Don't Be Shy To Introduce Yourself

[bacca837]

Hey all, just found these forums. I was diagnosed with ASD about 7 months ago at the age of 22 (I'm now 23). It came as no surprise at all to me or my family and really could've been detected by teachers and doctors earlier, but at least I am getting the support I need now. Better late than never.

^^^ @No Strings Attached, I can totally relate to speaking quietly even though it feels like I'm speaking quite loudly. There have been so many times where I tried to contribute to a conversation and no one heard me. It's very frustrating. My main interests are gaming and Youtube too (obsessed with Critical Role at the moment). Those interests are pretty much all I need to keep me happy, my lack of friends doesn't bother me much. I only have a couple who I play games online with.

Maybe I'll spend a lot of time here or maybe by tomorrow I'll have forgotten I made this account. Either way it's nice to see so many people who are similar to me.

 

[Isadoorian]

Hey all, just found these forums. I was diagnosed with ASD about 7 months ago at the age of 22 (I'm now 23). It came as no surprise at all to me or my family and really could've been detected by teachers and doctors earlier, but at least I am getting the support I need now. Better late than never.

^^^ @No Strings Attached, I can totally relate to speaking quietly even though it feels like I'm speaking quite loudly. There have been so many times where I tried to contribute to a conversation and no one heard me. It's very frustrating. My main interests are gaming and Youtube too (obsessed with Critical Role at the moment). Those interests are pretty much all I need to keep me happy, my lack of friends doesn't bother me much. I only have a couple who I play games online with.

Maybe I'll spend a lot of time here or maybe by tomorrow I'll have forgotten I made this account. Either way it's nice to see so many people who are similar to me.

Welcome to the Forums! I hope you make new friends and enjoy your stay in the process!

 

[AussieBeanie]

Hello,
I like reading the other posts and feel comforted by them...thank you all for sharing. It wasn’t until recently, when my son was diagnosed with Tourette’s and OCD, that I discovered that these conditions are hereditary. My son is also diagnosed with autism and I began to question if I have it too. My significant other told me that I have similar behaviors to my son.
Anyway, I just thought I would see what this place has to offer for me. I didn’t type that much but it took me 20 minutes because I kept changing what I wanted to say. Thank you for giving me the time to post.

 

[Isadoorian]

Hello,
I like reading the other posts and feel comforted by them...thank you all for sharing. It wasn’t until recently, when my son was diagnosed with Tourette’s and OCD, that I discovered that these conditions are hereditary. My son is also diagnosed with autism and I began to question if I have it too. My significant other told me that I have similar behaviors to my son.
Anyway, I just thought I would see what this place has to offer for me. I didn’t type that much but it took me 20 minutes because I kept changing what I wanted to say. Thank you for giving me the time to post.

Welcome to the Forums! I hope you make new friends and enjoy your stay in the process!

 

[Nightingale121]

Welcome, @AussieBeanie!

I didn’t type that much but it took me 20 minutes because I kept changing what I wanted to say. Thank you for giving me the time to post.

It often takes me a lot of time to write and re-write my posts as well.
But the advantage of a forum is that you can take all the time you need to write your replies. There's no pressure to come up with an instant reply.

 

[AussieBeanie]

Welcome, @AussieBeanie!
It often takes me a lot of time to write and re-write my posts as well.
But the advantage of a forum is that you can take all the time you need to write your replies. There's no pressure to come up with an instant reply.

Thank you. It takes me a long time to write anything. I always start with the raw side of me and tone it down to something that I think it should look like and be accepted by. Speaking is a whole other story...to avoid saying anything odd or strange I will speak clear, concise and use big vocabulary words. I typically get people telling me I sound like an attorney or doctor to which I am neither. I am very literal and direct. Emotions are part of my private world and I tend to not share with people unless I let them in to my world.

 

[Michelle Espinosa]

Hi
I just moved to the west side of Los Angeles and have no friends or family and feeling the isolation acutely now during the holidays. I would love to get together with any other NDs in the area or L.A. this coming weekend or week.

I am looking for my tribe for community and support.

I'm a writer/filmmaker with often debilitating sensory processing issues and heartbreaking relationship/communication struggles that have left me literally alone but determined not to spiral into depression or self-pity. I need your help. I need to be around my wonderful tribe of sincere, sweet NDs who, like me, are good people but lacking the neurology to sustain friendships with NTs.

 

[Streetwise]

Hi
I just moved to the west side of Los Angeles and have no friends or family and feeling the isolation acutely now during the holidays. I would love to get together with any other NDs in the area or L.A. this coming weekend or week.

I am looking for my tribe for community and support.

I'm a writer/filmmaker with often debilitating sensory processing issues and heartbreaking relationship/communication struggles that have left me literally alone but determined not to spiral into depression or self-pity. I need your help. I need to be around my wonderful tribe of sincere, sweet NDs who, like me, are good people but lacking the neurology to sustain friendships with NTs.

hello I'm not from the United States , i'm from North East England ! but I'm like you, I'm alone at Christmas, won't be seeing any family .
I always feel isolated as my mother tried to make Christmas special !and she's been dead for 18 years.
there is another member from Los Angeles but I can't remember her name. I think she's either in editing or in post production .I know she loves adult colouring pages .

 

[Michelle Espinosa]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I hope I run into the person you mentioned because I too love adult coloring!

Would have been pleased to meet you as well and am sorry you too must spend the holidays alone like me. Maybe I’ll start a holiday lonely hearts thread so we can have a conversation about the things that make us happy or that we can do to cheer ourselves up so we can be supported in remaining positive.

I just don’t want to focus on what brings me down and fighting hard against depression.

What do you think?

 

[Streetwise]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I hope I run into the person you mentioned because I too love adult coloring!

Would have been pleased to meet you as well and am sorry you too must spend the holidays alone like me. Maybe I’ll start a holiday lonely hearts thread so we can have a conversation about the things that make us happy or that we can do to cheer ourselves up so we can be supported in remaining positive.

I just don’t want to focus on what brings me down and fighting hard against depression.

What do you think?

what I've learned is don't try to completely block out depression ,have you read the rules and guide lines bit on the forum ,if you want to have a Real life conversation p.m. somebody as the forum is for PG-13 users .
I think the first name of the forum member is Abbie and then maybe a long German name ,I like adult colouring books ,there is a photo on my media file.

 

[blmilton]

Hiya. I'm Brandy from NC. 41 SAHM with a 5yr old and 2yr old. We suspect my 5yr old boy may be on the spectrum, but in doing research, a lot of the characteristics rang true for me... I've not been officially diagnosed, however. I'm hoping I can learn a lot from the forum, and maybe make some friends... Thanks!

 

[Nightingale121]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I hope I run into the person you mentioned because I too love adult coloring!

Would have been pleased to meet you as well and am sorry you too must spend the holidays alone like me. Maybe I’ll start a holiday lonely hearts thread so we can have a conversation about the things that make us happy or that we can do to cheer ourselves up so we can be supported in remaining positive.

I just don’t want to focus on what brings me down and fighting hard against depression.

What do you think?

I really like your idea. I won't be alone during the holidays, but I can see that a thread like this might be helpful for people who will.

A quick forum search brought up some older threads regarding this:
Another Lonely Holiday. Colouring, anyone?
https://www.autismforums.com/threads/the-holidays-alone.9957/

Coincidentally, the first one mentions colouring, too.

Maybe you could continue these this year, bringing them back?

 

[dreaming]

Hi, I am new to the forum. I am never officially diagnosed but I recently came across Asperger's Syndrome from a couple of books, like liane holliday willey's 'pretending to be normal' and cynthia kim's 'nerdy, shy, and socially inappropriate', and realize that AS may well be an explanation of lots of characteristics I have. I come from a part of Asia where a formal diagnosis for adult AS seems practically (financially) impossible. My self diagnosis mainly comes from online AS tests and books I read. I am still trying to figure out if I am actually an AS and how to adapt to this new identity. Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to meeting new people here

 

[Boon]

Hello,

My name is Boon, and I will be 60 next June.

For nearly all my life, I've been told I am naught, shy, quiet, overly sensitive, strange, antisocial, weird... my father even suggested I might be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which I remembered by didn't know what that meant till later in life.

My obsession and focus on things I liked doing was ridiculed and I was labeled as an obsessive compulsive, though for the life of me, I do not know to this day why my father had never suggested professional opinion to confirm his suspicions.

I had grand mal seizures, but after a slew of tests, nothing conclusive came about it, except to being plied with loads of depressant medications. What the doctors nor my parents never realise, which I self diagnosed a couple of decades later, was that I also suffered from petit mal seizures.

To make this brief, I have suffered with not knowing that I am in the spectrum, suspected it for several years and only confirmed through self diagnosis with the help of many online self tests, just this last couple of years.

To think, the amount of anxiety, stress and ridicule I went through all these decades, could have been alleviated, if not eliminated, if only I was diagnosed when I was showing the worst of my autistic symptoms while a child. It is because of this, that I hope to learn more so as to be able to in return share with more parents today, saving others this torture I experienced all these years.

I look forward to engage in more dialogues in this forum, to share and to learn, from all you likeminded sufferers in one way or another, with that objective in mind.

 

[John B]

Hi Everyone

My 10 year old son has been diagnosed as autistic (highly receptive, low expressive). I am retired, but my wife (a bit younger than me), is still working full time. Looking forward to sharing experiences and knowledge to lead to mutual benefit.

Happy New Year to All

 

[Helen G]

My name is Helen and I live in Hull, UK and my my husband is an Aspie.

 

[Sai]

Hi!

I was only tested for autism about a month ago, so I don't have an official diagnosis yet. But the psychologist that did my testing did say that I'm almost certainly on the spectrum, so I want to learn as much as I can about what that means, even before I get my diagnosis report.

I really want to understand myself better, so hopefully learning more about this part of myself will help me .

 

[Isadoorian]

Hi!

I was only tested for autism about a month ago, so I don't have an official diagnosis yet. But the psychologist that did my testing did say that I'm almost certainly on the spectrum, so I want to learn as much as I can about what that means, even before I get my diagnosis report.

I really want to understand myself better, so hopefully learning more about this part of myself will help me .

Welcome to the Forums! I hope you make new friends and enjoy your stay in the process!

 

[Stan Z.]

Hey, everyone.

Name's Stanley. I'm 18, and I'm a high school senior. I plan to go to college within the fall semester to pursue my career of graphic design. Currently in my last year of my high school career, I maintain a 90+ grade average (we use the 0-100 GPA scale in our school district).

I'm also black (rare for an aspie, I know). I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome almost 6 years ago by a school psychologist, and all of my symptoms (talking/whispering to myself, mood swings, acting out what I visualize in my head, etc.) seem to ring true of the disorder. To this day, my Liberian dad (I'm part of the first American-born kids in my family along with my two smaller brothers) STILL can't believe I'm an Aspie because of the backlash in the Liberian community that my dad and now my stepmom (my previous mom died of liver disease back in 2014) they might get, because the community (and the American black community, as well) usually take mental disorders jokingly (which sucks). Just goes to show you how much of a lack of mental health awareness there is in minority communities here in the U.S. My dad thinks that nothing is wrong with me because when I was born, the doctor found nothing "mentally wrong" with me, or something like that....but I don't know. I just feel l like a recluse within my family circuit and the real world because of my upbringing with Liberian parents.

Luckily, I have an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) support class to help me with my school endeavors while also improving my social skills.

Hopefully, I meet other people like myself and exchange stories/advice for all to hear. Thank you!

 

[Isadoorian]

Hey, everyone.

Name's Stanley. I'm 18, and I'm a high school senior. I plan to go to college within the fall semester to pursue my career of graphic design. Currently in my last year of my high school career, I maintain a 90+ grade average (we use the 0-100 GPA scale in our school district).

I'm also black (rare for an aspie, I know). I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome almost 6 years ago by a school psychologist, and all of my symptoms (talking/whispering to myself, mood swings, acting out what I visualize in my head, etc.) seem to ring true of the disorder. To this day, my Liberian dad (I'm part of the first American-born kids in my family along with my two smaller brothers) STILL can't believe I'm an Aspie because of the backlash in the Liberian community that my dad and now my stepmom (my previous mom died of liver disease back in 2014) they might get, because the community (and the American black community, as well) usually take mental disorders jokingly (which sucks). Just goes to show you how much of a lack of mental health awareness there is in minority communities here in the U.S. My dad thinks that nothing is wrong with me because when I was born, the doctor found nothing "mentally wrong" with me, or something like that....but I don't know. I just feel l like a recluse within my family circuit and the real world because of my upbringing with Liberian parents.

Luckily, I have an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) support class to help me with my school endeavors while also improving my social skills.

Hopefully, I meet other people like myself and exchange stories/advice for all to hear. Thank you!

Welcome to the Forums, I hope you make new friends and enjoy your stay in the process!