0x5279616e
Member
My name is Ryan, I'm an eighteen year old male (soon to be 19). Developmentally, I was somewhat gifted, speaking my first words at 8 months and fluent conversations with adults by the time I was 2½. That being said, I always had a lot of social difficulty growing up. My friends and family described me as intense and somewhat eccentric starting as early as age 12 or so. I have struggled a lot with depression. I basiclly grew up on /b/ and other distasteful areas of the internet, and "autism" was something always used as a derogatory remark, so when my first counselor (initially for depression) suggested I might have aspbergers, I felt I was being attacked (due to the conditioning I had received on that diagnosis from 4chan) and I stopped getting counseling help for a few years. Really hit rock bottom last summer - I had graduated HS with a "meh" GPA, no plans for college, no job, and was arrested for disorderly conduct. My life was really spiraling out of control, and I needed to get help. I have found a wonderful counselor near me who works really well with adolescents on the spectrum. I was initially very uninterested when she brought up my status diagnosiswise, but she has done an excellent job at reforming my understanding of what aspbergers and autism is, at it's core, and I do now have an official diagnosis of aspergers. I am working towards independence - I have a job and will be moving to an assisted independent living program soon. I know I'm still very young, and there is a big road ahead of me, so I've signed up here to talk to people who understand where I'm coming from, and to socialize, grow, and learn in a social enviornment that is more accepting of who I am as a person.
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