Diagnosed autistic at 5, still no idea what that means. normal?

I'm not asking if autism is weird, but if it's weird that in all my life nobody explained it to me. I had some classes to try to correct some of the issues but all they would say about the issue itself is that I'm different. How? At least tell me if they're comparing an apple to an orange or to a pear. I can live with being a pear.

I'm only recently learning what it is. Got all my info from Reddit, waiting for a book in the mail.

21, man, Idaho, no not retarded. Most of my issues are/were speech and social anxiety.

Should've been educated. 20
Should've studied it on my own. 4
Are you sure you want to know? 1
No, it's normal to wait until you're mature. 1
No, it's normal to never learn. 4
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Comments ( 5 )
  • Faceless

    It means your retarded but wicked smart at something.

    *dumps out box of matches onto floor*

    Quickly, how many matches are there?

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    • Knightmare

      Heh, I wish I had a superpower like that.

      I don't know much about it, but it's more like me being weak at one thing and strong at another. I've always been rather nervous talking to people, but oddly not when texting. The one thought that never leaves my mind is "Would a normal person say that? How do I know I don't sound retarded?"

      If I have any skill, it's rapid research. I learn best when someone asks me a question and I research for them, paraphrasing what I found. I learn better by helping someone else learn rather than study something I need, it's weird. Must be the autism, no other explanation.

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  • yesnomaybeso

    I'm sorry this happened to you! The internet will have plenty of information, just be careful because you don't know what's gonna be true

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    • Knightmare

      Thanks. I'm actually waiting for a book in the mail on this. It doesn't bother me too much, tho. When I was little I stuttered a lot, but that was the biggest symptom. That and social anxiety, but I'm learning by talking to some guys online.

      Reddit is my hero actually. It's not my only social interaction, but it is the only one where I can say anything and learn what people think of what I said, and also its where I learned to be brave enough to not care about reactions on some things. And plus its the only one I found where nobody cares that they haven't a clue who you are. I'm allowed to be my freaky self all I want AND I can learn how to be social!

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  • Nenumoudutra

    Autism has become a very common , or at least is diagnosed very often nowadays. 16 years ago when you were diagnosed much less was known about it. That is probably why you weren't educated about it.
    The type of remark left above comes about ,probably, because the general public (the less educated ones atleast) know what they know about it from the film Rainman this is sad as it shows what one person under one set of conditions with one type of austism (who ner had help) may or may not have spent a short period of their life.
    I'm sure u can find groups online and real world of like minded people with autism and families of people with autism very easily. I'm sure that you know to read from varied sources online about autism as some of the remarks or advice may not be accurate.
    Obviously don't pay attention the troll remarks on this site.

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