Was it difficult for you to deal with the diagnosis at first

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My response to my diagnosis was, "wow, I've always known that I am different, and now I have a quack label to go with it, whopee-do." To be honest I've haven't given a monkeys about it until the last two years or so, when I have started to realize that I can relate alot to other Aspies, and get on better with them, that I have started to think that it may be more than just a quack label.

I really don't think it's a big deal, the doctor who diagnosed you doesn't really know anything about you, he's just ticked off a checklist of behavioral traits that you appear to have. Your label can be used to access services, and that's all it is.

Firstly: now that you have found wrong planet, you can start relaxing. The chance that you're going to get screamed at is reduced by at least 90% on this particular forum.
Secondly: you should use the knowledge of the diagnosis to strenghten your self esteem a bit, now that you know that you are not "a weirdo" or anything else that has previously been applied to you in the schoolyard....
There are others like you, you are a valuable human being with interesting strenghts and forgivable weaknesses that you can start working on, if you wish to do so. If you prefer working on your strenghts to make yourself even more special, it is also an option. Learn about yourself and don't be too negative about your diagnosis, it didn't change who you are, you have always been like this, it just gave you a name for it and an understanding of all the things that have gone wrong for you in the past.
And welcome

Yes and no. I was diagnosed and 8 and I had no idea what was going on except they were figuring out whether or not I had Aspergers and I had no idea what that was, and than it turned out I had it, and I didn't much of it until in we were reading a certain book in the gifted English program. In it the narrator wonders if another character has it on several occasions, and I guess she mistook it AS for classic Autism and it's stereotypes or something, as she associates AS with retardation and eventually she concludes he didn't have it as "someone with Aspergers wouldn't recline against a car, they would be banging their head on it". This had me as offended as he'll and this is the point where I started having problems with the diagnosis, and it was only recently were I have finally became comfortable with the diagnosis, though I know I've gone through various periods of denial, pride, or self-loathing over the years. Screw the media and it's idiocy.

I am more at the point where I was quite convinced I have AS and it was confirmed by a therapist I was going to. But going about getting a diagnoses is difficult and I can't say for certain they would diagnose me with that. I do fit enough of the symptoms but I also have pleanty of symptoms of other things so I am not even sure what to think anymore.

But I did not have a hard time accepting it when the therapist talked to me about it, it just seemed to explain quite a lot.

Great way to put it.

I'm almost 24 and I was just diagnosed within the last month. For the first week or so I felt pretty sh***y as I had internalized so much of the negative stereotype associated with the word "Aspergers," but then I realized A) the diagnosis didn't change anything; just gave a word for something I'd experienced my whole life, and looking back at my life, it cleared up so many things I never understood about myself and my behavior, and B) I don't fit all of the negative stereotypes, so clearly they're just not universally true anyway.

I think the reason it took longer for me to be diagnosed is that it wasn't recognized when I was little (and my parents told me they took me to many behavioral specialists who were just baffled at the time, in the early 90's), and I'm covered in tattoos/have been in the punk scene/dressed a certain way for the last decade, so people thought I was odd/eccentric because of that.

I was diagnosed at around 6 or 7, I think, and told when I was 9 or 10 or something. At first, I was shocked, and had a hard time accepting this, thinking it would mess up my life. Only the last 2-3 years I've started to be more comfortable with it, and accepted it as something I can't really do anything about. (This might also have to do with me actually getting better with my social awkwardness and meeting new friends and such around then)

I was diagnosed with Asperger's as an adult after wondering for many years why I was so different and had the differences I have. The diagnosis was wonderful for me because it finally explained why I was the way I was. I underwent therapy for some issues. I have tried to focus on the positives that Asperger's has given to me. But I still have several challenges.

Don't worry. That happens to me ALL THE TIME!


Anyway, welcome

As for your question, I was diagnosed when I was 16 (about 5 years ago) and for the first few years I really didn't believe it simply because I knew almost nothing about Autism. All I had seen of Autism was LFA (Low Functioning Autism) where they are nonverbal and really can't do anything on their own, so I just assumed the doctors were wrong.

About two years after I received the diagnosis I was hired as a camp counselor at a camp for people with Special Needs. Because I was told I would be working with Autistic people I decided to do some research. It was then that I began to realize that the doctors were right, that I did have Autism. After that I accepted the diagnosis and moved on with my life.