At what age did you realize you were "different"?

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I've always been treated differently but it never really made me think I was different. I just never understood what others saw that was different. Especially in elementary school. During that time I was completely oblivious. Now that I look back I find myself thinking "Oh so that is what that person meant when they said that or did this."

In middle school I was called deaf mute by some. I had few people I would talk to but they did most of the talking. I wouldn't go up and give speeches for assignments. One teacher said that the usual study was going to stop and a full week we were going to be graded based on social skills alone.

Had to write a speech and speak in front of class. Wrote a long speech. She came by desk and told me it was my turn. I just handed her the paper. She read it at my desk and said even though it was well written you get a C for not speaking.

I had permanent smile on my face for 3 years. Had another nickname other than deaf mute. Smiley.

I wasn't really happy though.

High school, was still treated differently. It still didn't click that I was different.

Late teens, still treated differently but didn't get it.

Early 20's someone told me "We all know you are different, you just have to talk more"

I've always thought if I only applied myself more then maybe sensory issues would go away. I didn't know it was called sensory issues just knew lights and sounds bothered me. Multi-tasking made me shutdown and frequent migraines.

It really finally hit me in mid 20's. Alright, whatever it is I'm dealing with is not going away. I don't like putting it that way but it's what I thought.

When I went to a class and found myself zoning out and rocking to look to my left and see a girl mimicking me and giving me funny look, when I was slower with performing physical tasks than others, when I was getting same treatment as if I was back in highschool, when others thought it was strange that I wanted to do the same process over and over until i got it right is when I finally really understood I was different. When someone said they pitied me because I couldn't do something easily.

That was few years ago.

I now understand why. I've had people in the past mention autistic traits but I didn't know what they were talking about and why it was considered strange. Have had people joke to a friend of mine behind my back and asked if I were autistic.

Had someone call me Rainman to my face with their friends around and I thought it was a joke because others were laughing.

Every age, since first realizing it at age 7-8.

Not really "different", but in a strange way, those moments of "exact sameness" when they happened/happen were /are unsettling or oversignificant (sometimes in a good way). As though a character on TV is talking directly to you (I can't explain better than that, maybe people reading will understand this better)

In a way,when I read what Danielismyname put is an instance of it and why I used the quote. And I do have a problem with "realness" of people, but for me,I thought it was because I spent more time with books than people as a child.

I don't really know. Sometime in early elementary school. I'm sure I knew I was "different" in preschool, because I was the only kid who could read. I was first brutally teased for being "different" in second grade. But my parents always taught me that my individuality and uniqueness were good things, so I never felt upset by knowing I was "different," and I think this is why I don't have an "aha" moment like many other Aspies. I might even have first known I was unique at age 3, because many of my relatives would comment on how I could do intellectual things that other kids couldn't do.
-OddDuckNash99-

I was real young when I knew I was different. I looked at everyone and then knew I was different. I was maybe three then. But I didn't know why I was different so I went nine years not knowing why until I was diagnosed but I didn't even know what AS was then. I just thought it meant no wonder I have troubles with my school work so I have to try harder to get over it. But I didn't know the other things about me until I was almost 15 so that's was the age I knew why.

I have always known that I was different but I think I have ignored it for a very long time. I wasn't aware of my Asperger's and I tried to be normal. But it didn't feel right and so I began to feel depressed. But I think that it was of the age of 13-14 I seriously realized for the first time that I wasn't like the other kids.

as i said in an earlier post - at age 5.
since becoming aware of autism however, i have understood just HOW different I am. I have been told i am eccentric and different my whole life.
But over the past year i have learned the specifics of how differently i see the world.

I had assumed until learning recently, that everyone thought like me.
Intellectually i now know this is not so.
I do however assume this of others a lot of the time. That they understand how i think and what i think and accord with it.

this is all revelatory for me.

I can't really remember when, probably sometime between the ages of 10-12.
Before then I thought everyone else did the same as I did so when they didn't I got confused

Around my teen years, probably age 13 or so. That's when I started to become a social outcast; as I was drifting away socially.