When did you find out..?

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I was diagnosed when I was about 4, but I never really found out about it until many years later, when I was 12 or 14, and that was when my traits (such as stress, burnout and anxiety) really started to take off. After finding out, that's where my interest started, and I got books on autism and started to learn how to cope with it. A few years later, and I know much about autism and still trying to cope with it...

I think I was 48. I had heard-of Asperger's, but never gave it a second thought. My doctor told me she thought I might have it, and asked me if I'd like to be tested----I was like: "Oh, okay----yeah, that's fine". When I got my diagnosis, I was like: "Whatever"----it didn't really phase me because, by then, I had had so many OTHER diagnoses, to include, Tourettes and ADHD, that I was like: "Just throw it up there on the heap, with the rest of 'em" (that's also why I can never remember my exact age, ATT).

I've always kept an eye on / read news articles, about psychology----so, one day, an article caught my eye about Asperger's; I was like: "Oh, yeah, *I* have this----lemme see what this is about", and that, eventually, led me HERE. This site has changed my LIFE, because practically everyone here was talking about what *I* had experienced, all-of-my-life!!

I was diagnosed when I was like 15, I wasn't told until after the fact. It took me many years to come to terms with it and to become comfortable even talking about things with even my mom or doctor or whatever support workers. I am still not going to volunteer the information but I am much more apt to seek out help than I was a few years ago. No relief, no camaraderie, no anything positive, just a lifetime of pain and suffering.

Since about the age of 6, I've always knew that I was "different."

I knew I had "brain-damage," and that my behavior wasn't up to par. I also knew that I was smarter in some ways than the other kids, but dumb in other ways.

I started learning what autism was when I was about 9. It started with an ad on TV which was about an autistic boy. I thought, at first, that they were saying that the boy was "artistic."

I just about grew up with a boy my age who was (and is) severely autistic---Level 3, in DSM V parlance.

I found out I was diagnosed with autism at age 3----when I was in my 20s.

I was 20 when I received a diagnosis. It was not much of a surprise when I found out and in a way was a relief. I am still struggling accepting who I am though.

^^ LOL...Why do I get the feeling you like planes?

I LOVE planes, especially Boeings. I also enjoy flight patterns and tracking flights. I have an app that shows all the planes currently in the air along with the flight path and all their flight information.

That's pretty fun to me, too! This sort of thing is so fascinating---and it doesn't harm anybody!

When I was a kid, I used to get absolutely fascinated with listening to police radios.

I still like it---but I like listening to old music, or watch old baseball games on YouTube a little better.

I was diagnosed at age 3, but I didn't find out until I read some paperwork in my mom's office (I was a nosy child ) when I was about 13.

Listening to a Temple Grandin audio book about animal psychology. She explained the way her mind worked like google images and I though - hey me too!

Found out in the mid-90s after struggling in school organizationally and socially "crashing" for years. Lots of trips to the school counselors, and eventually a dedicated counselor who sent me to be diagnosed for depression/anxiety. Along the way after a variety of "random" tests, the doc added a side of aspergers.

So the AS diagnosis was merely a bonus. I hated the term and never knew anyone else "in real life" who had it. I never told anyone else. But with time I've grown to appreciate and take comfort in knowing that there were reasons why things were certain ways. I think better self-understanding leads to greater happiness.

I knew nothing about Asperger's Syndrome and it being on the Autism spectrum until I read on Temple Grandin. Then I looked into it and it fit me perfectly so I joined a therapist who diagnosed me with it. Only found out in the past two years. I am 38 and don't feel I fit in the world. People noticed I was off for years. I just found this site because I am miserable and needed to reach out to others with these ailments. I have been going in and out of therapy for the last 25 years. Basically since I was 13.