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Hello I am Alice, Asperger, age 56, Pacific Northwest

seadeams

seadeams

New Member
Hi everyone, I was professionally diagnosed with Asperger when I was 14. At the time, I was seeing a really dreadful counselor for being a troublesome teen. My stepmother latched onto the diagnosis and convinced my father to put me in a group home. I escaped and was on my own at 14.

I am married, 30 years and now have grandkids that are on the spectrum. I never focused on my Asperger diagnosis and actually resented it. I worry about my grandchildren when I think of my own horrendous childhood. I don't want them to have the bad experiences that I did. I am a artist, so people kind of expected me to be quirky. Glad to have found this forum.
 
Hello & welcome.
seadeams said:
Hi everyone, I was professionally diagnosed with Asperger when I was 14.
Click to expand...
Who was giving out Aspergers diagnoses in 1979...?
full
 
Hi and welcome Alice. how did you manage to escape the group home? My parents wanted to put me in an institution, but the by the time I was old enough it was no longer being done.
 
Hi and welcome. That sounds like a very difficult situation. So sorry that you didn't get better help, sounds like you coped really well, but you shouldn't have had to. It's good that you are here.

Hopefully you don't need to worry for your grandchildren? It's certainly great for them that they have you, and the world is a little further on with understanding autism, though still many challenges and misapprehensions for sure.

I hope that you enjoy it here and find it useful and supportive.

:palmtree::turtle::cactus::snake::herb::bug::fourleaf::leafwind::sunflower:
 
Hello and welcome.

Congratulations on living alone since age 14. This would be a big challenge even for NTs. In my country, teens should liv with parents or other caregivers up to the age of 18.
 
Crossbreed said:
Hello & welcome.

Who was giving out Aspergers diagnoses in 1979...?
full
Click to expand...

" Asperger's syndrome (also known as Asperger's Disorder) was first described in the 1940s by Viennese pediatrician Hans Asperger.

until relatively recently, Asperger was barely known in the English-speaking world. It was only in 1981 that the renowned psychiatrist Lorna Wing introduced the term Asperger’s syndrome in a journal article in Psychological Medicine. From that moment onwards, the syndrome became widely known and was finally incorporated in the DSM in 1994. "

So this should mean that Asperger actually were indeed used from some docs even back in the lait 70`s.

Hello and warm welcome to the forums Alice .

Reg you're grankids id say they are way better of then we in the 70 `s and before as now they have actually started to understand this and how to help and so on. Back in our time they didn't know diddly about any of this NP diagnosis (or any to be honest )
 
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