Hello, I am a new member to this forum. I am 31 yrs old and am family-diagnosed with Asperger's within the last four or five weeks and am in the process of setting up an appointment for an official diagnosis. I love watching anime and superhero movies and have always read voraciously, amassing a collection of five or six hundred books (probably around 92% fantasy, 3% scifi, 5% other).
We have quite the history with Autism in my family. One of my younger brothers was diagnosed in his early 20's as autistic but it wasn't until my father was diagnosed at the age of 56 yrs that we began to see just how prevalent it is in all of our near relations--my other brother was diagnosed at 16, one of my brothers-in-law at 28, all five of my nephews (three diagnosed 2 suspected), and at least one niece are on the spectrum. It's on both sides of my family as well-my dad's mother is very likely on the spectrum and my mom's brother was diagnosed back in the 70's and we strongly suspect her father of having been on the spectrum as well.
While not as impacted as most of my relations I have definitely had some struggles, most recently recurrent depression along with (new the last couple of years) anxiety. I have had migraines my entire life, which my mom speculates go back to my infancy and which I now recognize are frequently triggered when I run up against my "autistic buttons". It is easier for me to list what foods I can eat than those that I can't and I recently have developed a need to wear headphones at work to block out stimuli that I can no longer filter out on my own due to increased stress at work. Oh yeah, and I cannot clean my own bedroom. I can manage a team of 25 individuals but cannot clean my own bedroom. I just shut down.
I have also had an extremely difficult time over the last 8 months or so to even go to work. I would find myself sitting on my couch with 10 minutes until I needed to leave and then wouldn't move for another couple of hours, and then missing days altogether. I began seeing a therapist which helped, but when I could no longer afford sessions the anxiety came right back. It hasn't been until the last couple of days, today in particular, that I'm coming to understand more of how Aspergers affects me in my life and in the workplace. I can finally start planning on how to use Aspergers to benefit myself and my team (I run four specialty gift shops) for long-term growth.
I have also been very blessed in my life to have a father who has had my back for decades. He has understood me better than I have myself and my greatest times of personal learning and growth have come with his support and guidance. I have also picked his brain extensively about his own experiences with autism and am glad to finally know why we get each other so well! I'm also glad that my mother and I get along so much better now that we both know why I can't clean my own bedroom, lol.
Before this turns into a "dead sea scroll" as my boss would call it, know that I am grateful to have found this forum and look forward to having a place I can be myself without fear.
We have quite the history with Autism in my family. One of my younger brothers was diagnosed in his early 20's as autistic but it wasn't until my father was diagnosed at the age of 56 yrs that we began to see just how prevalent it is in all of our near relations--my other brother was diagnosed at 16, one of my brothers-in-law at 28, all five of my nephews (three diagnosed 2 suspected), and at least one niece are on the spectrum. It's on both sides of my family as well-my dad's mother is very likely on the spectrum and my mom's brother was diagnosed back in the 70's and we strongly suspect her father of having been on the spectrum as well.
While not as impacted as most of my relations I have definitely had some struggles, most recently recurrent depression along with (new the last couple of years) anxiety. I have had migraines my entire life, which my mom speculates go back to my infancy and which I now recognize are frequently triggered when I run up against my "autistic buttons". It is easier for me to list what foods I can eat than those that I can't and I recently have developed a need to wear headphones at work to block out stimuli that I can no longer filter out on my own due to increased stress at work. Oh yeah, and I cannot clean my own bedroom. I can manage a team of 25 individuals but cannot clean my own bedroom. I just shut down.
I have also had an extremely difficult time over the last 8 months or so to even go to work. I would find myself sitting on my couch with 10 minutes until I needed to leave and then wouldn't move for another couple of hours, and then missing days altogether. I began seeing a therapist which helped, but when I could no longer afford sessions the anxiety came right back. It hasn't been until the last couple of days, today in particular, that I'm coming to understand more of how Aspergers affects me in my life and in the workplace. I can finally start planning on how to use Aspergers to benefit myself and my team (I run four specialty gift shops) for long-term growth.
I have also been very blessed in my life to have a father who has had my back for decades. He has understood me better than I have myself and my greatest times of personal learning and growth have come with his support and guidance. I have also picked his brain extensively about his own experiences with autism and am glad to finally know why we get each other so well! I'm also glad that my mother and I get along so much better now that we both know why I can't clean my own bedroom, lol.
Before this turns into a "dead sea scroll" as my boss would call it, know that I am grateful to have found this forum and look forward to having a place I can be myself without fear.
