Nope!

For posting this thread, thankyout-thankyou-thankyou!!!

I've been wondering for the last two years if anyone knew which famous people might have or have had AS.

I am a high-functioning sufferer of AS. There is no doubt about it; before I realized what the problem was, I tried very hard for ten years (!!) to teach myself to "read faces" and communicate more smoothly with folks. The results were sort of like a deaf person learning to lip-read. (And when I get it wrong, I can be so very, very wrong!). Over the years, at different stages of my life, I have had kind people explain the things most folks learn nonverbally. I even had a librarian employer coach me on "Conversational Skills" - fellow Aspies, there are _articles_ out there on that subject!!

I have not been formally diagnosed, but there is no reason to doubt that I have it (I didn't want to believe it at first, but I've learned to make myself face hard facts when it is needed). I had already identified some of my problems before I found that article posted at the beginning of this thread on an autism site, and so many of the rest I had just thought were personal quirks. I still can't figure out why people consider me "weird" - I've learned all the rules and copy them carefully! (That's a joke).

One of the things that one learns; groups with understandable and structured conditions are the best ones to deal with (but not crowds -crowds will have you rushing out of the room with your hands on your head or over your ears, and a feeling of "too much!".

There seems to be a high concentration of AS-type people in Science-Fiction clubs and in the SCA and historical re-enactment groups. These groups have well-defined rules for interactions, which makes things easier. I am not surprised to find a fair sprinkling among musicians, where we can always hide in the music.

I was interested to find new things in this thread, and some of my suspicions confirmed. (For instance, that problem I have with rollercoasters and other rides... I've always wondered...).

Thank you Sorcha (and others) for sources of books; I hadn't been able to find ANY literature for adult Aspies.

Sorcha, WHICH sunday paper had that AS article?

Jade - you have it so right!

Blackcatter - yes, I've often thought about how, if I had an obvious handicap like blindness, people would believe me and remember to compensate. They don't even realize how much they communicate non-verbally. Did it take you years to realize that most people actually do read each other's faces, like it did me? I used to think that folks couldn't _really_ see expressions in the eyes of others... but I think I really did, not too long ago, in the eyes of a dying relative. Just last month, a specialist at a convention claimed that one can use biofeedback to learn facial expressions - if one has the money for it. So maybe I can, eventually. Do you think it's likely?

WinterChild