Hello, I realized I was different my entire life and grew up in the 1980s when autism wasn't as widely diagnosed as it is today or understood. I was always considered different and bullied. I was kicked out of my grade school and sent to a school for intellectually handicapped students. I was treated worse at this school as there were also normal students and they disliked the intellectually handicapped and intellectually challenged students. This was a very traumatic experience for me and didn't fit in with the intellectually handicapped/challenged students since many of them had problems such as abuse by parents that wasn't something I experienced.
It's been a rough experience as it seemed I was different but nobody could figure out what I had. For example, some teachers felt I was intellectually challenged but when IQ testing was done, they came back normal. Many teachers felt I was too dumb to learn but others felt I had the brainpower to be a good student but was just "lazy".
It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned I may be on the spectrum. A therapist indicated that I have several signs that I have Aspergers Syndrome which was about the only time a diagnosis made sense. Other times I was just diagnosed as having performance anxiety or social anxiety. Others said I have general anxiety. One therapist even claimed I had schizophrenia but none of these diagnoses seemed to be accurate for me.
I never went through the efforts to become officially diagnosed but my therapist was very confident that the tests would indicate Asperger's Syndrome. She indicated that it was easy to diagnose me incorrectly with anxiety disorders such as me being nervous all the time and afraid to look people in the eye. She felt that the nervousness and eye contact problems indicated something other than anxiety and with other symptoms such as problems socializing, she felt I most likely have Aspergers. I was an average student and struggled in college but was able to get a college degree.
It's been a rough experience as it seemed I was different but nobody could figure out what I had. For example, some teachers felt I was intellectually challenged but when IQ testing was done, they came back normal. Many teachers felt I was too dumb to learn but others felt I had the brainpower to be a good student but was just "lazy".
It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned I may be on the spectrum. A therapist indicated that I have several signs that I have Aspergers Syndrome which was about the only time a diagnosis made sense. Other times I was just diagnosed as having performance anxiety or social anxiety. Others said I have general anxiety. One therapist even claimed I had schizophrenia but none of these diagnoses seemed to be accurate for me.
I never went through the efforts to become officially diagnosed but my therapist was very confident that the tests would indicate Asperger's Syndrome. She indicated that it was easy to diagnose me incorrectly with anxiety disorders such as me being nervous all the time and afraid to look people in the eye. She felt that the nervousness and eye contact problems indicated something other than anxiety and with other symptoms such as problems socializing, she felt I most likely have Aspergers. I was an average student and struggled in college but was able to get a college degree.
