Comment thread while I am away...

<p>I am starting this thread in order to get further comments from others about my situation. I am being forced to drop out of engineering by my parents because of the environment there, and it has been very bad for my Asperger's Syndrome. The other students are scared of me to the point that they do not want to be in class anymore, and want to report me to the associate dean and file a formal complaint.</p>

<p>My college counselors refused to advocate for me AT ALL even after they had promised for months to do so. I dropped them today at the advice of my parents and psychiatrist. So now I have no one else to turn to in my area, because no one will help me.</p>

<p>Please leave your comments here, and I will check them and reply as soon as get back from open lab/work. Thank you, your comments are appreciated!</p>

<p>How much longer is the semester? Can you at least finish this semester and take finals? Perhaps you really do need to speak to your academic advisor and tell him or her everything you have told us here. Although they mainly deal with academic matters, perhaps your academic advisor can help you find other resources outside of the college since no one in the college is helping you. I'm sure that your advisor would not want you to drop engineering when you are so close to graduating with the degree and with honors. Personally, this sounds like a school I would definitely not want to go to if the students there are that immature and the counseling center refuses to assist students with problems like these. I'm not sure that it would be a good idea for you to speak to the students who are accusing you of whatever it is that they are saying you are doing to scare them, but you need to find out what the specific problem is. If it is simply that you asked someone out, that is not a legitimate reason for them complain, as it is not even their business that you are interested in dating someone. If that is their reason, I seriously hope that the dean just tells them to go away, as a dean does not have time for petty childish things that students can handle themselves face to face. However, if you have threatened other students, that is a different story. You also need to find out why this is a bad environment for you. Is it the students threatening to complain that concerns your parents?</p>

<p>My advice would be to talk to your psychiatrist since that is a person who knows you in person and is best equipped to assist you.</p>

<p>Much as the people here may wish to help you, none of us are professionals with the expertise and in-person knowledge of you that your psychiatrist has. You have some very serious decisions to make, and getting advice from your psychiatrist or another mental health professional is the best thing to do.</p>

<p>I agree that the people in my engineering college are very immature, and these are juniors! I can only have intelligent and meaningful conversations with some of the seniors who don't know about this. I believe that some people may construe me as a threat to them because I have been known to talk to myself, wring my hands in extreme anxiety, and do other strange stuff that does not threaten or hurt anybody. They want to turn me in because there is a strong possibility that they may think of me as a threat.</p>

<p>Part of me does not want to go to school tommorroww, for the second day this week. I know I should go, but something bad will happen if I do, and I won't be allowed to go to school and make something of myself anymore.</p>

<p>bluealien-- I think you may not really understand the situation. I am sure that bio does not mean any harm and has done nothing that he believes to be threatening, but as a student at a different college who has had to deal with different students with Asperger's, I can tell you that he has probably implied more than he believes he has. Therein lies the problem-- he doesn't realize how others perceive his actions, and thus doesn't know what to do to seem as nonthreatening as he is. I can actually see why the thing with asking out the girl was such a problem, too-- there are several students with Asperger's at my school-- one is a close friend of mine. Out of this group, only one of these students is perceived as "threatening" and is someone many students (mostly female) try to avoid: it is because he comes onto many girls, in many inappropriate ways, and has made it clear that he doesn't understand why that's unacceptable. That can be very, very scary. </p>

<p>Of course, I don't know the full situation, but from my experience (fairly vast) of those with Asperger's, I doubt this is just a case of chronic immaturity on the part of the others. I think that they are responding to what they incorrectly, but not unreasonably, perceive as a threat. </p>

<p>I agree with the others that a coach is really the way to go. If someone can't pick up on social cues of what is and is not acceptable, then the next best thing is to learn it by rote memorization.</p>

<p>I wish to stop discussion in this thread, because I feel it will be against my best interests to have any more posting going on here. Thank you for your opinions.</p>