I'm new! I'm here for various reasons but i'll get on to that shortly..
I'm 23, and live near Manchester, UK. I'm a bit of a rambler so I apologise now for the length of this post!
I realise now I have certain autistic traits. My friends always called me weird, which I accepted because I knew I wasn't normal. I have a lot of sensory issues, even now as an adult (I don't know why this surprises me). Certain sounds, smells and textures can send me into a melt down that people often ridicule me for. I've never been able to participate in small talk, I can't bear to hear people talking about their lives (I don't mean to sound self obsessed) I just have no capacity to sympathise and understand what they're going through and unfortuneately not very tactful with my responses to their dilemmas. I always had friends at school but that was usually through shared interests, therefore giving me something to talk about with them and keeping me in the loop, as it were. I live a pretty normal life now, except the odd melt down and the frequent need to cut myself off from people, which is giving me issues with my current friendships. They don't seem able to understand that I need a few days/weeks without any communication. I just need peace and quiet and to be with myself for a while, if that makes sense. I value my friendships but don't enjoy being around people much and that seems quite hard for other people to take in.
Anyway, my younger sister (21) definitely is on the spectrum. It's never been diagnosed but she has and always had little to no social skills. She's never really made friends and she's now in what I can only describe as a dangerous relationship. She's easily led and looks to him for everything, he tells her what to wear and eat and she won't go anywhere without him, she wouldn't even go to the bathroom without saying a full goodbye to him which involved about ten minutes of 'goodbyes','I love you's' and 'I miss you's'. She says she can't live without him etc.
Now, this is the main reason i've joined the site, I have a five year old half brother who was diagnosed last year with Aspergers. He started in reception class at school last September and has an aide with him all day and attends speach and communication classes, provided through the school. Things just seem much harder for him than what they were for me and my sister, I find it very hard to watch him with other children as they torment/bully him quite severely. I understand that as I have 3 sisters, two of whom are considered normal, we never really had problems playing out whilst young because we had eachother to rely on and our older sister wouldn't allow other children to torment us. But yes, this is why i've joined the site, my mum isn't doing much to understand and help Alex and as I spend a lot of time with him I hope to be able to post questions about how best to help him. He's such a joy to be around and is really loving, it's just heartbreaking to watch the other children be so cruel to him.
If you made it this far well done! lol
Again, sorry for the length, I know it's supposed to just be a quick introduction, I just find it hard to stop when I get started!
29 May 2008, 1:17 pm
