At the vast majority of conferences and events I speak at, there is a scheduled question and answer session, in which members of the audience can ask me whatever they want: “What is your sleep pattern like?”, “Are you concerned about looking for a relationship?”, “Do you have any friends?” etc. The list is endless. But there is one question that crops up quite a lot, a query that all people affected by Asperger’s Syndrome ponder the world over. “If you could stop having Asperger’s, would you?” It’s a question that is always fairly difficult to answer, and it requires a lot of inward thinking to provide an honest response …
At the age of eleven, I remember looking around the playground at secondary school and thinking that I was an outcast: I was the only person with Asperger’s. This feeling cut me like a knife. I was certain that I’d never fit in. I’d look at the thousands of kids who were coping with life brilliantly and I’d envy them. I won’t lie; I looked at them and wondered if the grass was greener on the other side. Perhaps if I was neurotypical life would be easier? Perhaps if I was like everyone else I wouldn’t find socialising so challenging? Perhaps if I didn’t have Asperger’s all of my problems would miraculously disappear? I was wrong. [ READ MORE ]
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