An Aspie's Life: The Untold and Unknown Story

Chapter 1 - A General AS Synopsis & The Girl Behind the Story

            For those reading who are not familiar with Asperger, then this is where your journey begins.

            Let’s skip over the history lesson and dive into the very straight forward definition of what AS is.

            First and foremost, Asperger is classified under the very broad category of Autism. While AS is a form of Autism, it is also a thing unto itself that can sometimes bear no resemblance to what society thinks and Autistic person is like.

            To put it very simply, here is a list of things that can plague any AS person, some of which I have:

·         Sensitivity to bright lights whether its sunlight or florescent bulbs

·         Sensitivity to certain fabrics that can give them a needle pricking sensation

·         Aversion to the textures of certain foods

·         An introverted personality

·         Injecting a random statement into a conversation

·         Emotional break downs in social gatherings

·         Unable to maintain eye contact

·         Very specific interests

·         Difficulty to vocalize their thoughts

Now, this is a very short list and is by no means exclusive but it is to give you an idea of the types of issues that a person can have who has AS. Again this book isn’t for diagnosing AS but for gaining a better understanding of it.

All of those “symptoms” I mentioned, can vary from severe to barely noticeable.

Like for myself, I’m unable to wear thick wool clothing because I automatically want to itch all over my body, the textures of certain foods like seafood or cooked vegetables is actually disgusting to me to the point I will refuse to eat them unless I have no other choice, and as for bright lights, I currently wear special eye wear that helps to block some of the light that bothers my eyes.

Each of these things will affect people in different ways. It is all up to the individual. Asperger is a varied “disorder”. Though personally, I don’t like to refer to Asperger as a disorder.

To me, disorder means something is wrong that needs to be “fixed” either with medication or counseling.

People like me who have AS, see things and have to do things in a different way than everyone else. There is nothing wrong with the mind of the person who is an Aspie. True, from time to time, they may have thoughts that do need to be redirected (like the time I assumed that the test to get a driver’s license was the same as the test seen in car commercials where they run into walls).

However, if it’s not one of those situations that it’s seriously time to hear out their thought process and see why they insist doing that particular task a different way. I will delve into that thought process later as that’s what the whole of this book is about.

The Girl behind the Story

            Time to offer you a better understanding of myself in relation to AS, as well as putting into perspective the mind behind this book.

            When I was diagnosed with AS, I had all ready graduated from a local community college with full intent to work my way to becoming a University literature professor and to hopefully become a free lance writer. Although, truth be told, if I was given the choice to start off as a writer from the beginning that’s what I would have chose.