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Initially this whole thing was a relief but at the same time unchartered territory for me and hard to process and understand.  There doesn’t’ seem to be a definitive description of Aspergers. The most useful I ahve found comes from the Autism Edu website.
Asperger’s Syndrome – Is a pervasive developmental disorder that is characterized by near normal language acquisition accompanied by marked delays in the social domain. Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome have normal to above normal intelligence and tend to have restricted areas of interests. Many people/professionals refer to High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) as one in the same. There is still a lot of controversy as to whether AS and HFA should be two distinct disorders. It is important to note though that some children diagnosed with classic Autism at an early age can gain so much skills that by the time they are adolescents they do not fit the criteria for Autism according to the DSM IV, but Asperger’s Syndrome.
Basically, my brain is wired a bit differently – I see things and process in ways other people don’t. I struggle with things that other people don’t. But at least understanding that my brain is wired differently, removes the pressure to be something i am not.  Spending so long trying to be like everyone else causes exhaustion, frustration and contributes to depression.   Instead I can put things in place to avoid the frustration or at least recognise the areas that can cause frustration and when those things do happen – (which they will) I can try react in a way that is appropriate.
Imagine computers, on the whole computers at the same they look similar, some look prettier than others, some have better memory than others, some a larger than others.   Having Aspergers is a bit like being a MAC in the world of computers. Basically we are the same, but sometimes we are hard to communicate with, sometimes we don’t’ respond as expected,  and some things we do exceptional well don’t take that analogy too far though!
I struggle to keep myself in check, trying not to expect people to understand and treat me differently, trying not to fall into the victim spirit.  I do epically fail on so many occasions I am only at the start of this journey and I hope over time I can make more adjustments and observe my behaviour and thought processes earlier.
I’ll some more later down the line about how it works out in my life.
