How has being an Aspie changed ya?

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Self-explanatory.
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I know; in the nearly a quarter century that has passed since I found out about this, I've strived to be a better person and to never give up. So far, in some aspects, I have, but in many others I have remained steadfast and very loyal to who I am. I've learned to stay true to my heart, even though it may not seem right at first.

I've come to identify myself as a man with much zeal with he likes; an idealistic man who has so many dreams, even though some of them may not come true. So, that's me now; an idealistic adult.

It didn't change me much. I mean I've always been this same person and a label doesn't alter me. I did try to read a lot of stuff about it so now I feel rather well informed and a bit smarter. I also feel a little bit let down that nothing really changed. I'm not gonna apply for any benefits and people aren't going to understand me any better.

I was diagnosed when I was nine, so not a whole lot, really. I imagine that my life would be a lot more difficult if I didn't know that I had an ASD, though.

-it makes me accept my differences and myself more
-it makes me understand myself more
-it makes me more open-minded

For me, it's helped me realise that there's nothing wrong with functioning differently from the majority, no matter how many times I get picked on and shunned away. At the end of the day I acknowledge that everybody is different, but at the same time I also acknowledge that most people (the NTs) 'function' similarly in certain ways. This however doesn't stop me from embracing myself as a free-thinking individual.

Also, without Aspergers, I don't think I would've been as aware of people's neural configurations as I am now.

It's helped to identify certain things I may have done or may do that might alienate other people and avoid doing them in the future.

I'm guessing you mean "how has being diagnosed changed you?" rather than "how has having autism changed you?".

I was diagnosed too young for the diagnosis to change anything about me.

It is very hard to say how having autism has changed me, because it first affected me when I was very young. If you change the first event, everything after that changes.

Wow, I'm kind of jealous you found out so early.

Okay, what knowing that I'm Aspie gives me is the possibility of a tribe . . .

. . even though we're all different and that's okay.

I don't understand this question. I've always had Asperger's and I've always been me. It doesn't change. It's how we're wired. I don't get it.

That's kinda how I feel about it as well.

I always knew I was different from "Normal" people growing up. And yes, maybe if I would have asked more questions or researched in the library to match up my behavior to known spectra, I would have eventually found the right text book and exclaimed "Ah-Hah! and found AS. For me, the infinitely vast information resource called the Internet was not available to me until about 1995 (With a dial-up modem no less).
Even then, search engines were still developing and THIS site did not exist. So, I was still relatively in the dark about what Autism or Asperger was and that it might pertain to me. I was informally diagnosed with being "Learning Disabled" in High School but never received any official paperwork to that effect. So, I always thought it had something to do with that.
I think knowing what I have now has changed my perspective and I'm more understanding and accepting of my own mannerisms, faults and behaviors, even if NT's are not.

I'm not sure how being who I am since birth, could change anything about myself, since it's who I have always been. I've never known "normality".

I've never thought of that until I read your post, but yeah, I could see that. Even in tribes, there are differences with people, anything from how they do things, to why they do things, etc. It's individualism that defines who we are.

I think a few times as a kid I looked up autism and thought it sounded like it described a lot of things about me. But I didn't ever mention it because my mom probably would have just dismissed it as an excuse for my unusual behavior, that at the time I think she figured she could more or less punish out of me.

I was born an Aspie, therefore, being one hasn't changed me at all. That would be impossible!

Since acknowledging my autism (which happened pre-diagnosis), I've been learning to accept myself better.