Rev. Jeff Rader
New Member
Hi, my name is Jeff, I'm 53, and just recently was diagnosed PDD-NOS. In talking with my therapist, I asked what would be appropriate as for talking to others. He told me (high functioning) autistic, ASD, or Aspergers, were just fine.
As it confirmed for me what I'd been suspecting since like the 4th grade, direction-wise, I'd like to say that I was very relieved to hear my official diagnosis. Finally, someone could see what I've been seeing about me, like sense forever.
I never needed to know, until being a worn out, burned out, autistic came between me and my last job. That saga led me to seek professional help, if, for anything, just to recover from that situation. Being worn out and burned out, to the degree I was, was what led me to find out I'm on the spectrum. I just needed to know.
Some background on me is figuring out that I was different from all the other kids and feeling like I was alone, even in a crowd, like somehow I didn't belong. My parents raised me as an NT, training (more like brainwashed) everything autistic out of me. To them, I was a very hardheaded, uncooperative, anti-social, rebellious child. Needless to say, nothing about anything, people-wise, made much sense to me. All I could figure to do was put on an act that made others happy and what kept me from getting disciplined, made fun of, or treated like a child. On the plus side, I seemed to have developed something like the mind of an adult, before I was even a teenager. BTW, I don't blame my folks. They had no idea that I was special needs.
To make a long story short, I would say that I fell through the cracks, but there was no screening for autism when I was young. On the other side, I was far way too high functioning for anyone to consider me being special needs. I got really good at posing as an NT, so good that the act lasted till I was 53. I was fired the very next day.
I've accomplished a lot over the years. My ASVAB score netted me the opportunity to follow any military career path I set my heart on, had I actually passed the physical. Academically, I have an AA in electronics technology and 2 seminary diplomas. I'm also a licensed minister (yep I can legally marry people). As for career accomplishments, I trained myself into a lead tech support job, which led me to teach myself linux, which led to a job doing EDI software support on the UNIX and PC platforms. That led to me having the sole Systems Administrator position, there. From there I went on to be a Sr. Systems Engineer for a Distance Learning university. All of that was accomplished by way of self-educating.
That's enough about me. I myself have so many questions that I'd not know where to begin.
As it confirmed for me what I'd been suspecting since like the 4th grade, direction-wise, I'd like to say that I was very relieved to hear my official diagnosis. Finally, someone could see what I've been seeing about me, like sense forever.
I never needed to know, until being a worn out, burned out, autistic came between me and my last job. That saga led me to seek professional help, if, for anything, just to recover from that situation. Being worn out and burned out, to the degree I was, was what led me to find out I'm on the spectrum. I just needed to know.
Some background on me is figuring out that I was different from all the other kids and feeling like I was alone, even in a crowd, like somehow I didn't belong. My parents raised me as an NT, training (more like brainwashed) everything autistic out of me. To them, I was a very hardheaded, uncooperative, anti-social, rebellious child. Needless to say, nothing about anything, people-wise, made much sense to me. All I could figure to do was put on an act that made others happy and what kept me from getting disciplined, made fun of, or treated like a child. On the plus side, I seemed to have developed something like the mind of an adult, before I was even a teenager. BTW, I don't blame my folks. They had no idea that I was special needs.
To make a long story short, I would say that I fell through the cracks, but there was no screening for autism when I was young. On the other side, I was far way too high functioning for anyone to consider me being special needs. I got really good at posing as an NT, so good that the act lasted till I was 53. I was fired the very next day.
I've accomplished a lot over the years. My ASVAB score netted me the opportunity to follow any military career path I set my heart on, had I actually passed the physical. Academically, I have an AA in electronics technology and 2 seminary diplomas. I'm also a licensed minister (yep I can legally marry people). As for career accomplishments, I trained myself into a lead tech support job, which led me to teach myself linux, which led to a job doing EDI software support on the UNIX and PC platforms. That led to me having the sole Systems Administrator position, there. From there I went on to be a Sr. Systems Engineer for a Distance Learning university. All of that was accomplished by way of self-educating.
That's enough about me. I myself have so many questions that I'd not know where to begin.
