ASPIES ARE AWESOME!!!!!!

Okay, I've gotta go but just really quickly I don't get why everyone is so miserable about having Aspergers! Everyone is always just looking for newer and better way to be NT but guys, you are NOT the same as everyone else and you've got to accept that. If I was trying to be the same as everyone else, I wouldn't be happy. I am different and I am also extremely confident, self-assured and proud of who I am and because of that I am popular. The best and most interesting people I meet are not neurotypicals- they are the people that are different! I love having Aspergers Syndrome and I couldn't imagine anything worse than being the same as everyone else. You guys can think in a way other people can't think, appreciate and see life in a way no neurotypical can. All my friends are neurotypical and we socialise in big groups and talk and laugh and muck around and then I come home and they're all bloody calling me coz they're crying and don't know what they're doing wrong and don't know why people don't like them or why they are looked at that way and so often though they appear happy in a group THEY ARE NOT. My NT friends always say they wish they were different and confident like me. You guys have what no one else has. You are unique! Be proud!!!!!!!

I am proud of who I am, my faults as well as my strong points. But just remember, JustSomeRandom, that there are varying levels of all ASDs. You and I are very high functioning aspies. We can cope well enough in social situations (I get by despite my anxieties), and we have at least a few friends. But there are people on this board who are not, who can not and who do not. Because of the differences there are in every single case of Asperger's, some people don't have that confidence. Some people lack the ability to "just be confident" and "be proud" of who they are. They aren't able to do this because their AS has inflicted their life in so many ways. Some people have it much, much harder than others.

If you're super glad you have AS, I'm happy for you. I love who I am - I'm brilliant, I'm funny, I'm quirky, I scored As without even trying, I have a much higher IQ than my friends and I see the world in a very unique, very interesting way. At the same time, I have a wife. She loves me, and she supports me, but dammit I treat her BADLY sometimes. I flip out, I freak out, and I snap at her. She has a rough time. Would things be better if I didn't have these fits or "meltdowns"? Yes, they would. We would fight less and have intimate relations much more than we do currently. I also suffer with OCD, which is hard to cope with. My anger issues and social anxieties are the worst part, I think. Not to mention everytime I eat ANYTHING I feel fat and sick and disgusting because I suffered with an eating disorder for over two years and am still recovering from it, where I would eat five soda crackers and an apple on a GOOD day. I'm presuming, from what I've read and my own self-journey, that my AS (hypersensitivity to food, anxieties, lack of control, guilt and self-hatred over my fits of rage) caused my anorexia/bulimia, which would've killed me had I not gotten it under control.

It's really awesome that you have so many friends and that you've accepted your disorder - I'm currently going through the stages of acceptance, learning that I have what I have and I need to move on and work with the hand God dealt me. But please remember that there are other people on this board who DON'T have the levels of confidence we do, who aren't as capable in social situations, and who have it far, far worse than we do. Like every disorder, there are varying levels, and we are lucky we are who we are. Aspies are amazing, creative, bright, wonderful people. But there is a level of sufferage that comes with the disorder and, as an online support group, this is the place where we talk about the things that hurt as well as our accomplishments, and we help each other cope and move forward.

i feel compelled to be honest here. my life has been hell. and it has taken me well over 40 years to figure out why too. so, no, i don't think asperger's syndrome is anything to be particularly proud of. but there again, nor do i think that of neuro-typicality either. i think people are what they are and i take them as i find them. there are good and bad things about everyone you will ever meet. you just have to try to remember to look for the good and over-look the bad.

now, i'm guessing you've decided to embrace your asperger's syndrome diagnosis somewhat. if so, may i enquire why?

you say you should be proud of this syndrome, but then why try to cure people with autism?, why the ###$ cure?, you've been diagnosed? You are all diagnosed with an autistic Shortcomings and has the skills, which are your skills? if autism is treated means that life is better than normal, or am I wrong?

Well everyone has short comings; we just think ours are worse then everyone elses because we get trapped in the legendary analyisis - paralysis loop

I do not hate having AS.I embrace it and I am happy. I like the gifts it has brought me and I have a husband. He loves me the way I am. There are aspies out there who have it a lot worse than me so they will be unhappy about it and struggle more and I have it mildly so I am lucky. I can get bad at times because the anxiety makes the symptoms worse but most of the times, I'm mild.

i don't hate having AS either although in many instances i do not like it and it causes me and other people pain. i definitely can't say that i embrace it nor can i say that i am 'proud' of it. how can you be proud of something that you were born with?

i suppose i conceive of the concept of pride as something that results from some sort of achievement. for instance, i am proud when i have a successful social interaction because i have put effort into learning how to do that. then again, i don't really identify as being a member of an 'Asperger's group' - as it is an inscribed group, a group that i did not choose. i feel much the same way about my nationality, gender, ethnicity - as i do not have national pride, androgynous pride, or white pride.

people with AS can be awesome, yes. but so can neurotypical people. it doesn't have to do with their brain structure as much as the way they put it to use.

Brains_&_Burgers wrote:people with AS can be awesome, yes. but so can neurotypical people. it doesn't have to do with their brain structure as much as the way they put it to use.

i like that!

I think it sucks to have as it makes my like difficult and sometime I can't wait to die

I think AS is not something to be proud or ashamed of. It's just something you have to accept and understand in order to live a fulfilling life.

Sometimes it makes things challenging, sometimes it makes them interesting. But AS isn't an achievement, so for me it doesn't make me proud to have it. Neither does it make me ashamed, because it's not my fault.

I agree with the person who said that it's how you put your mind to work that is important.