Who is/has been HAPPY to hear you had AS?

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im verry happy at the moment, but my nerves are a bit shot and im running low on valium

Me: Happy as can be to finally understand why I obviously react differently and can't deal with things others take as normal. I sunk into quite the depression a few years back simply because I didn't understand what the heck was going on with me. Finding out I had aspergers has completely changed my life, pulled me out of depression in a heartbeat and helped me understand that some of the things I've always known I'm good at and with, are also part of aspergers (immediately knowing and realizing that what you have isn't ALL bad is imho the fastest way to acceptance and will also keep away the foolish thoughts and obsessions of trying to get "curred" of a genetic disorder)

Mom: happy and nearly instantly understood and accepted that I need help with certain things and with that quickly learning what things I need this help with.

Dad: at first disbelief, now, after seeing how my life turned around by having help in certain departments, very happy (I never in my life had such a good relationship with my dad as I do now)

Middle Sister: happy, also almost instantly having a new level of understanding and knowing that there are things I'm extremely good at and things I need help in.

Oldest Sister: always seems to have disliked me and now, while my other sister, who's half the world away, knows and understands, still isn't open to even speak about it. For now all she's heard is that I have aspergers, I don't know if she read about the subject, I don't know if she even cares to know. I would have to say she acts even worse towards me then before.

Other family members: some intrigued, finding understanding after reading about it, others don't really care, they accepted and loved me the way I am long time ago.

Work related: much more understanding then I had imagined.

I haven't told anyone about it, aside from privileged conversation or anonymity (like on here to a certain degree).

I think if I told someone and they responded "oh, that's why..." it would send me in to a rage.

i was happy to discover the term AS

I suspect that my son was quite happy to hear of it. He apparently posts here as well, though I've been careful never to attempt to find out his user name. It would probably be hard to discuss your problems as a teenager were you to suspect to father to be reading them, lol.

At any rate, I do get the impression that our discussions of the autistic spectrum brought about some degree of relief for him.

I was kind of numb when I read that NYT article that matched everything that had been going on with me and my dad but years later now< i am finally focusing on myself including aspieness and I need help and I want help and I don't know where to start. I don't expect a miracle. I still have to live life based on my own initiative but I want more personalized information. This website is the only place I look at because ... I don't know ... I have never taken care of myself as a priority before. I am just glad I don't have to cloak and do what I call "customer service" anymore. haha I quit.

I was thrilled. I finally understood why I was different. I realized I was not just crazy and that my parents were wrong about me. My mom called it stubborness, laziness, or a need for attention (last thing I want!). My sensory was an "excuse" and my social issues were not "selfishness". Unfortunately, my mother now uses my disability against me. She questioned my ability to raise my 5 kids...though I've been raising them for many years without a diagnosis. How dumb! Suddenly having a name for it equals complete loss of parenting ability? LOL!

Girl I know understood many misunderstandings between us in the past once she truelly understood what aspergers means.

She's more tolerable for my lesser sides and seems to enjoy my good sides even more.

Absolutely nobody.

People desperately wanted me not to "have" it.
People were frightened and I was excluded from activities because I was labeled.
This is why I'm frightened of the idea that I "have" anything.

I am a person.

I would never ever say that I "have Aspergers" even if I was formally diagnosed: I would say that I was an AS person or an Aspie. That would put me in control of the situation and my identity, not be a "patient" or a "victim". The word "have" basically puts the medical establishment in control of your life.
"I am" on the other-hand is a statement that puts the speaker in control and not an authority figure.

People don't go around saying that they "have deafness" or "have colorblindness" or "I have Japaneseness".
They say: "I'm Deaf." or "I'm Colourblind" or "I'm Japanese".
I think it should be the same with AS, an expression of someone's identity, not an expression of something someone "has".

The word "have" is incredibly misleading and no one has ever fully explained to me what the thing I was allegedly supposed to "have" was.

I'm sorry, but given my past experiences, I find it very irritating and frightening when people say that they "have Aspergers" rather than saying a more reasonable "I'm an Aspie/Aspergian" or whatever.

It's amazing how much damage a little word like "have" can do.
The word "have" can lead some uninformed people to believe that what you "have" is removable, curable and pathological. So basically, people were saying that my personality was not acceptable to them and should be changed or removed. To them, I basically "had" a "disease" or "syndrome" that had to be changed to fit what they wanted. To them, I couldn't think for myself and didn't "have" a legitimate personality.

They didn't see AS as a state of being, they saw AS as a "problem" that I "had".

I'm very sorry but that's how it was.

I was; it gave me an explanation for quite a few things as well as some direction. Now that I know, I can study and take measures to better adapt myself to my environment, whatever it may be.

My parents were happy to hear that I was HFA and that it wasn't anything that was more serious.

I was neither happy nor sad. I was not shocked, but I did not know far in advance. I only had an idea because of my daughter's neurologist pointing out my mannerisms. If it weren't for him noticing, and pointing me in the right direction, I wouldn't have a diagnosis. I was unaware of many of my quirks, because family/friends, never brought them up. I was sheltered from myself.

I endured bullying, but did not connect the two.

Some people do not know of my diagnosis, even in my own family. Some people choose to look down on me, while others say it explains things.