All I ever wanted was a friend. I am diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, with the possibility of suffering brain injury caused by being pushed over by a bully.
I later developed epilepsy. I was treated for epilepsy by a doctor that later was found to have treated lots of children with medication wrongly. On a second opinion I was found to have been treated wrongly too. I received  compensation but no amount of money will make up for how my life has been ruined potentially by that situation.
I didn’t get my diagnosis until 16. The medical professionals have always told me I can help my behaviour problems. But I have told them I can’t. I have only recently taken a risk and bought epilepsy medication from the internet. Self medicating has finally forced them to agree to refer me to a neurologist. I’ve spent many years trying to convince them that there was something wrong with my brain causing my issues.
My issues are not as severe as they were before I started self medicating. I am a shy person, so I decided to write this instead of talking to others. I only wanted a friend but would repeatedly be charged and convicted for harassment.
Since the law changes in 1997, people like myself are treated the same as someone who follows and intentionally causes harm to others. That is unfair because I would never do those things. I live a lonely isolated life because I’m an honest person and every time I told someone about my past, they left me and didn’t want to know. I don’t have a lot of family either due to death etc. My mum has her own problems which makes her emotionally abusive. She’s always made me try to look for love in others.
I had my baby son removed shortly after he was born because of my convictions. The risk assessments came out medium to high for being convicted of an offence. I’ve also never had a job because of my record as from 2006 there was a law passed that a record can come up on DBSÂ checks for 100 years. Therefore you’re branded for life and I don’t think that is fair if it’s caused by a disability.
In 2014, just after my sons adoption was finalised. I went to university. I confided my past to a tutor there. She promised me I wouldn’t get kicked out of university and that she would never get the police involved. I told them that I communicated in writing. They were aware of my issues. NAS outreach service was involved and they were absolutely useless. They were the mentor service in the university. Eventually they refused to work with me because I couldn’t do what was required. I was put through a disciplinary and then excluded permanently because basically I couldn’t lose my disability. I got angry about being kicked out like you naturally would. At this point, my tutor then went to the police. I kept asking why? I never got an explanation. All I got was police hassling me and shoved through Court. I was given a 3 year conditional discharge and a lifetime restraining order. This happened because no one sat down to talk in order to sort it out.
Since then I’ve lost out on jobs and been negatively treated when I’ve had to disclose my record. I can’t move on with my life while attitudes remain like this. I’m not a bad person. All I wanted was a friend. And that makes it hard because of my social disability.
For further reading or to find out more about Aspergers Syndrome and where to find support please see http://www.autism.org.uk/asperger
