20 Mar 2013, 6:33 am
Hi,
I'm new here so please be gentle with me 
My six year old son was diagnosed with Autism last year (after a lengthy process of dealing with endless official organisations of course) which is fine by me cause he is the most wonderful son a guy could wish for.
As a result of further investigation I myself have now been diagnosed as being on the spectrum (Aspergers, with possible ADHD / Dyspraxia) I got my official diagnosis a couple of weeks back!
At 50 years old its quite a shock to discover that I'm on the spectrum, though not entirely surprising on reflection. I've had communication problems all my life, and ten years ago was misdiagnosed with social phobia disorder (though to be fair social phobia is one aspect of autism/aspergers for many people)
I'm still in a bit of a haze about this, and need time to absorb the whole spectrum thing as it relates to me, though I am mostly positive about the idea of being a bit autistic. If nothing else I can now finally start to make sense of myself as a human being, and can explain to others that I'm not actually ignorant or antisocial after all.
One of the positive aspects I've discovered, is that an artist my Aspergers has greatly increased my artistic ability due to my enhanced perception abilities. Though I don't think I'll ever really get abstract art, the hidden meanings or whatever totally elude my literal brain.
There are downsides too of course, for example I love making music, but the processing delay in my brain makes it difficult to play music in time without making mistakes
which can be frustrating.
Anyway, I'm starting to ramble now - something I have to keep in check LOL
Regards,
Graham
TenPencePiece
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20 Mar 2013, 8:15 am
Welcome Graham
Good to have you here 
AnonymousAnonymous
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20 Mar 2013, 3:43 pm
Moomingirl
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21 Mar 2013, 3:05 pm
Hi Graham!
I know exactly what you mean. I'm 39, and just got diagnosed. After years of being 'a bit strange' and a few mis-fired attempts at diagnosis, I finally got to Aspergers.
After reading up on it, I'm wondering now how nobody spotted it before, I feel like I could have a big neon arrow flashing above me with 'autistic' written on it, because it's so obvious to me, now I know the signs.
It's good that you are seeing it as a (mostly) positive thing. It is nice after going through life for this long with no rhyme or reason, to suddenly be able to start understanding why we a a bit different. Good luck with the journey
22 Mar 2013, 10:13 am
22 Mar 2013, 12:52 pm
