When I first read about Aspergers Syndrome Disorder, in the tiny leaflet that I was given from the diagnosis Doctor, I had an idea of the term that was far from what I have learned from our members' input in our nightly discussions. I imagined Aspergers to be a dead-end sign in development of emotions, personality and flare. It was diagnosed in such a morbid manner, it seemed helpless and burdening and I was terrified that I was bringing up a child with no hope, little expectation and inflicted. You could say that I mourned!
I have always been angry at the lack of information that we were given from the Doctor, but looking back, I cannot help but feel that we were hugely misled.
When I look at all my heroes, I see certain traits of Aspergers in them. Mainly because all my heroes are inspiring, creative influences in my life. Being a lover of music, art, nature and self-expression, I have always been drawn to the free-thinker and the different.
There are 35,000+ members within our community. Whenever I post a request for members to share their talents, the response is outstanding. The talent amongst our members is tremendous. The discussions echo this, as the emotions poured into the comments ooze intensity.
Each and every single person on this earth is a unique individual made up of feelings, complications, enigmas and potential. The personality will continue to intrigue and baffle scientists far beyond my generation. If we were to categorize each personality, we would need six billion categories.
The point that I am trying to make is this; You cannot describe Aspergers Syndrome in a space as small as a leaflet. NT's and Aspergers both have an infinite mixture of personality traits. People with Aspergers are NOT factory modelled, mass produced or in any way clones of one another. It is shallow and misleading to diagnose anybody otherwise.
Amongst our mammoth amount of members, we have many family members, partners, friends, Teachers, Doctors, writers, care-givers and neighbours of people with Aspergers, all here to learn more. If Aspergers was as two dimensional as the leaflet stated, I am sure that this page, and others like it, would be of little interest to them. We have had three years of nightly discussions. I couldn't fit that information in an encyclopaedia, let alone an A5 piece of paper.
The amount of members within this community grow roughly 70 a week. Around half of them are looking for the same answers that I was searching for, having been disillusioned by the lack of information available. In my opinion, times are certainly not changing in terms of awareness...
I would really like to read other people's opinions on the information available in your country. What information would you hand out to newly diagnosed people and families?
Thanks for reading.
