I really didn't want to put this page on the site. There are thousands and thousands of sites with a definition of what an Aspie is, and most are pretty good. It seems expected that these sites have a page like this just in case (in case of what, I haven't a clue).

Being an Aspie is more than just being a few (or in my case, a whole lot) of checks on a list of symptoms. It is different for each of us and, strangely enough, the same as well. So I will give my brutally honest definition of what being Aspie is like and then, after you get offended, you can go to the link on the bottom of the page.

For me it is like being an alien who looks like a person. I don't use the word "human" much any more because I don't think many exist. To be human you must be attempting to grow, to be more than you can be, to be aware, to be enlightened. Most people are asleep. Anyway, most people look at me and see a strange person who they expect to do things in a certain way, to think in a certain way, and to act in a certain way. Well, guess what? I don't. I am just wired differently. I never will think or act in a way people expect me to.

That leads to conflict. They (NTs or neuro-typical or so called normal people) just don't believe us, one of the diagnostic criteria is brutal honesty and they don't believe us, or they can't believe why we can't change, take some pills, or see a counselor and have it magically go away. Even when they know we are Aspies, they still expect us to change what we can't change. I personally have done a lot to adapt to living in a NT-centered world; it just will never be enough, and I don't see why I should do all the changing.

What a lot of NTs don't seem to understand is the level of dishonestly, and brutality that most NTs show Aspies. We unfortunately seem to be "perfect targets" for bullying or what I call abuse. I have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from all the abuse, discrimination and out right hate I have been at the receiving end of. This abuse needs to end. I remember a saying a heard once "what ever does not kill us makes us stronger" I tend to disagree and if you had received the amount of abuse and intolerance I have received during my life I think you would to.

My wife told me this story from a "Diversity" class she had at her work. Some guy in HR (Human Resources; their acronym not mine) said "He wouldn't hire anyone who couldn't keep eye contact with him, because they obviously were being deceptive." My wife then stated that her husband (that's me) had Asperger's Syndrome and had poor eye contact. I am told he thought about it, and the "Diversity Coach" looked uncomfortable. I will bet he went right back to his old ways on the next interview he did. They just don't want to deal with "us." It is much easier to put in a ramp, hire a few minorities, overlook strange hair, or ignore gender issues than it is to deal with and understand someone who is truly different.

There is so much more as well. People will never understand the gift it can be to be an Aspie, to have the focus of a laser in our areas of interest. This world wouldn't be the same without us. An Aspie worked away in the U.S. patent office for years playing with his equations. No one thought much of him, until he saw that the universe was curved.

Gray Skys

Clinical Information Link: NINDS Asperger Syndrome Information Page