I want to tell my story. I don't have Aspergers, but I have become friends with a young man who does.

Greg came to our college with other freshman in the beginning of the fall semester. He quickly came to our club, The Storytellers' Guild. We're a gaming/anime club, and he probably felt like we all did, that he could finally fit in.

Greg was different from the moment we all met him. One of our members said part of it was due to the fact that he looked like he'd been bullied physically and emotionally on a level most people never reach. Other than that, none of us understood why Greg was so odd.

We welcomed him at first, but found his limited conversational topics to be annoying an repetitive. His quirky speech habits and physical movements confused us. We're a very open and accepting group, but even we have our limits. We gave him a chance at first, but most of us became impatient and avoided him soon after.

Shortly after many of us began verbally expressing our annoyance with Greg, a female member of the club stepped in. She said Greg hadn't old her, but she could see that he had Aspergers. She explained that it was a type of autism, and told us the symptoms. It was Greg, 100%. The best thing for someone with Aspergers is to get as much social interaction as possible in order to widen their social abilities.

So we all gave him a second chance. We re-invited him to lunches. We purposely talked to him. And you know what? He's improving! Even in one semester his conversation topics have expanded, haha. I had a conversation with him about something I'd never heard him talk about!

I'm glad Greg found our club. We are accepting of people above the normal level. Most college students would look at Greg and hear him talk and not even bother. We're nerds, and we're nice It feels good we've given him a second chance and are helping him to come out of his shell. He WANTS to be around people - that's where Aspergers is different from full autism.