Have you ever met a person with Asperger's? What were they like?

My brother has it. He becomes hyper focused on stuff, doesn't read the room well and has a genius IQ.

I've met other Aspies too. I can usually pick them out right away, though I would have a hard time verbalizing what exactly tipped me off. There's a distance you get with people who have Asperger, like they're not on the same level as you are and it pains them to think down to your level.

Another problem is that my brother and I, but especially him, were abused by our parents. They didn't understand what his issue was, neither did the school we went to, so they came to the conclusion that he was just doing stuff on purpose and would yell at him hoping that would whip him into shape. All it did was make him more withdrawn into himself. Moreso, he's a huge guy but has a funny walk due to the way his leg is fused to his hip, so classmates sucked.

So it's a bit hard to tell what behaviors are the Aspergers and what is a coping mechanism for abuse. He's quiet, doesn't like to be touched (I realized this one day when my aunt and my grandmother were making him hug them and I could just feel the discomfort coming off of him), there's more but I think I'm already oversharing here.

/r/AskReddit Thread