader autistic label?

Welcome! I was diagnosed in my early 40s a few years ago. When I started reviewing my life, I noticed that I gravitated to neurodivergent environments as well. It reminds me of a meme I've seen a few times that says something about, "Don't know why part of the neurodivergence assessment isn't placing you in a room with another neurodivergent person and seeing how well you relate."

Personally, I don't really care about the aspie vs autism labels. I don't even mind the terms autie or autist. I was diagnosed when it was all officially considered autism, so that's my default. Aspie users were probably diagnosed when Asperger's was still an official thing.

Welcome to WP! I hope you become happy here.

And I will note that WP is old, creaky, and has some problems. Some kids installed the bulletin board software but modified it a little. So, now WP is using nonstandard, not-supported software. But it is a bargain for the price! ($0) It was really nice that the owner (Alex Plank) left it up so we could all crawl around in it for free. It is getting out of date but it is free.

And some of the references to Asperger's Syndrome on WP are due to the age of WP. It was the accepted medical term when WP was setup so WP used the term. Since then the medical community has changed their jargon but changing WP to keep up would not be free.

As someone who has been constantly misgendered I'm ambivalent about labels.
Aspergers is fine if they know what it means.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Personally I'm disgusted by people who choose to associate themselves with a nazi, but I generally ignore it because I don't like getting in arguments.

lisabobisa413, Welcome to Wrong Planet.

I have Asperger's Syndrome. In short I am an Aspie. You asked, "but why would you rather be associated with a literal n*zi instead of embracing the broader autistic label?"

Because we better fit in here. If you look inside the human brain you will find that it has two halves. One on the left side of our skull and the other on the right side. Normally, our left side becomes our dominant daytime brain and the right side becomes our night time brain that exist in REM and deep NREM sleep. But for some of our species, a brain flip occurs before we reach the age when a child turns into an adult. This normally occurs around age 12.

I will point you in the direction of Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD. She suffered a major stroke at around age 35 and came back as a totally different person. A right side dominant brain. Her first book, My Stroke of Insight describes what happened during her stroke. Her second book Whole Brain Living describes the human brain as four different beings, different personalities. It is a very good book to read. She also produced a very interesting TED video.

Welcome!