Posts Tagged ‘gospel rap’

Women With Asperger's Are Wrongly Stereotyped

Autism is on the rise, especially Autism Spectrum Disorders such as Asperger’s Syndrome. It is reported that about three quarters of those diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome are male. A mere one out of ten are women. Upon my diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 32, I found myself inundated with the typical male stereotypes of this disorder. “You can’t have Asperger’s because you function so well!” Really? I would challenge anyone that claims that I “function well” to talk about my life with me. Lets see, yes, I have been married for eleven years and I have two children. Not that I place my marriage in the news for public scrutiny, but I will admit that our marriage has been anything but easy. In fact, we have been in and out of marriage counseling for years now, and I am extremely vulnerable to relationship predators whom tried to tell me just why I wasn’t happy. Lets see, going down the line.

Career? Well, I owned my own business for ten years. Did I profit? Not really. I made a small living for myself, but in the end I emassed so much debt in order to keep our family in a comfortable “self employment role” that I couldn’t pay it back. Kids? I’m a good mom. Both my children are also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and my kids think I’m fun. Anyone else that spends any large amount of time with me will find that I am adventurous, a joker, silly, and never able to live too serious of a life. My kids dig that, and they prefer to spend their time with me as much as possible. I can’t really say I am anything close to a nuero-typical “soccer mom”. In fact, my kids are oftentimes forced to quit events because of my lack of interest in getting them to their functions.

Socially I could pass as “normal”, in fact, for my entire 33 years I have passed as “typical”. Still, this comes from years of having to supress my true feelings of fear, depression, anxiety, and obsession. Living a life undiagnosed oftentimes leads women with Aspergers to the point of professional intervention. Mine was during my marriage problems. While we were going to a very good psychologist here where we live, we learned that many of our issues were based on not knowing how to “be married”, but also, my psychologist started to pick up on many of the classic signs of autism. I have sensititivities to sounds, smells, to this day I can’t be around a smoker, I can’t stand to hear shopping carts clank together, and if I get into an argument with someone, I will hold a grudge for years. Read more…