Asperger's Syndrome and pony collecting...

[Strawberry Swirl]

I can relate to the art thing. Ponies are fun and easy to draw, when you expand your horizons towards every generation there's a large poolof characters to choose from and I feel like other artists would have a ball finding their favorites!

[The_Loner]

I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at 25. It was a huge relief for me to get a diagnosis. I had been struggling so much with life and had been through a complete breakdown. Now I finally knew why I had always felt different and why things in life that seemed so easy and straightforward to others were so incredibly hard for me.

I have always been collecting different things and I have always loved toys. I don't think of myself as a collector, though. My toys really help me cope with this world.

Some months back there was another topic that made me aware that there are a lot of other autistic people on here and that was pretty cool to discover

[Sandi]

I was diagnosed with Asperger when I was 17. I have started to doubt that it's correct though. I've met a few other people with Asperger and they were more noticeably different than I am.

[xeevee]

A medical doctor who is a friend of mine told me his professor told him in school that many healthy students each year are terrified after learning about brain tumors and they will leave class that day convinced they have one- based on the symptoms which are also common in the populous and shared with many and more innocuous things.

Lol, I can relate to that.  When I took abnormal psych as part of my Biology degree I was diagnosing everyone I knew with things.  All kinds of wacky conditions.  Haha.  It really is best not to self diagnose anything.  Maybe you're right, maybe you're not.  But a specialist knows way more than you.  That's their job.  Plus they know what happens next. 

It is good to know yourself though, AJB.  So it's great that you're taking the time to assess yourself.

[The_Loner]

I was diagnosed with Asperger when I was 17. I have started to doubt that it's correct though. I've met a few other people with Asperger and they were more noticeably different than I am.

No two people with Asperger's/autism are the same. If you have met one person with autism then you have met one person with autism. I have met several other people with Asperger's/autism and they all seem very different from me. I questioned a lot too if I really did have autism because even with other autistic people I don't fit in. I do not strike as autistic. But I do have autism, there are too many things that give it away for me and everyone is an individual, maybe even more so when you have autism. I am not saying that you definately have autism because I have no way of knowing that. I'm just telling you my own experience

[applejackbunny]

Just an update...I now have a referral from my GP to the National Autistic Society. It might be a few weeks before I am seen but at least the ball is rolling 

[FantasticFirefly]

applejackbunny - Congrats!  
Your post, thank you too. Reading all the responses.... It's making me think about going to my Dr. as well..... well, once we have extra coverage through OH's work again. As if they send me for referral we can't afford the travel out of pocket at this point.

I was diagnosed with Asperger when I was 17. I have started to doubt that it's correct though. I've met a few other people with Asperger and they were more noticeably different than I am.

No two people with Asperger's/autism are the same. If you have met one person with autism then you have met one person with autism. I have met several other people with Asperger's/autism and they all seem very different from me. I questioned a lot too if I really did have autism because even with other autistic people I don't fit in. I do not strike as autistic. But I do have autism, there are too many things that give it away for me and everyone is an individual, maybe even more so when you have autism. I am not saying that you definately have autism because I have no way of knowing that. I'm just telling you my own experience

  Yes on the bolded! I got to meet many people because of my brother. it would be like someone thinking all pony collectors will be carbon copies of one another.

[melodys_angel]

Wonderful   It sounds like your doctor wanted to work with you.

[lostpony]

It's called the autism "spectrum" for a reason.  I wonder how many different issues are lumped together under one umbrella...seems like there is always a lot more to know.  What specialists know is updated all the time.

If anyone is concerned about their existing diagnosis, that seems like as good a reason as any to consult more with doctors, to get more understanding?  More help?  Updated evaluation?  Just my thoughts on it.

[Taffeta]

This is true in America I believe, but not here in the UK. As I am new to all this, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read exactly that, that they kept the phrase Asperger's Syndrome here in the UK, despite the review of the term in the US.

The Autism Act wrote it out to refer to conditions on the Autistic Spectrum instead. But all the autism professionals I have been involved with, both as a support assistant and as a student with autism myself, still use the term and still believe the term, or equivalent, is necessary to distinguish between severe autism and higher functioning autism.

HFA is generally considered different from Asperger's Syndrome. I am unsure why, but I think it has to do with how you interact with people - ie, whether or not you want to interact with people?

As for the serious tone of the thread, I think that was natural? There are a lot of ASD pony collectors and we all have different experiences Also, the reality is that not many people generally ask *our* view on Autism in any regard. They ask specialists, professionals, experts. Sometimes family members of people with ASD - but unless they have it too, none of them actually know what it's like to live with it. They live with someone with it, which is a different situation and stress position. If you live with someone with it, you are supporting them, but you can still walk out of the room and leave the ASD somewhere else. If you live with it, you can't do that. And far too often people ask only the one set of opinions, and not the opinions of the people who know best.

There seems to be a general misconception among areas of mainstream media in various places that having ASD immediately makes you unable to comment, judge or have any kind of point of view.

So threads like this are ways we can actually speak for ourselves and try and kill some of those prejudices and assumptions. Thus here we all are, spamming your thread with our experiences

Then again, ponies and ASD are obviously a connection. So in that light, maybe it's not off topic? I mean, from my point of view, I can't remember not having ponies. And ponies marked key events in my life. When my sister was born, when my mum was ill, when I graduated...all these things. So in a way, ponies became markers of milestones that are, in their own way, achievements of living with ASD in spite of the large amount of misinterpretation that still exists regarding it.

In any case, whatever you decide to do about it, or if you don't decide to do about it, it doesn't ultimately change who you are. It identifies something about you, but that's really all

I was diagnosed with Asperger when I was 17. I have started to doubt that it's correct though. I've met a few other people with Asperger and they were more noticeably different than I am.

All people with ASD are different, though, even within the same Asperger diagnosis that can be true. I worked with about 12 different students with differing ASD diagnoses over the two years I was at the FE college. Every single one of them was different from each other AND FROM ME. I could identify with things they did and understood them quite easily, but I didn't relate to every characteristic each of them had. Some were more outgoing, some more introvert. Some got lost easily, some knew routes backwards. Some were confident, some were not. Some would get stressed out by change, others wouldn't care. Some liked art and creative things, others were into science. The one identifier between all of them was the proof they were all unique people, and their personalities and interests dictated the way in which they were affected by their ASD as much as the severity of it did.

I don't believe a one size fits all judgement can possibly be used for any type of autism. It's just too dependent on the individual.

[applejackbunny]

Well in that case, I'm very happy to have been of some help by starting a topic so many of you feel so strongly about and I'm really glad it has given you the opportunity to speak about it

[FantasticFirefly]

Then again, ponies and ASD are obviously a connection. So in that light, maybe it's not off topic? I mean, from my point of view, I can't remember not having ponies. And ponies marked key events in my life. When my sister was born, when my mum was ill, when I graduated...all these things. So in a way, ponies became markers of milestones that are, in their own way, achievements of living with ASD in spite of the large amount of misinterpretation that still exists regarding it.

They've become markers for me as well. I've loved ponies since I was two, based on my grandmother's story of me giving her a full lecture about pegasus ponies in a sears store and having other patrons wonder how I knew so much. I did not meet the age requirement on the package, thus did not get my pegasus. got my first two ponies at three. I remember when I got the rest, even which ponies I was forced to leave behind at yardsales and when I got those ones as an adult. anyway this is cute, hopefully you find it funny!

I visited with my dad, and he's odd.... he will not have a conversation, he hates small talk or any topic that does not interest him (not my favorite thing either.... but I know you can't just walk off mid conversation because you are bored! my dad is the absent minded professor). but he loves quizzing. he asked me geography questions and I answered them all correctly, and a quiz about the US because of an article he read and I knew more about the states then the general populous of USA as adults according to that article. He was expecting me to do poorly.

"You were terrible at geography in school. Terrible. I never was able to help you. What changed?" So I explained in school it was boring and irrelevant. I didn't know why I needed to care about a gross national product of a country I have no interest in seeing, or didn't connect to me. and I had zero interest in most travel. so I bombed that class.  It's all due to ponies, which is embarrassing. Each country he asked about I either read about a line of ponies made there (and some I own- so like early Italy ponies) so also learned a bit about the area. others I had bought or sold to people from that country so looked up what I could for how the pony would travel. I was telling him my pony related stories connected to each place and now he thinks I'm crazy.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Hmmmm I would prefer not to be diagnosed or labelled.  Other people's diagnoses' is none of my business. 

I treat people like human beings, not according to how psychiatry manuals advise that certain individuals should be gently handled. 

If you like ponies and you're here, that's fine by me.  Don't expect to be treated any differently than anyone else, because we are here for our love of ponies!

[tikibirds]

Eh, my brain has always worked differently then most other people, simple things I don't get but complex things are easy and my social skills are almost non existant (plus I will tell you exactly how I fell or think no matter how rude it is), but at 36 years old, I have no desire to find out im just weird or if there is an actual reason for it.

[Tak]

Hmmmm I would prefer not to be diagnosed or labelled.  Other people's diagnoses' is none of my business. 

I treat people like human beings, not according to how psychiatry manuals advise that certain individuals should be gently handled. 

If you like ponies and you're here, that's fine by me.  Don't expect to be treated any differently than anyone else, because we are here for our love of ponies!

That's how everyone should treat each other. The same. We're all just people. My mother always said to treat others the way you want them to treat you. It's a rule I live by.

Tikibirds: the only reason I went and got an official diagnosis is because I wasn't getting by. I needed extra help and in order to get it I had to swallow any pride I had left. To get help you have to jump through a lot of hoops.