Family Reactions To Aspergers

[Gomendosi]

Primarily this is aimed at those people here who discovered someone in their family had Aspergers.
Whether that someone is a parent, uncle or auntie, sibling, child or (if you really want to post) even a significant other!
Regardless of whether you have known them a long time and they just got diagnosed or if they where diagnosed a long time ago and you just found out.

I am curious to learn how you took the news;
Did it make you change your life to fit their condition or only how you interact with the aspergical individual?
Was it automatically a burden or a relief to have a label on their quirks and oddities?
Did you wonder if it runs in the family and could you or your children have it?

My own family has all but denied anything is different; one even went so far as to say I was imagining it and that I was always just ?difficult?.
It has been hard but I learned a long time ago that I am the only one I have that understands me and even I am still learning about myself, so I adjusted to their attitudes.

Please feel free to either answer the questions or discuss at length ; ]

 

[Bay]

I am the only person in my family that has been willing to or interested in "looking under the hood" (or bonnet?) to see if there is any Aspergers there. Some people have reacted with a sort of "whatever..." others have been sympathetic, and others have insisted upon a course of denial. I wish I could speak to your question but, as usual, I am the odd girl out in my family and therefore the only one.

 

[Arashi222]

I too am the only one in my family. I don't have enough contact with my father's side of the family to find out for sure. My family tends to be ok with me as it was kinda relief that there was a reason that there were things I just didn't understand and maybe never will. I think about people in my family and wonder if others are but they don't seem to be like me at all.

 

[Superphonic]

I'm the mom of a 4 year old recently diagnosed. For me it was a relief to know that there was a neurological cause to the difficult behaviors. This meant we could zoom in on the most effective means to help. I think my husband is still processing it. He was hoping that our son would grow out of his difficulties, that it was a phase. The difficulties are going to transform, but the challenge will remain. He loves our son and thinks he's brilliant, as do I, but raising him requires a very higher level of energy. The fear (that I share to some extent) is to run out of steam and not be able to give our son the fullest possible support. The fact that our child is excentric doesn't bother us, on the contrary, he makes us laugh a lot with his original takes on things. But we want to encourage the development of his social abilities to the fullest so that he doesn't feel isolated later on.