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Overall, did you enjoy your childhood?
Yes (Diagnosed AS) 30%  30%  [ 11 ]
Yes (Suspected AS) 30%  30%  [ 11 ]
Yes (NT/not AS) 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
No (Diagnosed AS) 14%  14%  [ 5 ]
No (Suspected AS) 27%  27%  [ 10 ]
No (NT/not AS) 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 37

Filipendula
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19 Jun 2012, 11:15 am

Hi,

I can't figure out if this has been asked before, but I was just watching a clip of a presentation by Rudy Simone in which she says she has never heard an Aspie girl say that they "loved their childhood, it was wonderful, they had so much fun" as NT girls often will.

I don't know if I qualify as Aspie or not (though I certainly have numerous traits) but I do have many fond memories of childhood in spite of having been shy, introverted and never fitting in. Age 8 seems ideal to me and I'd love to go back. Does no-one else feel similarly? I'm very curious to know if the bad childhood experience is really so universal.

Filipendula


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mightyzebra
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19 Jun 2012, 11:22 am

I voted Yes: AS, but I am not actually Aspie, I'm Autistic.


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SilkySifaka
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19 Jun 2012, 11:31 am

I voted Yes, suspected AS. From the age of 5 I have almost no happy memories but before that I was at home with my Mum and I have fond memories from then. My Mum was kind and patient with me, she read me stories and took me to feed the ducks and I did drawing and making things out of plasticine. She just let me be myself, even if I was a little quirky.

Once I started at school, I realised straight away that I was different and everything went wrong very quickly. Also, my Mum was very unhappy and as I got older it was harder for her to hide that. So I grew up in an unhappy home and everything beyond my house was confusing and frightening. I wouldn't go back and live my childhood again for all the money in the world and the promise of immortality.



Juliana
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19 Jun 2012, 11:40 am

Yes and suspected AS. I had a very hard time dealing with my mom, and that was extremely stressful for me. But outside of that, I enjoyed my childhood. There was a small group of kids that ganged up on me for a few years, but it was fairly tolerable because I had a larger group of kids that accepted me and liked me. I was quirky, but people loved that about me. For what it is worth, I am female.



btbnnyr
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19 Jun 2012, 11:43 am

Yes, I enjoyed my childhood greatly. I was a classically autistic child, and I had just as much fun as any other child doing my own things.



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19 Jun 2012, 1:07 pm

I voted "yes" but with one important caveat: only until I hit my tenth birthday. I had a great childhood although not without problems but once our family moved when I was 9 it went downhill. The bullying and tormenting I endured in grade 7 and 8 (11-13) was so brutal I took me almost 15 years to finally get over it (if I can even say that for sure). It wasn't unbearable in grade 7 but grade 8 was so bad I would have to consider suicide if for some reason I was forced to go through it again.



MeshugenahMama
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19 Jun 2012, 1:20 pm

I am surprised with the results so far. I voted no; suspected aspie. I would have thought that there would have been a majority of no's. I struggled in childhood, as I have struggled in life. As long as I can remember, I never fit in, and had problems both at home and in school (socially) as a result. I grew up in an emotionally abusive family that had absolutely no understanding of me.



Filipendula
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19 Jun 2012, 1:26 pm

Quote:
I voted "yes" but with one important caveat: only until I hit my tenth birthday. I had a great childhood although not without problems but once our family moved when I was 9 it went downhill.


I agree, though perhaps not for the same reasons since I can't say I was really bullied. My family moved to the other end of the country when I was 14 and so I was lifted out of a cosmopolitan, very multicultural community and transferred to something I couldn't relate to at all. I'm only just now considering AS, partly because I was so accustomed to being the quirky one that I never questioned it and partly because I've always blamed the move for my experiences of isolation and alienation upon reaching puberty (14 is an awful age for anyone to be displaced). In hindsight, there were already signs that I was growing apart from my few existing friends as they moved into fashion and make-up and left me high and dry.


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RDOS Aspie score: 115/200; NT score: 79/200


nolan1971
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19 Jun 2012, 1:46 pm

For the most part no because I grew up without a father that chose to not be a part of my life.
I intensely hated him for most of my life and only started to let it go in my 30's.
I have some fond memories of summer camp but my truly good memories started at 15 when I met my best friend/brother Richard Shea and my future wife Amy. :D
By far 8th grade was the worst but 9-12 were some of the best times of my life!



Joe90
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19 Jun 2012, 1:52 pm

I have a lot of happy memories of childhood. The best part of my childhood were when I was aged 7 to 11. But most people I talk to say that those years were the years they loved the best. I have the best memories from those years because under 7 I don't remember so much and so don't have many good memories, the only memories I do have are having temper tantrums at school and catching a lot of tummy bugs. And the memories I have after I was 11 are more fresh but weren't so good at the time because I was at that age where I was expected to grow up a little and I started getting my self-awareness and was seeing everybody else in my peers having friends, which made me feel isolated. Before the age of 11, I didn't really notice or care how lonely I was, and also I had a lot of cousins who used to come over and so I was never lonely at home, and at school kids were more friendlier when we were little because we just played. But when kids got past the age of 12, they changed at rates I couldn't keep up with, and that's when my troubles began.


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Last edited by Joe90 on 19 Jun 2012, 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

FishStickNick
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19 Jun 2012, 1:52 pm

Incidentally, I was having this same conversation with my mom a couple days ago. I voted yes; suspected AS. I had plenty of difficulties as a kid, but on the whole I have good memories of my childhood.



OJani
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19 Jun 2012, 1:56 pm

I was dx'd with PDD-NOS but I voted 'Yes (Diagnosed AS)' anyway.

I had a wonderful childhood, and although I had my difficulties, especially when my social skills turned out to be less than adequate at age 7-8, I cherish fond memories of it. I was quite sad when I hit puberty at age 13 (I was a boy), I could have lived on for years as being a little kid...

My parents could contain their marital issues until I become older but after that I had to endure hearing and seeing so much family quarrels regularly that now I'm seriously considering I have some nasty marital-distress because of it.

Fortunately I have never experienced much bullying. I wondered if it's a cultural difference, a personal trait (I was a loner and a little bit weird but also interesting to an extent at the same time), or it was my mother who was the principal of the adjoining school back then that I later attended myself.


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lostgirl1986
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19 Jun 2012, 2:16 pm

I enjoyed my childhood but it's because my family made it nice for me. I'll admit it, I was pretty spoiled. We did a lot of nice things as a family. If it weren't for my family I probably wouldn't of had it as good as I did. There was the rough patch at school now and again but overall my family and friends made up for that. It was a lot better compared to now, that's for sure.



redrobin62
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19 Jun 2012, 2:17 pm

I voted no. I can actually count all my happy memories on one hand. Unfortunately, it was pain, misery and suffering day in and day out. I wasn't diagnosed with till I was an adult. t's interesting how these childhood memories last your entire life. Till this day I HATE using or hearing the common term for father. It just won't happen. If I come across it in print I'm immediately turned off. If I hear it being used in a TV show I cringe and might change the channel if it becomes unbearable. Weird, huh? It's the same thing when I see people cry on TV. I want to head for the hills. When I see happy families in the malls I want to go and bury my head in the sand somewhere. Bad memories, indeed.



Last edited by redrobin62 on 19 Jun 2012, 2:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Nonperson
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19 Jun 2012, 2:23 pm

Yes, but only because I enjoyed the time I spent alone, daydreaming, reading, drawing and so on. Most of the time I was alone, so overall I enjoyed myself more than I didn't. The time I spent with other kids was, for the most part, hell.



elf_1half
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19 Jun 2012, 2:39 pm

Overall, yes. Oh I had plenty of difficulties and painful memories but I feel the good times outweigh the bad.