I really don’t know how to cope with my friend who has diagnosed Asperger’s recently

PPS Like other person said, and it is a common sense, that you cannot change others. I think I should stop struggling with her. Because it is not my issue. Eventually, it is her choice to select how to live and who you want to have as friends. If she wants to connect with only people with Aspergar’s and its doctors, then it is her life. My friends are right. It is wasting time. 

You helped me to make my mind to end up friendship with her. Thank you.

I too feel difficulties and complications with human relationship. Guess I am too sensitive and feel/think things differently. I sometimes never understand others and others ‘s perceptions regarding me are quite different from how I feel inside. 

However, I think that is life. It is impossible that everyone understands you and so do you. I sometimes do not understand myself! So how others can understand me even though I do not!

We all are completely different from each other. We are individuals having own nature and characters. There may be 10 different ways to feel/think things differently when there are 10 people. People do misunderstand each other. So, there is no point to focus on considering why others do not understand you or why you do not feel/think things like others. It is easy to say, difficult to do, but I learned this from my life experiences. Not focusing on ‘you are at the centre in the world’ is really helps me to cope with all difficulties with others. Appreciation and gratitude are the most important for us to have to cope with living our own life. I still struggle with loads of things though.

I use the word ‘eccentric’ because I thought it was the most suitable. There is no other deeper meanings. This is just what I struggle with my friend. She points out and tries to correct/discuss the meaning of the words. She focuses one word if she thinks that I may use it incorrectly. Then she does not see the point we discuss...

Generally she tries to explain how she feels/thinks and expects me to feel/think like she does. I do to her and others sometimes but it is not a big issue when they do not do so. Because we are different. But she always tries to judge things/people in a manner of right or wrong, good or bad or should or shouldn’t when she see them. This is getting worse since she met Asperger’s SNS friend and psychiatrist.

It would be wonderful if everyone understands to each other. But we had better know that is impossible. You see others are doing well but they may not. You see they enjoy their life but they may not. It is impossible for us to see things behind people. This can say for all people regardless you are diagnosed with Asperger’s or not.  So no point to keep considering why others do not understand you.

1. Fixed ideas such as ‘I can’t do because of my Asperger’s’ again never work for me because my friend was amazing to challenge stuff before. Now she seems to make some invisible barriers around her and shut her life out from the ‘normal’ world, that is reality and ups and downs in people’s life. 

PS. Please do not start to discuss what is ‘normal’!

NAS36152 said:

She excuses negative things because of Asperger’s now, I am afraid. I do not want her to be like that. She was much open-minded before.....

'Negative' in what way?  Negative in your perception?  Which isn't, perhaps, her perception at all.

Maybe it's that she felt - as many undiagnosed autistic people do - that she had to try to fit in, in order to gain acceptance.  So, she had to try to learn to do things that NTs - of whatever race or culture - take for granted.  She also had to wear masks to compensate for her perceived deficits.  It's often very hard to do these things.  It's exhausting.  Many late-diagnosed people have had real struggles in life.  I myself have never been able to make or keep friends, sustain relationships, etc.  I can't read body language and gestures very well.  Although some of that can be culture-specific, there is also a good degree of universality to such things.  Less than 10% of communication is verbal.  So, that puts people with autism at a severe disadvantage.  And then, with mild autism - Asperger's - you have the added problem of seeming to be 'normal' in most other respects: you can live your life independently, manage a home, study, work, drive, etc.  So others look at you and see a human being just like any other.  But you're not.  And if you're undiagnosed, what else can you do but simply try to keep up?  Do things that aren't natural to you, perhaps - like go to parties and clubs - simply because everyone else is, and you don't want to feel left out.

With a diagnosis, you finally see that there's a reason why you struggle with such things.  It's because you're wired differently.  What others can do without a problem, and seem to enjoy - you struggle with, and possibly dislike.  So the tables get turned a bit.  No longer do you have to change to suit everyone else.  Everyone else (hopefully) needs to accept you for who you are instead.  Unfortunately, that often doesn't happen.  Even with me.  I work in an autism unit, alongside neurotypical staff who are trained to understand autistic behaviour.  Even so, they get it wrong - expecting me to be able to do things simply because they can do them.  Expecting me to be flexible.  Expecting me to accept change quickly.  I used to struggle enormously in these areas.  I still do - but at least now I have something on my side defending me: my diagnosis, which says I struggle with these things, and therefore need people to make allowances for me.  You wouldn't expect someone with one leg shorter than the other to walk without limping, as you do.  They'd need help with that.  It's the same kind of thing.  It's just that, being in the head, you can't see it.  Or you can - in 'eccentric' behaviour.  Eccentric behaviour is relative.  What's eccentric to an NT isn't necessarily so to an ND.

Thank you for your response.

I am not a robot, either. 

NAS36152 said:

I do not want her to be like that.

Hint: It's wrong to try to impose your wants on other people. You are trying to change your friend against her will. She is not your robot.

Try this:

re-write your complaint using "I" language. 

Example:

When <<impersonal event>> happens, I think <<meaning>> and I feel <<emotion>>. I need <<change>>. 

Thank you so much for your response. 

I too am a kind of minority here in England. I am foreign.

I too felt that I was so different from others when I was in my own country because my way of thinking was very different from others. Also, others saw me different from them because of my appearance. I do not look like people who are in my country. I still feel that I am very different from people here because of cultural backgrounds. I do get depressed and feel difficult to change things. I have experienced to stay home for nearly 2 years and avoided contacting others. Therefore, it is so hard to accept that there are huge differences between me and my friend. She is not the only one who feels different from others and suffers from it.

However, I always try to appropriate what I have,  where I am, being able to see and hear, being able to eat and drink, my heart beats and my organs do function and well-being of my parents and myself although I become negative so many times. It is very hard to keep gratitude when things are so tough, but that is my attitude of life: appreciation and gratitude. 

I was very patient at first when I met her. I even liked her eccentric nature. I tried to understand her tough experiences and was empathetic. We discussed life attitudes many times but it did not work for her and our friendship, especially we both were so stressed in own issues...I did not shout at her from the beginning though...

If she keeps listening to only her SNS Asperger’s friend and psychiatrist, then I do not think that I can continue this friendship because there is no actual communication with her...

We are so different from each other, aren’t we? We have diversity, don’t we? But we all are just human beings. Why can’t we accept it and keep continuing our life with appreciation and gratitude?

She excuses negative things because of Asperger’s now, I am afraid. I do not want her to be like that. She was much open-minded before.....

There's such a lot I could say, but the main thing is...

Do you still want to be friends with her?

If so - if she means more to you than superficialities - then perhaps try to accept her.  Talk to her about her condition and how it affects her.  Find out about it yourself.

You said:

'Since she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, for me, she now excuses everything that she cannot do or change because of having Asperger’s. It really does not work for me...'

You could, perhaps, try to understand that when someone gets a diagnosis like this - as I did myself a couple of years ago, at age 56 - it can make a profound difference.  Suddenly, all of those problems you had in life - people not seeming to like you, never feeling like you fit in, feeling anxious around others a lot of the time - make sense.  It's like someone's given you a code that breaks the puzzle.  And of course, when that happens, it's natural to use it to try to explain so many things.  Is she making excuses?  Or are there genuinely things that she cannot change, or will struggle to change?  I work with highly-autistic people.  If they do something that most people would perceive to be 'wrong' - such as shout in public, or try to flush clothing down the toilet - you can't just stop them doing it.  It's a behaviour trait that needs time and patience and careful work before it can be moderated or changed.

It makes me wonder if your attitude towards her - your self-confessed short-temperedness - is making her react in the way she is by saying she can't change. She feels like she's under attack.  Maybe you need - if you wish to retain her friendship - to show a little more patience and understanding.  Also, it might help to take a look around on some of these threads.  See what other people with Asperger's are saying.  Try to learn a little from it.

She's not like you.  She's neurodiverse, not neurotypical.  She doesn't see the world in the same way you do, and she's in a minority.  It's not an easy place to be.  And other people can often make it much harder.