A few of us were diagnosed late. Or never diagnosed at all, like myself, but came to the conclusion that we have AS/HFA fairly late.
I was wondering what you thought was wrong with you, why you thought you were "different" and didn't fit in.
I had measles encephalitis as a very young child and I still have the St Jude medal that my grandmother bought for me (patron saint of lost causes). It was a serious condition in the late 60s and most didn't survive it. I got absolutely hammered with antibiotics (tetracycline mainly), to the extent that my teeth looked horrific and several dentists told me that I had the worst staining they had ever seen. So I thought that perhaps this had affected me somehow. My father was abusive and borderline insane, although he could also appear almost charming and almost in control when he wanted to. My 2 siblings who don't show any signs of being on the spectrum, plus my brother who I am 99% sure is an Aspie, have all suffered depression and adjustment issues because of our childhood, and none of them reached anything like their real potential (all are in the 99th percentile for intelligence, all are smarter than me. My sister is an admin assistant, one brother is a builder's labourer/ex taxi driver, the other brother has never had a job). So I thought that was another factor. The clumsiness and lack of coordination I attributed to my height (around 2 metres / 6'6") and maybe having big feet (US size 14), although I knew other guys around my height who were far better coordinated than me.
I remember when I was in my late teens/early 20s watching a TV show about kids with autism. It struck me that they were a lot like I remembered myself as a kid. I asked my mum about it and she was very adamant that there was NO WAY that I had even mild autism. I don't know why I let it go so easy. My mother worked as a psychiatric nurse in the 1950s in Sydney's most infamous mental asylum, so you can imagine the sort of negative feelings she had about any sort of psychiatric or neurological condition.
I was wondering what you thought was wrong with you, why you thought you were "different" and didn't fit in.
I had measles encephalitis as a very young child and I still have the St Jude medal that my grandmother bought for me (patron saint of lost causes). It was a serious condition in the late 60s and most didn't survive it. I got absolutely hammered with antibiotics (tetracycline mainly), to the extent that my teeth looked horrific and several dentists told me that I had the worst staining they had ever seen. So I thought that perhaps this had affected me somehow. My father was abusive and borderline insane, although he could also appear almost charming and almost in control when he wanted to. My 2 siblings who don't show any signs of being on the spectrum, plus my brother who I am 99% sure is an Aspie, have all suffered depression and adjustment issues because of our childhood, and none of them reached anything like their real potential (all are in the 99th percentile for intelligence, all are smarter than me. My sister is an admin assistant, one brother is a builder's labourer/ex taxi driver, the other brother has never had a job). So I thought that was another factor. The clumsiness and lack of coordination I attributed to my height (around 2 metres / 6'6") and maybe having big feet (US size 14), although I knew other guys around my height who were far better coordinated than me.
I remember when I was in my late teens/early 20s watching a TV show about kids with autism. It struck me that they were a lot like I remembered myself as a kid. I asked my mum about it and she was very adamant that there was NO WAY that I had even mild autism. I don't know why I let it go so easy. My mother worked as a psychiatric nurse in the 1950s in Sydney's most infamous mental asylum, so you can imagine the sort of negative feelings she had about any sort of psychiatric or neurological condition.
). My confidence just seemed to hit the floor and I became sort of desperate to try and make friends. Didn't work. Well, it did, but I think it was all a big joke to them.
) was dependent on the guy involved and when me and him fell out as such me and the other friend drifted away. I made friends with these 8 girls. Probably around 4 were SEN pupils. But got bored. By Year 9 I didn't want any friends(but regardless, ended up stuck with a few people sitting with me every lunch time for a month >_<).
I'm in the same boat with 4 years less on the price tag.
