JohnH
Well-Known Member
Hello folks!
I'm an adult (56) male US Citizen, undiagnosed, but I have enough symptoms and traits that match Asperger's Syndrome that it's a pretty fair bet that I am on the spectrum to some extent. However, I am either very high functioning, or have just learned to adapt to it over the years to where I have overcome many issues and fit in with with regular NT society.
As I've read a number of the threads here for a while I see a lot of myself in some of you, and others I see are struggling with things that I have figured out ways to understand or deal with, but had the same issues that you did when I was younger.
I'm happily married and gainfully employed as an IT professional. I'm lucky enough to work with people who have learned to accept my somewhat odd and quirky (to them) personality traits, and the typical Aspie strengths (rigidly logical thinking, rule-following, blunt honesty, and lack of political game-playing) are actually valued because they are a rare skill set that is needed.
My older sister recently revealed to me that when I was around 5 or 6, the school I was attending told my parents they thought I might be autistic based on some tests they had given me, but that I had a very high IQ (allegedly 155 though I believe that too be too high). My parents decided I didn't need to be "burdened" with that knowledge so they never told me. That would have been in the early 1960s so Asperger's Syndrome was not a formal diagnosis at the time.
I had read up on AS years ago and noticed that some (but not all) of the characteristics definitely applied to me. It wasn't until speaking with my sister about that secret diagnosis and discussing it more fully with my wife that I came to really fully realize that, oh yeah, that explains SO much about my life. My wife was a bit amused because as a nurse she was well aware of me having AS and thought I knew as well.
I don't want to make this a book-length intro post, but I just wanted to say hello and put a little out there about me. I hope to learn a lot from everyone and maybe help out here and there where I have an insight or experience that I can share that may help someone.
~ John
I'm an adult (56) male US Citizen, undiagnosed, but I have enough symptoms and traits that match Asperger's Syndrome that it's a pretty fair bet that I am on the spectrum to some extent. However, I am either very high functioning, or have just learned to adapt to it over the years to where I have overcome many issues and fit in with with regular NT society.
As I've read a number of the threads here for a while I see a lot of myself in some of you, and others I see are struggling with things that I have figured out ways to understand or deal with, but had the same issues that you did when I was younger.
I'm happily married and gainfully employed as an IT professional. I'm lucky enough to work with people who have learned to accept my somewhat odd and quirky (to them) personality traits, and the typical Aspie strengths (rigidly logical thinking, rule-following, blunt honesty, and lack of political game-playing) are actually valued because they are a rare skill set that is needed.
My older sister recently revealed to me that when I was around 5 or 6, the school I was attending told my parents they thought I might be autistic based on some tests they had given me, but that I had a very high IQ (allegedly 155 though I believe that too be too high). My parents decided I didn't need to be "burdened" with that knowledge so they never told me. That would have been in the early 1960s so Asperger's Syndrome was not a formal diagnosis at the time.
I had read up on AS years ago and noticed that some (but not all) of the characteristics definitely applied to me. It wasn't until speaking with my sister about that secret diagnosis and discussing it more fully with my wife that I came to really fully realize that, oh yeah, that explains SO much about my life. My wife was a bit amused because as a nurse she was well aware of me having AS and thought I knew as well.
I don't want to make this a book-length intro post, but I just wanted to say hello and put a little out there about me. I hope to learn a lot from everyone and maybe help out here and there where I have an insight or experience that I can share that may help someone.
~ John
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