Age: 19
Sex: Female
Self-Diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome
* food sensory issues
-Very limited diet, but lately trying to diversity just a bit. I was allergic to soy products as a young child, so I mainly ate a special formula, Cheerios, and...I think that's about it. Then I progressed to bread. Then, 17 years later, I can go about as somewhat of a "normal" person, without food allergies, but still aversions (that I sometimes say are allergies so people won't make me try something that I really don't want to
) I used to think my limited list of food I would eat was due to my diet as a baby/child, but now am accepting autism as more of a player in my life than I ever thought. -I do not eat "red meat", other than in tacos. I eat chicken and turkey (I much prefer it powdery, thinly shaved, rather than sliced, because its "slimy" feeling). I hate the smell and texture of fish...I con't really remember the taste, but I don't think I could get over the former two traits to eat it, no matter how it tastes. I prefer salty flavors. As a pre-teen (before I knew how INCREDIBLY bad for me this could end up being in the long run) I would shake out a palmful of salt into my hand and lick it clean...secretly of course, I was reprimanded once, and hid it from then on. I stopped doing that, though, which is probably for the best.
-I won't let my foods touch, although there are a few exceptions: If they are dry foods that cannot contaminate each other, or dry food and packaged food, they can touch slightly, but I will usually move them. I will not use the same utensil if the first food was liquidy or left any residue on the utensil. I eat all of one food first, then move on to the next; I don't take a bite of one food, then another of a different, then again of another. I also like to have four things whenever I make my meal at home: sandwhich/main entree, fruit or vegetable, dairy (yogurt or cheese, since I don't like milk), and a snack-type food, like chips.I place the main entree forst, then the fruit to the right, the dairy to the left, and the snack directly across.
-I like some kinds of nuts, and I love ice cream, but will not eat nuts in ie cream. I don't know why, I just never have liked it. I may suck the ice cream off, and place the nuts aside, and then eat them after, but not in the same bite. I also don't like nuts in candy or brownies.
* sexuality, * gender
-Heterosexual, but lately "appreciating" beauty/sensuality of all genders. I went through a phase in high school of dressing in men's clothing (pants and shirts) and wishing I was male. However, I exited this phase my senior year, I believe. I still am not very feminine, but I do acknowledge my feminine aspects, though not overtly so. I dress in loosly fitting clothes, but sometimes may wear something tighter--not so tight so that other people would call it any tighter than "normal" for others, but compared to my usual, it is. I do not like dresses, but will wear one if I have to. I prefer dress pants with flared legs, and a long-sleeved shirt. I don't like to act like "girls do." I have a male frioend who is the steretypical gay man, but who is not gay. He is more girly than I am, and gives me friendly teasing about it all the time.
-I have always preferred the company of guys. The majority of my friends have always been guys. I usually have some girl friends that are at my level of femininity.
* interests/obsessions
-I spend a disproportionate amount of time on work for my art classes. I always have. I loved art classes all through my school years, and may be minoring in Art in college. I enjoy making things, and also usually end up liking the results so much that I don't want to sell or give away anything. As a result, the walls of my rooma re filled with my drawings and paintings.
-I first took a foreign language class in eigth grade, where we studies German, French, and Spanish. I immediately loved the idea of language, and latched on to Spanish. I took four years of Spanish in high school (we were only required to take two years of a foreign language.) I originally chose Spanish because my sister took Spanish, and I figured she could help me out. I fell in love with it, and still am. I am majoring in Spanish in college, and have many internet-friends with whom I speak mostly in Spanish, ocassionally helping them learn some English.
-Cats. I have 6 in my home currently, and have had numerous others in my life. They always seem to like me best of the whole family, and I like to spend time with them, sometimes rather than people. I love going to the vet, because they usually have a few cages full of kittens to sell. They all seem to like me immediately. My family thinks I should be a vetrinatian and take advantage of my "way with animals", but I wouldn't want to have to put animals down, or inhect them, or even work with dogs. I hate dogs. Although I can stand to be around them more now than I used to. I used to be terrified of any dog, even the tiny ones.
-Anything Irish or Celtic. I love Celtic designs, shamrocks, Irish/Celtic music, and want to visit Ireland someday. My first (and only, so far) tattoo is of a shamrock. I love Irish accents, Saint Patrick's Day, Connemara marble (found only in Ireland), and Gaelic (although I passed through the obsession of wanting to learn Gaelic; there are not too many resources to teach oneself Gaelic.)
* the diagnostic process
* co-occurring conditions (e.g., ADHD, OCD, etc.)
* your talents
-Art, Spanish, cats (see above, Obsessions)
* social phobia
-I have only done less than ten formal presentations in school in my life sine 6th grade. More than half of those were in college, where I was in a "Learning Community" for freshman who were undecided on their majors. There were 15-20 students in four or five of the same classes. We were pretty close at the beginning of the year, and I really liked my professor, who helped me get through my social anxiety my fisrt semester of college. He didn't know it then, or even now, how much of a help he was. Even I am not sure. I have pregressed exponentially since my freshman year of high school, when I would not talk in more than one word, or a short phrase, if neccesary. I had no real friends, only nice people in my classes with whom I would eat lunch with out of fear of eating alone. I started making a few friends the next semester, but still hardly ever talked. Now, in my second year of college, people still say I am very quiet, but I feel like I am a lot more relaxed and talkative, socially, especially with poeple I have know for a long time.
-I don't like meeting new people, unless I am with a good friend whom I hove know for awhile, or with family. I talk more online to my friends than I do fsce-to-face. I met my boyfriend online at a Learn New Languages website, where people can chat with others in a language they are learning. I was learning Spanish, and he was learning English. We have known each other for six months, and I feel like he knows me better than anyone else, even my mom. A little.
- I hate talking on the phone. I will if absolutely neccesary, but prefer to do things in emails or online. Even a face-to-face with a new person is preferable to the phone. I have called my boyfriend a few times, but still was nervous, to the point of a mini-panic attack. (Luckily, my pre-paid international call ended just as I stopped being able to speak. Perfect timing.)
* high school experiences
--see above--
* college experiences
--see above--
* Disability
* friendships
--see above--
* relationship with parents
* autism in your family
* Broader Autistic Phenotype/Autistic Cousin/Shadow Syndrome
* autism research
* health care
I'm not too compulsive about those things. 
Because I feel so dumb in front of people during it.