What is normal in the world

Hi @Former-Member,

not being able to spell isn't a learning difficulty! I don't think it is... I am hopeless at spelling and I don't have a learning difficulty... well, I was always a straight-A student, anyway. It's just that leaning by 'rote' didn't interest me and I didn't want to waste time learning to memorise how to spell words. I am still very lazy when it comes to spelling and even though a have a good vocabulary and was able to get my Master's degree, I am still frantically using spell-check all the time.

Good on you for finishing high-school! Good on you for standing up to that teacher and her low expectations!

I am a lot like you in that I need stimulating people in my life to engage my intellect. As I live in a very small town, in a "cultural void" (not much happens here...) I find I have to read a lot of books in order to keep my brain happy. Do you like to read, @Former-Member?

I wonder exactly what happened to you when you went to uni and ended up in bed all the time? Would you like to talk about it? Would you consider studying by correspondence, as it might be less stressful? You could do all that reading and writing in you own time in your own home and just ask questions by email.

Actually, even though I was a clever student, I did find uni a bit intimidating... you have to be very motivated to see in through. I remember a lot of kids dropped out in 1st year.

Hi @STORMGRL101,

if you couldn'd work out what you were doing to earn the label "weird" then I think you must have been entirely natural- just being yourself. So it was then who had the problem- I think they were jealous of your individuality. They were probably people who just followed everyone else and couldn't think for themselves.

Even though they were your friends and meant no harm... I don't think it's nice to label someone as "weird". It's not a very imaginative label. (Even though I used the same word for a lady I don't like recently!!)

@Former-Member I have been following along on your thread for the past few days but I haven't really been in the headspace to respond. I'm not sure if this will be helpful for you or not but I'm just going to throw it out there. I'm wondering if you have ever done any research into how Asperger's syndrome presents in girls and women? I figured out a few years ago that my psychiatric diagnosis of BPD simply didn't explain a lot of the stuff I struggle with and over time I put together the pieces of a different puzzle and realised I was aspie. I then spent the money to get formally assessed at an autism specialist clinic in Sydney.

Some people questioned why I would bother getting the assessment done given that knowing one way or the other wouldn't change anything. However, for me, getting the ASD diagnosis has been enormously validating. I no longer feel weird or like a misfit. I am aspie, and that's ok. In the autism community, people tend to talk about having found their tribe. That is definitely how I have experienced it. Suddenly I discovered that all my "weirdness" isn't weird at all amongst my own tribe of other aspie women (most of whom were not diagnosed until adulthood).

This may be of no relevance to you at all, but as I said, I thought I'd just throw it out there.