Concise

Hi there.

You’ve found the That explains everything: Concise edition.

If you are here because I asked you to take a look, then thanks for dropping by – I hope that in just five minutes or so, the  notes here give you an understanding of Asperger’s Syndrome, and how it affects me. If you’ve just stumbled here from elsewhere then you too are most welcome.

This page is still a work in progress right now. Your comments would be most welcome.

So, first things first:

What is Asperger’s Syndrome?

• A condition on the Autism Spectrum – it is a form of autism
• Pervasive – Asperger’s affects all areas of a person’s life
• A life-long condition – It is present from birth to death, and whilst many find techniques to help them cope, the problems it causes never go away.
• A genetic condition – It runs in families. It isn’t caused by the MMR jab.

“But you don’t have autism!”

• It’s very likely that Autism isn’t what you think it is. I had misconceptions about Autism before I learned about it too.
• Autism covers a wide range of different traits that affect people to different degrees, and in different combinations.
• Asperger’s is generally classified as a High Functioning Autism. This means that those who suffer from it often appear to be reasonably normal.
• Appearances can be deceptive.

“I still don’t see your AS”

• Unless you know someone with AS quite well, there is a good chance you’d miss it.
• Even then it’s easy to put it down the visible clues to eccentricity or other conditions such as anxiety or depression.

The great pretender

• As I learnt about my AS in adulthood, I naturally developed a number tricks whilst growing up to make me appear more normal.
• Much of my social interaction is mimicry and acting. This tires me out very quickly.
• I have a large library of learnt responses to different situations that I fall back on.

Poor social skills

• I don’t read non-verbal cues, and I don’t look you in the eye.
• I have limited intuition in conversations. You find it easy to make a conversation flow, and I don’t.
• I process conversation in real time, and often fall back on what I hope is a suitable stock answer based on what you’ve said.
• Group conversations are difficult as I can’t keep up with multiple people speaking. I tend to be quiet in group conversations for this reason. Allow me to go away and process my thoughts, and I’ll have some good answers for you.

Sensory overload

• Too much sensory input overloads me, and causes me to withdraw.
• I’m particularly bad with loud shrill noises.
• Don’t tickle me – I find it almost painful, and it causes me to lash out.

Routine

• I find routine to be very important
• I dislike having my routine changed once it has been decided.
• I’m like a train on rails – I want to keep going straight on, even though you might want me to go in a different direction

I grew up feeling different

• I grew up feeling as though I was different to my peers in a way that I couldn’t describe.
• I didn’t fit in, and had few friends.
• The world has never quite made sense to me
• I find people to be awfully unpredictable

AS often leads to other conditions that are more obvious

• I have suffered for many years from Anxiety. I’ve suffered on and off from depression too.
• Both of these are very common in people with AS – when you’re world doesn’t make sense, and people are unpredictable it’s natural that the world is going to weigh heavy on your shoulders from time to time.

This isn’t going to go away

• AS is lifelong
• You can’t learn away the traits, but you can often learn coping strategies that help make them less of a problem. I already have many many of these.
• Some find that the problems AS causes ease with age. This may be because they come to terms with the issues it causes, and learn effective coping strategies.