Hi Just Getting To Know People

Aspavao said:

I got a diagnosis of ADHD a while ago and apparently that's common for people on the spectrum.

Yes, that's common to have both ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I have both. ADHD diagnosis came first, then I was referred for an ASD assesment and diagnosis.

This NHS report is interesting guide into how ADHD and ASD overlap.

www.rcpsych.ac.uk/.../Whitwell Susannah - ASD CPD Updates.pdf

Hi Sam and pretty much my age and same story as me there and yeah It's hard to comprehend why you're so quiet,shy and sensitive to being picked on on until you are diagnosed with autism and I find I struggle with Anxiety and hate to be criticized and corrected even if isn't malicious and it's harder for me being reminded of these things because sometime I completely forget I have Autism and then another reminder comes but it's great to see society being more accepting and supportive of people with autism and we are special individuals who have our own awesome qualites that most mainstream do not  

Hi Matthew! Im Sam and I am also 22. I was diagnosed with mild autism when I was very young. 

When I moved to secondary school, I started to notice that I was always the shy, quiet one who hated to be picked on to answer questions etc. I still notice this now and then. 

Look forward to hearing from you :)

Hi and welcome to our forum first and foremost and I'm glad you can relate to what we were talking about it and that's awesome that you're a musician and songwriter and they say songwriting and music is a great way of expressing something that you can't talk about I have written about 30 plus songs in the last 2 years just general stuff so I can relate to what i've wrote whatever mood I'm in and once again welcome to our community. 

Really nice to see some comments here that I also relate to. Especially the 'shallow' talk. I have always found it utterly boring and find it hard to understand why people really are like that. I am musician and songwriter myself and find it helps to process and put life into a creative structure. Currently undiagnosed with Aspergers but seeking a diagnosis! I'm new here as well so thought I'd say hello. I got a diagnosis of ADHD a while ago and apparently that's common for people on the spectrum.

First of all Welcome to the forum and Better late than never and I'm glad you got the answer to your troubles and I find myself more comfortable and myself if that makes sense when I'm by myself and with social gatherings I like them but I'm anxious and nervous from the first to last minute and am keen to avoid them despite enjoying them. Yeah I find most pepole I've met are shallow and pretend to be this great wonderful person who don't judge etc and will be there whatever you need and they do turn round and judge and patronise I find a lot of the time.

Fair enough with the Star Trek it seems pretty cool to me actually just never got into it myself but I can't knock it and I've never read/watched any of them but I shall give them a look up.

Hi guys, thought I'd pitch in with a bit of my own. I was very late diagnosed, so it took a long time to find out who I am, and I'm starting to get an understanding of why my life was always so hard. Anxiety and depression have been my constant companions, and yes, the times when I am most at peace with myself are when I'm alone and pursuing something that's got my attention.

I don't crave company, quite the reverse - I find it tortuous to have to be part of any gathering. I've tried of course, I know we all have, but I get very annoyed with people when we're talking about something serious and they reject serious thought. It's like they're incapable of thinking things through, even when I invite them to with prompts to consider another point of view.

I find humans not only shallow, but content to be so.

I've loved science fiction since I was a boy. John Wyndham managed to frighten me with Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes and The Midwitch Cuckoos, and then totally consoled me with The Chrysalids because I think that's us! If you haven't read it, I recommend it. I can't get enough Star Trek (but I think Star Wars is rubbish, sorry) or any thought provoking film such as Soylent Green. Favourite authors also include Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Dean Koontz and Iain Banks, though not Iain M Banks, strangely.

Got any recommendations?

It's a good thing you've been diagnosed better later than never as they say and the anxiety and depression is something I've always experienced only really noticed it when I started going to college in 2010 and started to notice things about myself and people that I hadn't before  and I can't look people in the eye or I'm a 'quiet one' where some people who don't really know think what's wrong with him because they didn't know about my autism at the time and I'm also proud of 'odd uncool obsessions' because I give people a unique views on things or they end up liking something that they didn't know they liked before and I don't really *** on the odd occassion I admit I do but I'm more about peace and staying out of things and Star Wars was my childhood and WWE wrestling was and Music is a beautiful thing isn't it? I've expressed many of my moods and emotions by writing songs of all kinds and we're all awesome in our own ways and it's a blessing for me not to be a NT in a sense of I am who I am and I'm unique just like everyone else really :)

Hi Mathew,

Welcome, I have been diagnosed later at 49. I am just coming to grips with how Aspergers has been affecting me all my life. I think top of the list of struggles I experience is the Anxiety & Depression. Not too bothered about social problems, but I have not been able to build friendships and relationships, and the loss of close family support and time with friends is very difficult. Living in general is very hard these days living alone, I am very comfortable in my own company. Not sure this is to do with aspergers, but I have intense fear of germs and contamination, and difficulties in Supermarkets, and loud social places.

I work as a web site developer, and excel at that work because of my aspergers. I am also proud of my odd uncool obsessions which I feel are far more meaningful than some peers at work obsessed with just going out to get smashed at any excuse, or the intense fascination with celebreties. I hate all the backchat and "bitching" conversations at work, and proud I am not wired like that.

My hobbies and obsessions are very varied. I was very obsessed with sci-fi mainly star wars and aliens, particularly the art and design of those. That followed in to space history, I have met a number of apollo / gemini / mercury / russian astronauts. More recently I have got in music, dabbled with playing guitar and keyboards, but mainly going to music gigs, and updating my stereo at home. Collecting things, have star wars stuff, space artefacts, model kits, lego, old home computers. I don't discuss it at all, its all very uncool in the NT world.