Upto and After the Diagnosis

So, what did I do when I found out I had Asperger syndrome?

First we have to establish what happened before that. In that nebulous area where someone like me looks around the world and wonders, “What is wrong with all these people?!”

I use the word world, because by the time I was diagnosed I had been through 60 years’ experience in just about every U.S. state, Canadia, Mexico, the Bahamas and surrounding islands, and much of Northern Europe.

And had experienced: police chases (from the good side), gun fights, knife fights, rooftop pursuits, riots, and other less-than-normal activities.

I had also navigated encounters with celebrities, corporate America, politicians, teachers, exasperated doctors, exasperating doctors, fights with crazed dogs, cornered rats, peacock rustlers, Occupy Wall Street, and other malarkey.

So, I clearly wasn’t sitting in my parent’s basement.

The irony is, had I known, I would have been conditioned by normal people to believe I wasn’t capable of doing all those things, and avoided them altogether. But, since no one told me, I didn’t know I couldn’t do them – and, well, I did them….

Society seems preoccupied with the words normal and not-normal.

Not-normal comes through as some sort of pejorative.

I never saw it that way.

Just like I thought, “What is wrong with all these people?!” the word normal to me, being the word most commonly used to refer to those people, was the pejorative.

I know I’m not-normal, and based on what I’ve seen in my lifetime, I really don’t want to be.

Which brings us to Andy Warhol’s famous expression: “So what?”

I had been looking for the answer to the ‘what’ for 60 years when I inadvertently came across an article.

I stumbled upon this article: Lesser-known things about Asperger’s syndrome by Robyn Steward.

And had a eureka moment.

While thinking, “I know someone like this.” my hair stood on end.

It hit me: I had finally found the key! This was the missing link.

My initial reaction was to sweep the idea to the side, because I had been “diagnosed” so many times in the past, that this was, to me at least, just the latest “wrong diagnosis”. (Keep that expression in mind.)

So, the logical thing for me was to engage in testing.

I found a test on line and took it.
Thinking, this will quickly dispel this idea, so I can keep looking for the real cause of why these people act this way.

The test quickly confirmed it.

And, it wasn’t a ‘liner’.
I was way far into the ‘Yeah, you got it!’ range.

So, I thought, “This is just one simple test. I’ll find a more intensive one.”

And, I did, and another and another.

And, the scores kept getting deeper into the range and validating and re-validating the results.

I realized that I needed a professional to wade in, and make the final determination.

It took me months to find someone.

I travelled to 5^th Avenue in NYC to see the most credentialed person I could find.

The doctor agreed to see me, if I would complete some pre-work

I agreed, and the 20 pages of questionnaires appeared in my email.

After decoding those and several in person visits, here’s what the outcome was:

Classic Aspergers
Displaying “Every marker in the book.”
With a higher score on the tests than the doctor had seen in 25+ years of practice treating Asperger syndrome

The doctor also said:

People when diagnosed have one of three reactions:

“Woe is me, whatever shall I do?” (Despair)
“Not me, I don’t have that.” (Denial)
“Oh, is that all it is. Where’s the manual?” (So what)

I had the third one.

I went on a six-month research spree. I read everything I could find related to Asperger syndrome, including Dr. Asperger’s original paper: the English translation by Dr. Frith and the original German, because I’m dubious of German translations that I didn’t do myself. I’m glad I did.

I also read books that were an absolute treasure trove of information.

Here’s where you can find some of those….

Written May 28 2026