Introduce yourself (part one)

Hello everyone,

I'm Mel, I'm mum to two children, my eldest is 13 (he can be a real handful, I suspect he's on the spectrum but not diagnosed) and lastly my daughter who's 8 and has Autism. We live together with the 5 cats and dog and a few goldfish for good measure. Life is far from dull, in fact it would be nice to experience a few quiet hours of solitude, as just recently home seems to have been rather crazy indeed. I really appreciate the community being established as sometimes it would be nice to chat to people who are experiencing the same as me. My sister also has a son with Autism who's 13 so we have been the only real outlet for each other since the kids were diagnosed.

Can't wait to get chatting to you all, although it will probably be at some obscure time of night :)

Hi

I am a mum with four children - three of whom have high functioning autism (same as their father). They are three boys and one girl. My oldest son is now 21, the second is 20 (not autistic) the third is 18 and my daughter is 16. They are all wonderful and brilliant but life can be rather tiring! It will be so nice to talk to other parents and wifes/fathers who have experienced life with a husband/wife and children with autism.

I teach ICT in a primary school and have a fantastic time as it can be great to get out of the house and chat to friends. My children are not too keen on me going out too much so work is something I feel is very important to me. I also have four dogs that all my children and myself are mad about.

Thank you to all involved for setting up this site as it is so important to talk at times.

Hi Sharon

You are on the road to discovery i wish you lots of good wishes on the journey.  Once you know yourself life will get loads easier.   Acceptance of your wonderful differences will boost your moral.  I have a wonderful son of 26yrs who talks of himself as an Aspie along with all the folks he has met over the years also Aspies he has streaked ahead over the years once he got to understand himself.  Good luck joanie

Hi all

We live in Spain part of the year and at present we are now in Birmingham.  I have only just discovered  this informed site and it looks like it will be enjoyable - so hi to everybody.

James the Aspie of the house, and only one,  is 26yrs young in his second year of Open Uni doing science he wants this to lead to possible Molecular Science - fingers crossed.  He was diagnosed at age 11yrs, and has made his own way to this point without any help, very hard work when young, but now we are all reaping the benefits of James being left to work out for himself what he needs to be doing.  James left school at age 13 teaching himself with very little input from us his parents.  James was born and spent 19 yrs in his birthplace of Falmouth Cornwall.

So if you are finding it hard going with a youngster take heart it all gets so much easier later, and good fun to. 

James has turned into a lovely young man with his own ideas on society.

I will back to input again. joanie

Hello!

My son Simon is 29 and in residential care. He is severely learning disabled with a mental age of less than 2 and autistic. He is physically fit and loves riding a bike. He loves watching the Tour de France: my wife and I have copied hours and hours of coverage from the TV for him over the years and are now fans ourselves! Our great fear at the moment is the removal of mobility allowance for disabled people in care. Despite hints in the media to the contrary the Welfare Bill, published 17 February 2011, makes clear the coalition government intend to press ahead with removing mobility payments to anyone in a care home.

Look forward to discussing this issue with anyone concerned.

I am shell I have aspergers syndrome,I also have 6 children four are on the spectrum

I also have my own forum and facebook groups.

we have lots of pecs and printable social stories if anyone needs any

hello samueljake,

I arrived here for the first time today and so this is a post of self introduction to all and also a friendly nod specifically for you.

I am a woman in my fifties, but somehow not.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers 4 years ago , I have kids both young and older on the spectrum too.

Spent my life either in hiding , resolutely whistling past the graveyard or experiencing major, sometimes prolonged sensory and emotional  meltdowns.

Relationships of all kinds are always a minefield for me and I have now sought rural seclusion as a haven. 

My life experiences are myriad and I am convinced I have PTSD which contributes to the ASD , creating overwhelming anxiety and a permanently lurking depression.

I am inspired by this forum and expect that it will blossom and be of great value to many.

I feel that posts here from others on the spectrum will help me feel less isolated and hopefully more positive about my own existence.

'It's not easy being green' . . . kermit the frog 

Hi!

I'm Sharon, 31, and 5 years ago I was diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum with AS and problems with dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADD.

Before I got my diagnosis I had a lot of issues, including a lot of mental health problems and addiction, but since my diagnosis at Uni I've been on a bit of a journey to learn to understand myself more and how I can be a better person for myself and working with others.

It's not an easy journey but I'm determined not to give up *lol*

Hi

My name is Anita and I have an almost 5 year old son with autism (we've recently been told he's in the middle of the spectrum - ish!!!)

Sean was diagnosed at 2 & 1/2 after stopping speaking overnight (there were earlier signs but as a first time mum I had no benchmarks!) and being referred to SALT. His language is delayed but improving, he is in nappies full time, needs melatonin to sleep, has a very restricted diet, he's very rigid in his behaviour and displays challenging behaviour quite often!! But he is my little angel x x

I also have a 2 year old daughter who so far is showing no signs.

hi,i am a 30something year old with HFA.life has been pretty tough and isolated up til now due to lack of understanding,services and support...spent most of adult life in and out of mental health services without proper diagnosis and badly damaged by psychotropic drugs...and struggling to cope in a world i find hard to relate to..hoping to find others who might understand and so lessen the isolation.thanks.

Hi Karen,

Welcome to the Community :)

Hello, I'm Karen, I have 4 Children, my eldest is a 15 going on 21, who thankfully has no issues, My oldest son is 11 he has autism with a sld, he's non verbal, my daugther is 9 she has aspergers and my baby is 5, he is also autistic, i'm also a branch officer in the NAS

Hi Mrs Ellacott and MumToHarvey

Welcome to the community - hope you'll find it interesting and useful. We look forward to hearing more from you.

I am Casey and I am a single mummy to my 2 sons, Harvey who is 3 and is autistic and Alfie who will be 2 on the 15th April, so to say I have my hands full is an understatement. We first saw the peadiatrician on the 20th August 2010 and he said suspected autism but to come back when he was 3, We went back last Thursday (10th Feb) and he confirmed severe autism, which wasn't much of a shock to be honest because I knew, I'd known for a while that something wasn't quite right with him, He can be difficult as little things can set him off but other times, he's a pleasure to have around, he is at the moment a non verbal autistic, but his support worker said he has a lot of potential as he is very vocal and will make lots of sounds.

Hi everyone. Have only been able to get onto the forum today but very happy I am able to! Been waiting ages to be able to use it!

I am married mum of 4 children, ranging from 11months to 7years old. Our eldest son, who is 5, was diagnosed in June 2010 (Budget Day to be precise) with Childhood Autism. A big sigh of relief came from the diagnosis as we had suspected it for years and had even asked his private nursery who dismissed it.

Our son is high functioning and very intelligent. He is excelling in Maths specifically and he is obsessed with numbers. The teachers have recognised this and are given him harder work than the rest class. He also has speech problems and yet is very good with his phonics (shocked me by reading the words shop and fish the other day). So far he is coping with mainstream school and we have been told it is highly unlikely he will get a statement but have been told about a fantastic high school he can attend when the time comes that he will not need a statement for and will more than accomadate his needs.

His brothers and his sister love him very much and accept his diagnosis as that is the boy they have always known. Daily life can be very stressful as we never know what might set him off, but it is totally worth it as he is a very special boy!

I am yet to realy discover who I am, I have spent decades being who I am required to be, running my-Self as a sub-set of my Psychi. So a bit of work going on there.

17 weeks post diagnosis (Nov 2010), now 48. The 3rd of 5 generations of ASD, with 17 immediate family members by blood and marriage on the spectrum. Married for 15 years to my spectacular and patient partner, civil parnership for 4 years. (Please just get over the semantics already)

Life has been so truamatic I have complex PTSD and have more in common with the South African 30 year war veteran who was a recent coleague, than many people I meet. Medically retired last year, a relief. Independant since age 16, with the scars of vulnerability borne proudly.

High IQ. Massive memory. Photo recall. Self surviving resilliance to be proud of. Poor self esteem, yadda, yadda.

Master carpenter, joiner, truck driver, bus driver, General builder, landscape gardener, and a bag of mixed goodies for suprises.

Twice around the world, traveler and Adventurer. The girl done good for a professional bum doing what came next.

 Hi Hoxtonpaul and Wolfbear,

Thanks for the interesting intro's.

We hope you hang around and enlighten us with your experiences.

Hello JLH9 and welcome to the forum.  I hope that you find it a helpful and supportive place.

I'm sorry to hear that you are finding the forum difficult to use at the moment.  It would be really helpful to us if you could briefly describe the difficulties you have had in the Problems and Suggestions section:
http://community.autism.org.uk/discussions/feedback/problems-suggestions

We may be able to help you with specific issues or there may be more general issues that is will be useful for us to know about to make joining and participation as easy as possible for new users.

I have just got round to registering.  I do hope when this goes live it is much easier to use.

Oh boy, this is going to be fun. 

Back in 2004, I thought I was a normal 41 year old with poorly paid jobs, good looks and huge amounts of positive energy.  Then fate interviened - in a cinema to be precise - and I was diagnosed with Aspergers.  Surely this goes to demonstrate the terrible effect films can have on the mind.

I joined the Autistic underground at the end of that year, and met my Wife in the Autism London social group.  We married in 2007.  Same age as me.  I've worked for the Nas since the start of 2006. which they describe as an experience, an honour and a priviledge.  Good good.

I have held various roles in The Great Dame, which I could list but you'd think I had the spectacular egocentricism typical of my condition.  Whether or not I do is irrelevant to me, which is all that counts.  I hope to start training a London borough's representatives this year, in what Autism is.  So the good looks will come in handy.  Neurotypicals, so easy to manipulate. 

My new website is here:  http://modelaircraftmuseum.webs.com/

I look forward to dialoguing with everyone, and proving that I am more than merely physically attractive.  Please try not to comment how right I am about everything.  It has become so embarressing lately.

Thanks, Paul.