Here's To New Beginnings
As a recently diagnosed Aspie I have felt the urge to create a blog, the aim of this blog is to share my experiences as an Aspie to a wide range of individuals. I do not want to simply make these posts limited to individuals who may share the same or similar experiences; I also want to provide others who may not be aware of the condition with a personal insight.
Before I get stuck into beginning this blog, I would just like to state that I am by no means educated on ASD and I am not a professional. This blog will be entirely based on my own knowledge and experiences.
I suppose I should start from the top so to speak with an explanation of what Aspergers Syndrome / ASD actually is. Personally, growing up I had no clue that Aspergers even existed. I was fully aware of Autism and actually just jumped to the conclusion that it was a simple condition. By this I mean that I thought each individual with the condition suffered with the same issues. After being diagnosed myself and researching into the topic, I have found that this is totally untrue and I feel ashamed for not thinking about the condition on a wider scale. Autism is by no means a simple condition, in fact it is based on a large spectrum which varies from person to person. This is where the term ASD (Autism Spectrum Distorder) comes from. The illustration below which I have used from another blog (myaspergerschild, another inspiring blog which I recommend you read) clearly highlights the ASD scale. I added this to provide a clearer understanding of the condition to others who may not be fully aware of what it entails.
You may be thinking, "why is my previous conception of Autism relevant to this post?". I want to make others aware of what Autism / Aspergers / ASD actually entails and to erase the current stigma of how the condition affects everyone in the same way. It is important that everyone is made aware that the condition affects people a variety of ways and no one individual with the condition is the same as another.
I personally feel passionate about the autism spectrum as I feel that i have struggled my entire life with the stigma surrounding autism. I feel that I was not diagnosed as child as i was simply seen as shy and that the only form of autism was the severe learning disability / classic autism (the right hand side of the spectrum on the illustration above) which did not relate to me . If my family and even teachers who were a significant aspect of my life at that time would have been aware of the high functioning autism / Aspergers (the left hand side of the spectrum on the illustration above), maybe I would have been diagnosed sooner.
Additionally, I have recently struggled with the sigma surrounding autism. As I have been recently diagnosed, I have been slowly but surely telling significant people in my life. The reactions have varied however one assumption has been consistent with each person I have told. The majority of my friends were completely oblivious to Aspergers and had only seen autism as a severe learning disability. I have recently been prompted with questions such as; "But you get good grades", "You are always making jokes and non stop chatting", "Surely you don't, you were always good in school". I have found myself having to explain to my friends and family about the condition and how it varies and affects individuals in different ways.
I have a lot more to write about and also more aspects within this post to elaborate on, although I am leaving it for future posts. If you have anything that you would like to add to what I have said or any other opinions feel free to leave them in the comments. I am new to blogging so any advice will be positively taken on board.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. :) x
Before I get stuck into beginning this blog, I would just like to state that I am by no means educated on ASD and I am not a professional. This blog will be entirely based on my own knowledge and experiences.
I suppose I should start from the top so to speak with an explanation of what Aspergers Syndrome / ASD actually is. Personally, growing up I had no clue that Aspergers even existed. I was fully aware of Autism and actually just jumped to the conclusion that it was a simple condition. By this I mean that I thought each individual with the condition suffered with the same issues. After being diagnosed myself and researching into the topic, I have found that this is totally untrue and I feel ashamed for not thinking about the condition on a wider scale. Autism is by no means a simple condition, in fact it is based on a large spectrum which varies from person to person. This is where the term ASD (Autism Spectrum Distorder) comes from. The illustration below which I have used from another blog (myaspergerschild, another inspiring blog which I recommend you read) clearly highlights the ASD scale. I added this to provide a clearer understanding of the condition to others who may not be fully aware of what it entails.
You may be thinking, "why is my previous conception of Autism relevant to this post?". I want to make others aware of what Autism / Aspergers / ASD actually entails and to erase the current stigma of how the condition affects everyone in the same way. It is important that everyone is made aware that the condition affects people a variety of ways and no one individual with the condition is the same as another.
I personally feel passionate about the autism spectrum as I feel that i have struggled my entire life with the stigma surrounding autism. I feel that I was not diagnosed as child as i was simply seen as shy and that the only form of autism was the severe learning disability / classic autism (the right hand side of the spectrum on the illustration above) which did not relate to me . If my family and even teachers who were a significant aspect of my life at that time would have been aware of the high functioning autism / Aspergers (the left hand side of the spectrum on the illustration above), maybe I would have been diagnosed sooner.
Additionally, I have recently struggled with the sigma surrounding autism. As I have been recently diagnosed, I have been slowly but surely telling significant people in my life. The reactions have varied however one assumption has been consistent with each person I have told. The majority of my friends were completely oblivious to Aspergers and had only seen autism as a severe learning disability. I have recently been prompted with questions such as; "But you get good grades", "You are always making jokes and non stop chatting", "Surely you don't, you were always good in school". I have found myself having to explain to my friends and family about the condition and how it varies and affects individuals in different ways.
I have a lot more to write about and also more aspects within this post to elaborate on, although I am leaving it for future posts. If you have anything that you would like to add to what I have said or any other opinions feel free to leave them in the comments. I am new to blogging so any advice will be positively taken on board.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. :) x
Hi Karla,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience in your new blog and thank you for inviting me to read it. I'm honored to be perhaps the first person to leave a comment.
As someone who was also diagnosed as being ASD late in life (47 yo), I think I can identify with many things you talked about in your post especially the wish that knowing earlier in life would have/could have made all the difference for us.
On the other hand, as you wisely stated, the journey that is ASD is different for everyone traveling it.
You've helped inspire me to blog about my experiences as well.
Thank you and keep on blogging. Also feel free to contact me to talk, swap stories, or whatever if you need some support through the tough times.
-Anthony
Hi Anthony, thanks for leaving a comment. I really appreciate you taking the time to not only read but to comment on my post. Your kindness has brightened my day. I hope to hear from you and keep in contact throughout my time blogging. I took a look at your blog and i really encourage you to make a post and share it. Its actually quite therapeutic, especially when i get such a nice comment.
DeleteKarla :)