I feel like it's a stereotype that people on the AS spectrum lack a sense of danger and have no awareness of the possible bad intentions of other people. If anything I feel like as a girl with AS in her early twenties I feel like if anything I probably am too paranoid of danger or of other peoples intentions. Like I always check the roads, and I always usually wait for the light to go green as opposed to just running across when there's nothing coming. And I'm quite wary/observant of other peoples body language sometimes as well. Can anyone else relate?

I want to be open with my boyfriend and with my friends, because I feel like my masking can sometimes be a “wall” that increases the chances of me having a real friendship or relationship.

I’m scared that my boyfriend will leave me when he finds out that I’m autistic, that my “quirky” and “cute” personality traits can have very down lows, that I can get irritated very easily, that I cry over stupid things… I see so much autistics telling stories about how they got dumped of their relationships and friendship groups because people grew “bored” of them.

I’m so scared, I have two friends that I deep love and respect, and I’m also head over heels for my handsome and gentle boyfriend, I’m so scared that there’ll be a day where I can’t mask, that I will show everyone how weird and trash I am, and they will hate me. I love my friends, I want to be with them forever but masking is killing me!!!

My depression is just getting worse and worse, and I’m in my last straw. Should I just tell everyone that I’m autistic, or should I just end everything?

And a lot of NT people I know would say “no, but if they leave you for this, they’re not your true friends” and SO WHAT?

I DONT CARE IF THEYRE FAKE FRIENDS THAT DONT KNOW ME AT ALL, THAT I KNOW THEY WILL DUMP ME AFTER FOUNDING OUT THAT IM AUTISTIC, BUT I STILL FIGHT FOR FRIENDS!!!! I CANT DIE ALONE, I LOVE MY FRIENDS AND I CANT LOSE THEM, I DONT CARE UF THEY WILL HARM ME OR MAKE ME FEEL BAD, I JUST WANNA FRIENDS!

Please help me, I think that if I keep on masking for one more month I’m going to fucking d1e, I need to tell my friends about this, but I can’t! I’m scared they’ll hate me! Help! I’m crying while writing this, I just wanna friends that will love me for who I am. I love my boyfriend too, I want him to like me, please somebody help

Even in conversation today I need to be careful not to “pick up” the mannerisms, affectations, and especially any accent of the person I am speaking with. What I assume is simply a strategy for adapting and fitting in can be perceived as mockery if it becomes too obvious.

If I sit down with someone that has a Hungarian accent, I have to be careful lest I start to affect a Hungarian accent with them. I assume this is part of being on the spectrum and an automatic attempt to "fit in" socially, but don't know. I'm curious if others have found it.

Do you guys sit inside almost 24/7 and barely go out? Are any of you friendless like i am? Do any of you play games / research a topic till you go blind / watch movies? Do you find no one rings you to hang out? Unless they are really bored and have no one else? Do you guys get used for money then discarded?

I got diagnosed with Aspergers along with ADHD recently and I’m 24. It just made a lot of sense as to why my whole life I’d get seriously obsessed with certain things. I believe the ADHD causes me to further hyper-focus when there’s an obsession which gets so annoying when I need to take my mind off of it and focus on something else that needs to be done.

I’m very introverted and choose to stay away from people as much as I can due to my social anxiety and social awkwardness. It’s also very draining for me as well as uncomfortable to be in the presence of too many people especially if they are strangers. I’m very closed off and have serious trust issues because in the past people would severely criticize me for being myself. By “myself”, I mean I’d give honest opinions, allow myself to have exaggerated reactions and in general socialize without restraining myself. This led to multiple fallouts with very close friends that sometimes I had crushes on, usually due to several arguments over different petty things because we would constantly misunderstand each other and both take offense. I should also mention that most of the time if I did have a crush, they didn’t feel the same way due to different sexual orientations.

Over time I learned to observe and mimic social concepts as well as hide my true self from people. My biggest problem is when I’m talking to someone I’m having a crush on. I start to analyze their patterns obsessively and end up caring so much that even I find it overwhelming. It gets worse over time and sometimes they feel like I’m being too overbearing that it’s suffocating for them.

For example, I currently have a crush on someone and I’m constantly checking if she’s online on all messaging apps and get offended if she’s been online and hasn’t responded to my last message, sometimes I will send another message again later if she hasn’t responded in 4 or 5 hours to “urge” her to respond. I feel as though I’m highly aware of her change in words or change in attitude towards me but I’m not sure if it’s just me misunderstanding. I tend to analyze all her actions, all her words, the time she takes to reply, the times she replies at, how long her messages are all as an attempt in not ruining the friendship by accidentally letting myself slip and be myself. I subconsciously become highly aware of my actions and analyze hers. Sometimes she may be agitated about something else in her life, or busy with her day yet I always automatically assume she is avoiding me if she hasn’t responded. Or I assume that maybe I said something wrong or something that may have offended her but because I’m still quite socially inept, I haven’t realized. I apologize to her in this case and she may say it’s fine and there’s nothing to worry about but then I obsess over the fact that maybe she’s only saying it to make me feel better but she doesn’t actually think that and won’t tell me what she really thinks. All this overthinking due to my anxiety and fear is very distracting and draining. I’m not able to focus on my life and I’m constantly checking my phone to see if she’s responded or to see when she’s last been active on social media.

I just wanted to know if anyone else experiences this or anything similar with social situations? Or even with crushes or partners? What should I do to get rid of this obsession? Any advice from anyone is welcome.

Hey, this is something that has come to my mind recently. So I have Asperger's and the severity of my symptoms comes in "phases" - I don't know how to describe it differently.

One month I can blend in, have no problems with social interactions, be motivated and genuinely enjoy social gatherings like parties, going to class and talking to others. But then the next month my behaviour seems "strange" and "typically autistic" to other people, there are to many stimuli, my compulsive behaviours get worse, I have panic/anxiety attacks when facing meeting other people, everything that doesn't have to do with my special interests seems like an impossible task, when I plan the day and I can't complete my tasks in exactly the right order because I i.e. had to take the trash out, I flip - sometimes I can't even stand the presence of my parents even tho they're in another room.

These are all things that I thought I had learned to control when I was in therapy for a year as a child/ young teenager and after that none of these extreme situations happened to me again.

For the lack of a better term I would say I was "highly functioning" and able to live a "normal" life where people often didn't notice that I had Asperger's (although I'm not saying that it's something shameful and being able to hide it is the goal) and I sometimes forgot about it too because of the coping mechanisms that I had developed.

But recently these symptoms are coming back im phases without an apparent trigger and while I'm learning how to deal with them again, I was wondering whether someone has had a similar experience and whether this is something common for people on the spectrum. I know that your mood, stress amd your physical wellbeing can influence how you react in these situations but like I said, these phases can last longer than a month and have nothing to do with the factors above.

I hope some of you are willing to share your experiences and I really look forward to learning something new.

My first post on this subreddit. 22/F been diagnosed since i was 5-8 years old (not sure exactly when)but I also have other diagnosises one of which being depression. Have never been one to shower daily. My entire life since I can remember have been showering weekly. Always chalked it up to my depression and the fact that I hate being wet unless I'm submerged in water or under flowing water. Always use 2 towels so I can dry off really fast. Feeling dirty after not showing for a week is a better feeling than feeling damp for 2 hours. Idk. Just seeing if anyone can relate I guess? And if the can give their opinion on if this is an Asperger's thing or more of a depressed asshole thing lmao

I always had trouble finding and keeping a job. Never have a real adult job even at 33 and I have a degree. My friend just told me she just got 15% raise and a bigger office and more this and that and she's now at like 40$/hours ans she's like, oh I can barely afford life it's so expensive..

And I'm working at home sens at 14$ per hours and barely can work 3 days a week without having a breakdown.

Asperger are supposed to be so brilliant... But having a nice job seams impossible... 😔

I suppose you can consider this as an introduction post, but anyways, hi.

I've had issues with meltdowns when I was younger, causing me to break things out of anger. I couldn't focus because my mind was racing. These were just a few signs that would have helped diagnose me if the doctors paid attention.

Fast forward to now. My diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other "severe" labels slapped onto me are now being removed.

I don't have mania. I have ADHD. I don't have schizophrenia! I found out that I was highly disorganized in speech because of my ADHD. But then, there's more.

I am, in the future, going to go through a lot of psychological testing... But given my family history and mannerisms, my doctor highly suspects I could be on the spectrum. There's a huge reason for this.

My sibling has aspergers, and they are more of the "stereotypical" definition, and me? I learned to mask like mad. So I can act like I know how to function in a conversation. Stare at the bridge of the nose because eye contact makes me uncomfortable. There's a lot of other signs but, we shall see...

Im an 18yr old male I just found out I have Aspergers not sure how to feel other than anger because of how long it's been hidden from me what should I do

I feel like I've been training for this all of my life. This is my time to shine!

Hello, well I have asperger and the issue is that sometimes I feel that there are things that change or are very strange, as if it were the matrix. For example, sometimes when someone says something and I did not understand it correctly, I tell them to repeat it, almost even insisting. This really leaves me a little paranoid especially at night, I'm afraid of the dark and going crazy.