<p>I don’t even want to read that thread, but I feel like I owe it to myself to show how far I have come since last year. I wish I could simply not make a thread about this, but it will nag me for the rest of the day and I have more important things to do.</p>
<p>I’m simply here to give an update: I have friends, I get invited to events and parties, I’m a leader in my school newspaper, I have an internship, I have a job. Basically, I’m now a busy person with a more positive life.</p>
<p>I still have problems with anxiety, social skills, and obsessive behavior, but I can’t change over night and I’m viewing everything realistically. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far and that’s all that matters.</p>
<p>To all of you who have been supportive and kind, thank you.</p>
<p>Oh my god, wow, I left CC for like 1.5 years, and I never got to know who you are. </p>
<p>Oh, well, I’m an Aspie too. I don’t know, I’ve been insulted a lot too, and I often feel really aloof from everyone. Although sometimes I just intentionally act silly since I gave up on normal social relationships so at least there’s still something positive if people laugh at me. </p>
<p>Wow, looking through your old threads, we do seem to share a lot of similar concerns. Although you have a social life, so you’re much more socially successful than I am (or probably ever will be?) I don’t know, I’m probably more extreme than you? </p>
<p>Just wondering, but what medication are you taking?</p>
<p>Maybe. Autism is a VERY wide spectrum. I’ve met other people with AS who seem higher functioning than me. I used to doubt that I had the disorder before I met them.</p>
<p>I have high functioning autism myself, I was just diagnosed about two weeks ago. Some people are just incredibly high functioning, I am so much so that the doctors that diagnosed me said that some others may have not even given me the diagnosis. I have friends, I have an internship, I am taking 18 credit hours, I am president of a club, I volunteer, I have a superior IQ (I feel the need to mention this since many think that people with autism are mentally challenged and this is not the case), and I have a happy and healthy relationship-- you’d probably never guess that I have HFA if you met me. My roommate didn’t even believe me when I told her I’d been diagnosed, and you’d think if anybody would notice it’d be her. Nobody ever even mentioned the possibility of me being on the spectrum until I was 20 years old and I asked an autism researcher myself. I have a more keen sense of social rules than even some people that are neurotypical, I just see the world through a much different lens.</p>
<p>Kudos on your progress OP! I am starting a forum for people with HFA and asperger’s and would be happy to PM you the link if you might like to check it out (and anyone else who may be interested-- just let me know). I have found it is helpful to have a group of people around you who “get it,” so to speak.</p>
<p>^ I’m wondering the same too. Why did the doctors think you have it? You can PM me the link.</p>
<p>Those websites scared me off the community. They don’t think autism is a disorder when it actually is. There may be positives about autism, but it’s not a mere personality difference like what these people are perpetrating. If they don’t think autism is a disorder, they should not ask for accommodations of any sort.</p>
<p>I don’t like wrongplanet.com or aspies for freedom, I don’t think the environments there are very encouraging or supportive, and aspies for freedom in particular is very extreme and militant in their opinions, and as someone newly diagnosed I needed more freedom to explore my beliefs about autism than that. I am also a member on Aspergic, which I do like a lot, but I still wanted to start my own forum. I have been creating and running forums for 10 years, it is one of my favorite things to do, and I think I have something unique to offer to the online environment for aspies and those with HFA. Soo that is why I started it. I’ll PM you guys the link now and I’ll message you later to explain why I was actually diagnosed, it makes sense when you know the whole story, but I am doing too many things at once at the moment to tell the story adequately. xD</p>
<p>Ah I see. Thanks for the explanations! For some reason I didn’t like those places very much, but I attributed that to forum fatigue (since forums have traditionally hurt my academics a lot, so I tried to avoid getting involved in any new ones)</p>
<p>“I’m simply here to give an update: I have friends, I get invited to events and parties, I’m a leader in my school newspaper, I have an internship, I have a job.”</p>
<p>Are you enjoying your new life, TA3021? Do you feel better now that you have forced yourself to do what the people who would otherwise have laughed at you and insulted you and hurt your feelings wanted you to do? How about their friendship, do you find it rewarding?</p>
<p>Hey, congrats TA3021! I’m glad you’re doing better. I don’t have Asperger’s, but I used to be incredibly shy and anxious about getting out of my comfort zone . . . It’s tough to break out of that shell, but so rewarding.</p>
<p>I enjoy my new life much better than my old one.</p>
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<p>I like to do the stuff that normal college kids do whether anyone would have laughed at me or not. I’m weird, but I’m not that weird. I still openly like things that most people consider nerdy and people think that makes me stand out more than anything, but I love the normal girl lifestyle as well. Why do I have to choose?</p>
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<p>It depends on what group you’re talking about. I’m thinking of and have already dropped some people since they didn’t give a **** about me and their lives were going nowhere, but I definitely find some interesting to be around. I was just trying to find my niche and throughout the process you have to weed out some people.</p>
<p>I do not want to be chained by the past. I want to move on and get rid of the poison in my life.</p>
I don’t have Asperger’s, but I used to be incredibly shy and anxious about getting out of my comfort zone . . . It’s tough to break out of that shell, but so rewarding.</p>