ClaudeCTTE
Misunderstood...
- Aug 22, 2023
- 265
In my family, I have 2 older brothers, but one of them has Asperger's Syndrome. My brother and I are completely opposite poles, as while he has Asperger's Syndrome, I have ADHD.
He was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 6 years old, while I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 20 (I am currently 21 and he is 26).
Socializing with him has been completely difficult, as I am not able to understand him, nor he me.
Since we were children, we were very close. I used to play video games with him every day. However, when he was 12 years old, he stopped playing video games to dedicate himself completely to his studies. At this point, my brother no longer wanted to play with me because studies were more important to him, and also because, according to him, he "wanted to mature and didn't want to keep playing childish games." From this point on, I began to distance myself from my brother little by little to the point that I no longer got along with him because he simply didn't want to spend time with me anymore.
He is the typical autistic person who is an expert in physics and mathematics, as he sometimes boasted that he had better grades than me in high school, although in middle school I had better grades than him. According to my mother, my brother's IQ ranges from 120-130, while I am unaware of mine, but it is probably -1 (the average in my country is 88, according to the internet).
As for the present, we are both equally f*cked.
My brother graduated from college several years ago, but my father doesn't want him to get a job because he wants him to help with household chores. While I dropped out of college and am forced to find shitty jobs to make some money.
On the other hand, sometimes I complain about some of his habits, although I am aware that several habits he has are due to his condition.
There are hundreds of things I could talk about my brother, but in the end, we'll never understand each other.
And you, do you have a close family member with a mental disorder?
He was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 6 years old, while I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 20 (I am currently 21 and he is 26).
Socializing with him has been completely difficult, as I am not able to understand him, nor he me.
Since we were children, we were very close. I used to play video games with him every day. However, when he was 12 years old, he stopped playing video games to dedicate himself completely to his studies. At this point, my brother no longer wanted to play with me because studies were more important to him, and also because, according to him, he "wanted to mature and didn't want to keep playing childish games." From this point on, I began to distance myself from my brother little by little to the point that I no longer got along with him because he simply didn't want to spend time with me anymore.
He is the typical autistic person who is an expert in physics and mathematics, as he sometimes boasted that he had better grades than me in high school, although in middle school I had better grades than him. According to my mother, my brother's IQ ranges from 120-130, while I am unaware of mine, but it is probably -1 (the average in my country is 88, according to the internet).
As for the present, we are both equally f*cked.
My brother graduated from college several years ago, but my father doesn't want him to get a job because he wants him to help with household chores. While I dropped out of college and am forced to find shitty jobs to make some money.
On the other hand, sometimes I complain about some of his habits, although I am aware that several habits he has are due to his condition.
- He often repeats the phrases people tell him. If you tell him "You need to pay attention," he repeats, "I need to pay attention."
- He tends to talk to himself all day long, and sometimes my hyperacusis makes it annoying for me to listen to him.
- He is not able to understand sarcasm. I don't know what example to give, but if you ask him if his dog ate his homework, he will most likely say, "Dogs don't eat homework" or "I don't have dogs."
- Neither of us has a social life. The difference is that he is indifferent to social life, while I always complain that I have no one to talk to.
- He is not depressive or emotionally unstable like me. He rarely used to have anxiety attacks, but it was usually due to school stress.
- Sometimes my father asks my brother to play music in the dining room, so my brother always plays the same song over and over again, every single day.
- Sometimes I lend him my PS3 or PS4, and the only game he can think of playing is FIFA. I wonder why he doesn't play the video games I have. Surely he'll say it's because they are "childish video games."
- My brother always gets angry with me when I interfere with his daily routine. Sometimes I feel like he hates me because he often raises his voice aggressively.
- As my brother is older than me, he always thinks he's right. Sometimes he tends to highlight my flaws without realizing that he's offending me.
- He has a good memory and is able to remember things in too much detail. I also have a good memory, but I'm not able to remember as many details as he does.
- As for how I talk to him, it's difficult for me to talk to him because I don't feel like he has knowledge of my favorite topics.
In the past, he used to ask me a lot of things, but they were always weird things.
I remember one day during dinner he asked me, "Do you masturbate?" and I said, "Why do you ask such things?"
One night, he told me he experienced a "nocturnal emission" because he covered his face with the blankets while sleeping.
One day he asked me if listening to "Metallica" stressed me out because it stresses him out to listen to that band. I don't know why he assumed I listened to Metallica when in reality I only listen to European Prog Rock. Also, I don't know why he assumes that any Rock/Metal song is automatically "Metallica."
I just told him, "You don't know what I actually listen to."
- He tends to talk to himself all day long, and sometimes my hyperacusis makes it annoying for me to listen to him.
- He is not able to understand sarcasm. I don't know what example to give, but if you ask him if his dog ate his homework, he will most likely say, "Dogs don't eat homework" or "I don't have dogs."
- Neither of us has a social life. The difference is that he is indifferent to social life, while I always complain that I have no one to talk to.
- He is not depressive or emotionally unstable like me. He rarely used to have anxiety attacks, but it was usually due to school stress.
- Sometimes my father asks my brother to play music in the dining room, so my brother always plays the same song over and over again, every single day.
- Sometimes I lend him my PS3 or PS4, and the only game he can think of playing is FIFA. I wonder why he doesn't play the video games I have. Surely he'll say it's because they are "childish video games."
- My brother always gets angry with me when I interfere with his daily routine. Sometimes I feel like he hates me because he often raises his voice aggressively.
- As my brother is older than me, he always thinks he's right. Sometimes he tends to highlight my flaws without realizing that he's offending me.
- He has a good memory and is able to remember things in too much detail. I also have a good memory, but I'm not able to remember as many details as he does.
- As for how I talk to him, it's difficult for me to talk to him because I don't feel like he has knowledge of my favorite topics.
In the past, he used to ask me a lot of things, but they were always weird things.
I remember one day during dinner he asked me, "Do you masturbate?" and I said, "Why do you ask such things?"
One night, he told me he experienced a "nocturnal emission" because he covered his face with the blankets while sleeping.
One day he asked me if listening to "Metallica" stressed me out because it stresses him out to listen to that band. I don't know why he assumed I listened to Metallica when in reality I only listen to European Prog Rock. Also, I don't know why he assumes that any Rock/Metal song is automatically "Metallica."
I just told him, "You don't know what I actually listen to."
There are hundreds of things I could talk about my brother, but in the end, we'll never understand each other.
And you, do you have a close family member with a mental disorder?
) which doesn't help, my mom expressed thinking she may also be autistic to a degree but otherwise I don't think anyone else in the family is. Also doesn't help that mom's side has a penchant for guns and knives, can't recall how many times mom threatened to stab me. She even set her home on fire as a child tho apparently it was an accident, she was just a firebug lol
