Hello everyone. It's really interesting for me to read this. I'm not neurotypical but apparently I'm not classifiable into Aspie, just near the cusp somewhere (and being here is partly to learn more). My husband is almost certainly at least cusp Aspie, no official diagnosis (and he wouldn't want an official diagnosis). One thing I do definitely have is complex PTSD (diagnosed) from growing up in a really rough family. I didn't know I had that for much of my life, until it became really obvious with flashback nightmares in mid-life. At first I didn't even want to talk to my GP about that - at the time I was afraid I'd not be able to stop crying if I started (that's how lots of people feel when their behind-the-wall stuff finally becomes emotionally accessible for them).
But she was great and in the wake of the nightmares starting I became super-absorbed in mental health/emotional trauma learning (is this response familiar to anyone here?). Half a year later I'd done much of the emotional trauma processing that my past required, and then I started openly talking and writing about stuff like this, because of the need to reduce the stigma around it, the need to educate the public, and the fact that the thing that helped me the most (apart from my husband, my GP and some good music) was reading the stories of other people who'd gone through similar things. So I started giving back that way as well, and writing about cPTSD and emotional trauma for those who had no idea what that's all about.
But I think it's a different thing talking about having a trauma disorder, and talking about Aspergers. I'm not neurotypical and I don't hide that and do talk about it, but if I had an official Aspie classification I'm not sure I'd be as open about that as I have been about the things I am. And that's mainly because I wouldn't wish to be put in a box, or to have people talking down to me, as a lot of ignorant people seem to do with something like this - with a neurological difference that's been lampooned and stereotyped on stupid shallow shows (my opinion) like Big Bang or whatever that was called, with the ha-ha laugh track so people know when to laugh (pathetic). Don't get me started. By the way, if any of you are Aspie and actually enjoy that show, tell me more!
Or maybe I would, if I was definitely Aspie and felt I could do some much-needed deconstructing around that socially. I will say one thing - the average neurotypical person isn't that wise, so it's funny they should react that way (or on the contrary, maybe that explains it).
I'm open about cPTSD mostly because I don't care if anyone as a result wants to see me as somehow emotionally broken or weak or a victim or whatever. I know it's not true, and I know educating one person is worth ten people continuing to blunder on in their prejudices and ignorance.
Anyway, hello again.
