My brother and my mom used to get into arguments because my parents were harder on him about his grades than they were on me (I was diagnosed with AS when I was in college; I'm a girl). My mom could never explain to him that it was always going to be harder for me than it was for him. We seem to have a family history of it: me, my dad, probably my grandmother, and almost certainly her father, who was a legendary family eccentric.

I was originally diagnosed as ADD but that never fit. By the time the AS diagnosis came about, I was on my last year in college and had changed to a major that better fit my learning capabilities so it wasn't such an issue, although I've always felt that I was cheated a bit out of my science classes because the so-called counselor just told me to stop partying so much. I told her I wasn't partying at all but since I had no standing diagnosis of learning disorders the school wouldn't do anything to help.

It was easier when I was a kid; my pets and toys were my best friends since I never really understood people. I've learned to deal with it more but it's lonely because I still relate poorly to other people and have a very hard time "bonding" with them. It's like dealing with another species; I may like cats and be familiar with their specialized meows and body language, but I'll never be a cat and I'll never completely understand what goes on in their minds.