Wired-Up Wrong - Asperger Syndrome, 'Normal', and Me

Book excerpt: Growing up is never easy but what's it like if you're 'different'? Actually, what's it like if you're 'different' but you don't know that you're 'different'? Having led what he thought was a 'normal' life for 31 years, our plucky hero's world was thrown into confusion when he was diagnosed with something called 'Asperger Syndrome'. But people don't catch Asperger Syndrome so where did it come from? Was it there all along and not noticed? Set against the backdrop of the North East of England in the 70's and 80's, and having to cope with life with a disabled father as well as facing the everyday challenges that most people take for granted, this is the insiders view of one boy's life with AS - from the safety of make-believe worlds to the terrifying depths of suicide, self-harming, and isolation. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes surreal, but never dull, this is the story of a little boy's struggle to not only grow up and survive in the world, but to find out what he truly was.