See, from before my birth, my father had some close friends in the Marshalls, Agnes and Bill. he got to know them since Agnes was a secretary of his from the time he became a free-lance Educational Psychologist and set up the Test Service and Advisement Center, but they soon became close friends. My dad was like that. He sort of attracted acolytes.
Anyway, at some time around my 7th birthday, the Marshalls hit on the idea of getting me some kind of high-tech (by late-sixties standards) flashlight for any holiday they bought me presents. Being my Daddy’s Boy, I was born with a savage love for technology and gadgets of any sort, so I reacted with delight every time. I suspect my dad tipped then off, but I don’t know. Large ones, small ones, but the one I particularly remember was a rechargeable NiCd with a flip-out AC plug built into the device itself.
I’m Neurodiverse (ND), i.e. just a bit autistic, only discovered a couple of years ago at the age of 62, so I was unsurprised to find out that my tribe loves nothing more than obsessing over one or another Special Interest.
I experienced “The Shock of the Familiar” when I discovered there were fellow flashlight enthusiasts out there who I could geek out with.
Anyway, this is arguably the Golden Age for that hobby, so I look forward to begging to share information with my fellow enthusiasts!
True, I didn’t get diagnosed until adulthood either. In many ways my life would have been easier had I known about it from childhood, but hey ho. As you say, it is a lot easier once you understand the why.
Have a pleasant time at this friendly forum, rdurost!
I’m 47 years old, and I believe that I have a mild case of Aspergers, which is a mild form of autism.
I have only been aware of this for a few years, though I’ve had it my whole life.
I am not diagnosed, but my family and I are sure that I have Aspergers.
My dad was most likely autistic, and my sister is probably autistic as well, so it runs in my family.
I also wish I had known when I was a child–it would have made my own life make much more sense.
They’ve stopped using the term Asperger’s in the UK, it’s just under the umbrella term autism spectrum disorder. It’s partly because of the amount of overlap between high-functioning autism and Asperger’s and quite a lot because of Hans Asperger being a Nazi. Under the old classification I’m HFA / Asperger’s but my official diagnosis is ASD.
Yeah, that’s a shame.
I think it should still be called Asperger’s even though the guy is a Nazi.
I don’t condone Nazism, but as far as I know, he is the guy that figured it out.
There are still people who use the term because it’s mainly fairly well understood, and my doctor still uses the older system so I’m recorded on there as having Asperger’s. It’s a term that has been used since the 70s and there’s a large number of people that have become comfortable with it. I can see both sides and certainly wouldn’t try to discourage someone from using Asperger’s if that’s how they’re comfortable identifying. He did make some fairly significant medical contributions.
Neurotribes is a tremendously fascinating book about the history of it all and runs almost right up today. It is a big book but an engrossing, easy read.
If you are still hungry for more after that, Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) has a collection of primary source material written by Autistic people. It is called Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking, and it is a treasure chest, full of gems. Very, very inspiring and moving.
