An introduction to the Aspergian Journal
About the Aspergian Journal and my autism backstory
Hello Readers,
My name is Connor and welcome to the Aspergian Journal.
I want to introduce the Aspergian Journal to you as the digital platform that I have created to taking a different approach of promoting and raising awareness, positivity and acceptance for people of the autistic spectrum and people with other neurodiverse conditions, which I refer to as ‘traits’, and to tell you my autism backstory.
Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I have endured and overcome many challenges and adversities as an autistic person, as well as experienced the lack of understanding from society for people on the autistic spectrum or other neurodiverse traits. Growing up as a child, I attended an autism-specialist school and people from teachers, social care professionals and others kept telling me that I would never amount to much in life. I was originally diagnosed with classic autism with moderate learning difficulties, even though my IQ was between 80-90, so I was put into mainstream schooling as I fell outside of the school’s remit.
Once in mainstream schooling, this started the cycle of the confusion of who was I as an autistic person as I felt I did not match the original diagnosis and my parents even suspected that I was more high-functioning autism rather than classic autism with moderate learning difficulties. I was also bullied at school for basically being different to the other kids at school, as well as being a bit of a loner (a billy no mates); as I always got on better with people that were older than me and my peers. As a result of the bullying and questioning who was I as an autistic person led to me having massive bouts of anxiety and mental health issues over the years until I was 18 years old where a junior psychologist identified that I was displaying traits and intelligence of someone that was more Asperger’s Syndrome rather than someone who had moderate learning difficulties.
Despite not having an official diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, my living experiences and knowledge as an autistic person is all I needed to answer any questions I had growing up and have learned and developed over time as an individual to make the concept of having a diagnosis to prove something to me irrelevant. I am not stopping anyone who suspects that they have autism to seek an official diagnosis if they wish to do so, but having a diagnosis or not does not change who you are as an autistic person and how you manage your own situation on a day-to-day basis as an individual and as a family unit. This thought process also applies to other neurodiverse traits, like: Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Tourette’s, Down’s and many others.
From a very early age regardless of the challenges and adversities I experienced and overcame, I have always been motivationally driven to prove to everyone that they were wrong about the low expectations they had for me and I have worked hard over the last 10-15 years to develop as an individual and initially building towards a career in accountancy and business, whilst being an advocate for autistic people in educational and workplace environments.
At the age of 20, I decided to study business and management at college and university which resulted in me getting a 2:1 (Honours) degree at the University of Lincoln in 2019 after 6 years of studying; which I saw as setting the foundations of my career wherever it takes me and as a massive achievement for someone like myself considering where I came from 20 years prior. Upon graduation and once the pandemic of 2020/21 cleared, I was successful in getting an accountancy apprenticeship to start my journey into work after being told previously by employers that I was unemployable because of my autism and lack of qualifications after school pretty much failed me.
Upon completing my apprenticeship, I was not kept on with the same employer which I felt disappointed as I wanted to carry on building my practical experience further, as I know it is very important for future job prospects, as well as completing my professional accountancy studies. I did managed to get a 3 months temporary role after that but I had a bad experience from that job position; which served as the catalyst to me forming the idea of the Aspergian Journal and starting this journey that I am on.
The word ‘Aspergian’ describes a person who identifies to have Asperger’s Syndrome, like myself, but it is not commonly used amongst the autistic community. Despite this description, I want the ‘Aspergian’ brand to reach out to all individuals who are on the autistic spectrum or have other neurodiverse traits, to accept and embrace that neurodiverse people are just as unique as individuals as neurotypical people are; i.e. those who are non-autistic.
The one thing that I have witnessed and experienced as an autistic person whilst raising awareness is the ‘invisible divide in our society’. What I mean by this is that there is a disconnection between those who are autistic or neurodiverse and those who are neurotypical. Even though nowadays the knowledge for the autistic spectrum is greater than it was 30-40 years ago, but it can still feel like it goes in one ear and out the other ear when it comes to talking to neurotypical people about autism acceptance and empowerment.
As an autistic person with over thirty years of life experience, I feel that I can make an impact on this drive or mission to greater awareness and equality for the autistic community by sharing my insights and views on a wide range of topics. The one reality I have found is that the world will not change entirely to suit autistic and neurodiverse people. It is about creating a balance between developing ourselves as individuals to get through life and never forget who we are and embrace our indifferences as one supportive and collaborative community.
This is why I am taking a different approach with creating entertaining, fun and informative content in video and written formats about autism advocacy whilst showcasing hobbies and interests that people can enjoy and relate to. All this drives toward the Aspergian Journal’s mission statement of: ‘Promoting autism advocacy through creative empowerment and inspiration’.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this introductory newsletter for the Aspergian Journal, learned more about what it is all about and what is set out to achieve, as well as read my autism backstory and how it gives context to the work I am doing. Please search and follow the Aspergian Journal on all its social media pages: Facebook, Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn, as well as on YouTube for all video content, so you can be kept in the loop for when new content is released.
Many thanks,
Connor Pattinson