Introducing Myself

[Gratiaetnatura]

Hi, I am a philosophy professor and creative writer in North Carolina (originally from Tennessee). I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as an adult in my forties, and that made sense of much of my behavior: awkwardness around people, being overly blunt, having obsessive interests, disdaining small talk, not looking people in the eye--and more. I'm posting a link--please do not take this an an ad--I'd rather you read the interview and gain some insight into the things I dealt with growing up with Asperger's. It is embarrassing having to deal with obsessions and not being able to relate to people to the point that some people are turned off--thankfully not all, and I have improved in my ability to deal with people. Today I sometimes think that I'm not the one who is odd--the so-called "normal" people are the ones who are odd. Novelist Offers Insight into Asperger's Syndrome - National Entertainment | Examiner.com

 

[Tarragon]

Hello and welcome to AC! overly blunt? Moi? most definitely it is the vast majority of these hairless monkeys roaming the planet who are odd, not us!!

'xcuse me when I go throw another banana!

:bounce:

 

[Gratiaetnatura]

Thanks for the welcome. You're right--we're not odd! I agree with the caption under your photo, too. Good to meet you.

 

[Vanilla]

Hi

Welcome! I'm new to this site too. It's cool to find a novelist on here. I read of the article you linked; you sound like someone with a lot of interesting things to say. While I don't have any formal education in psychology, I do have a huge interest in it (which you can imagine, began when I grew frustrated of not understanding other people). So obviously I love to understand what makes people tick. Sometimes I find that I've even trained myself to spot traits in people, that others don't see at first, which surprises them; though I still have much to learn.

I understand what you mean by being overly blunt; I've had to learn to tone that down myself over the years, as well as learning people don't always want to talk about the topics that interest you. I've learned to drop hints, that may start a conversation, and leaving the ball in their court. There was one time, when I was feeling lonely; my sister urged me to try an online dating site. Rather than going on there to be romantic, and find a man, I would talk about things that interested me, in a very analytical sense. It wasn't until later, I realised how odd this was, and why no one stuck around for long, haha. After a while, I found that didn't matter to me, and I would use the websites to conduct social experiments, which I would inform people of. Some found what I had to say interesting for a time, but then also moved on. Needless to say, what I learned was valuable (who would have thought).

I too used to prefer being with adults when I was younger. My family often told me I was born a forty year old, but adults loved to talk to me. Adults who were double my age, would tell me that I was more mature than most adults that they knew. I was never able to relate to teenagers, which I always thought was odd. Night clubs, binge drinking, and all sorts of rebellious stereotypical behaviour baffled me, which is probably why my sister and I stopped being so close once she became a teenager.

 

[Warwick C]

Welcome Gratiaetnatura to aspies central. I am finding there is a wide range of age when being diagnosed, my self in my late forties. I have only browsed your link but will read it later on.

 

[MoCoffee]

Welcome to aspiescentral Gratiaetnatura! I look forward to hearing more from you, and I'm very pleased you found us.

 

[Geordie]

Welcome Gratiaetnatura to Aspies Central!

We aren't odd. We're just different. And take away the t off autism, you get 'awesome'.
Hopefully you'll enjoy AC

 

[Ruire]

Hello!

That is something I don't actually have for aspergers... I wasn't friends with older kids or adults, i was friends with younger ones. They were simpler. I didn't really talk at all though... I was the really strong silent type.