'When did you first realise that you were 'different'?'

The second post from my blog about growing up with undiagnosed autism...

A Martian in the Closet

Parents
  • Don't know if it was an indication of ASD, but finishing an entire set of Encyclopedia's aged 5 and asking my parents about covalent bonds might have been an early one.  I read anything back then.  Fiction, fact, everything in between.  I never had dyspraxia.   In fact I was the kid they couldnt keep in nursery.  I went out of childproof gates, over 9ft walls, over a couple of wooden gates.  i was the nightmare kid that could manipulate a situation and then spring free from confinement.  If I didnt manage to escape i'd just hide out somewhere in the playground.  im sure they were all close to a nervous breakdown for the year I spent there. ;)

    Special schools didn't really exist back then (70's) and my parents even to this day have a view that their is nothing wrong with me, so going to a school for gifted children was never going to be on the books.  What they did do was ensure my life was rich with experiences, like holidays abroad for a month, speaking languages abroad, trips to museums, etc.  So I cant really complain.  But in school it wasn't good.  Outside school I made do.

  • I've just been reading your autobiography in the other section.  

    We have a few things in common.

    I also went to Sheffield Hallam.  Although it was still known by its old name of Sheffield city polytechnic.  I messed up my final year, partly by being emotionally unstable and the only female I could get along with was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.  Living with her took its toll.

    I find it difficult to communicate with normal stable people.  It's the unusual personalities that I feel relaxed with.

Reply
  • I've just been reading your autobiography in the other section.  

    We have a few things in common.

    I also went to Sheffield Hallam.  Although it was still known by its old name of Sheffield city polytechnic.  I messed up my final year, partly by being emotionally unstable and the only female I could get along with was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.  Living with her took its toll.

    I find it difficult to communicate with normal stable people.  It's the unusual personalities that I feel relaxed with.

Children
  • My main friend is an Aspie.  I never knew he was until he was formally diagnosed.  I was just drawn to him because we could sit down and have pretty heavy conversations.  We met on a college course, maybe 16 years ago, but our friendship can be quite hard, since we can have such crazily opposite views.  Also he thinks I have PDA (and I think he's very correct on that assumption).  He also has other issues.  He is very driven in his life.  I seem to be the opposite.