How a person with Aspergers may feel:

• I might be thinking hard about something and may not hear you if you talk to me
• The taste of something might be just yukky to you but to me it is the worst taste ever and I have to get it out of my mouth, even if I have to spit on the street! And it’s the same with some smells…they might make me gag and I can’t control it.
• Sometimes noises are deafening to me and I have to cover my ears or run away.
• I have a special interest (eg train timetables) and I talk about it all the time. I take pictures of (trains). I draw (trains). I make (train) noises. I get really excited and don’t understand why you don’t want to talk about it as much as I do.
• I have special rituals that I have to stick to and they make me feel good. But sometimes they frustrate me because they take up a lot of my time. It confuses me sometimes.
• I sometimes get scared if there are too many people around me or if I see new people. I don’t even want to look at them or talk to them I want to be invisible. I can’t talk to people who work in shops or ask for my food at the burger place. I get too shy and a bit scared.
• I can’t tell how you feel from the look on your face. I don’t understand body language but I might understand if you are crying or laughing or shouting really loudly.
• A lot of the time I don’t like to be touched. I don’t like hugs too much but I like it if someone I love scratches my back. I don’t really like to get my hair cut or washed or getting my nails cut.
• I’m not very good at balancing and even walking tires me out sometimes.
• I don’t understand double meanings like if you’re angry and you tell me to pull my socks up. I will pull my actual socks up and get sad when you think I’m just being silly. I sometimes don’t understand jokes either.
• I sometimes believe exactly what you say – like if you tell me that people can die if they don’t drink water, I’ll drink water all the time, constantly. It will be on my mind a lot and will worry me. I won’t understand that a person can go for a few days without water before they die.
• I know that I’m different and it troubles me. I just don’t understand how I’m different or why people tease me sometimes.
• I want to meet people and talk to them but I don’t know how. They scare me. It takes me a long time to feel comfortable with someone.
• I don’t know why my teacher says that I’m naughty…I’m really trying to do my work and fit in. But there’s a lot that I don’t understand and a lot of things that I need more help with. But I can’t get that help if I’m stuck at the back of the classroom or ignored by everyone because they think that I’m trouble.
• I can’t tell the time, tie up my shoelaces and I don’t know my times tables.
• Some clothes are so uncomfortable that I just can’t wear them.

Note: Gained from the experience of living with a 12 year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome (who prefers to remain anonymous at this stage) and conversations held with him on the subject.