The Equation of Autism & Asperger's... When Nothing Adds Up.

This is a really old post....


In my mind I don't equate Autism and Asperger's....That may sound narrow-minded and I apologize if I offend anyone by writing that...But I think of Autism as being something much more serious and debilitating than what I have. My nephew has Autism and a good friend of mine had a son with Autism so severe that he will probably never live on his own.

How can I say that I have that and then put down on my resume that I have :

• Published poetry....
• Been in a commercial...
• Survived the Army and been a Non-Commissioned Officer....
• Traveled all over the world...
• Probably made a million dollars (then spent it:)....
• Sewn 10+ quilts all by hand...
• Learned and taught all different types of fitness and martial arts...
• Won awards for my writing...And singing (but you wouldn't know that today:)...
• Supervised incredibly large staffs of people....
• Spoken if front of monsterous auditoriums full of spectators...
• Had my hand-written journal used as an example for a Master's Degree program....

Then there's the part of me that knows that something wasn't right...I never had to explain anything to anyone. Part of me wishes that I was alone when I went through the discovery phase and diagnosis. When I was alone, or just dating someone, I never had to explain why two conflicting noises and a conversation was just too much for me. There was no need to....I could just walk away.

In fact, being aloof may have been my strongest point. Until the other person got too close.

I'm new to all of this, so I don't really know how it works for the rest of the Asperger world...For me, it's either black or white. There's no grey area. I like you, or not. You're a liar, or not...It's either right or wrong. I always have to know what's going on though. I ask WAY too many questions because I have to know where I stand and what's going on because my people reading skills SUCK!