This page describes the problems that Asperger's Syndrome has brought me in life. It is basically a summing up of the main points of my psychological and behavioural history pages.
I am hypersensitive to sound. I can't stand bus engines, car and burglar alarms or pneumatic drills. The sound of babies crying, although they can't help it as they do it to attract attention, still goes through me. I also dislike the sound of chairs being scraped against floors, and get confused when listening to too many people talking at the same time.
My brain isn't very efficient at filtering out noises.
I can't wear wool. I don't like it when I buy clothes and the label rubs against my back. I have to tear it off when that happens. I don't wear boxer shorts, and prefer to wear briefs instead. Neither do I like to wear Nylon. In nearly all cases, I adorn 100% pure cotton shirts or T-shirts, either under pull overs or alone if the weather is warm or hot.
I am also hypersensitive to touch. I couldn't stand the feel of the metal rims in the old-fashioned glasses I had to wear for reading in Junior and Secondary School.
With regards to noise, if I ever am on a crowded bus or a crowded train, I used to listen to my walkman to block noise out. As technology progressed, I started listening to my MP3 player and then later my phone.
I have problems with sequencing movements or actions when following someone else. If someone explains or shows me a movement one step at a time, I am fine, but when they go too quick, I struggle. If you are providing me information that is based on instructions, give me it step-by-step. I understand it clearer when done by that method rather than any other.
In the past, I would ramble on about a topic or subject that interested me. I often failed to notice that the person or persons I was addressing didn't quite share my enthusiasm for the subject. This also occurred because I couldn't read other people's body language and facial signals. I could only recognise when someone was happy because they smiled when they were happy. Hence I couldn't tell that the person or persons I was talking to were bored. I also would go on and on about the same thing over and over again because it felt, to me, reassuring to talk about it. I was also repetitive, and still am in the sense I could talk about the same subject continually.
I always have had problems with turn taking in conversation, which NT's, again, take for granted. This includes not waiting my turn in conversations and waiting until other people had finished speaking.
I was also very naive in life, with my approach to it and what I knew about the outside world. Even today I am a very unconvincing liar and am absolutely hopeless at manipulating people. If I have done so, it is by accident. I do recognise though that you have to lie to survive in life, just as you have to be selfish to survive for self-preservation, and I can tell white lies, but I don't like telling lies for no reason.
I mentally and emotionally also overload quicker than NT's. That is not to say that NT's don't experience overload problems but mine occur sooner than theirs.
You may say that I don't need other people to talk to? I do, but on my own terms. A lot of the time I like being alone but other times I need people around me. I get overloaded after long spells with people around or if too many people are around me once.
I still have to get in the shower at 9.30pm on a Sunday night. I have done this since September 1997. In my life, when one routine has disappeared, another one has taken its place. That is going to be the pattern of my life now. I need familiarity and structure in my life, not unpredictability. I don't like surprises. I am very much a creature of habit. I have lived my life by this. Yet I am not superstitious or religious. If a black cat crosses your path, as far as I am concerned, it is a sign that it is ...... going somewhere!
