Me, Asperger's and birthday parties (or not)

I thought I'd start posting about how Asperger's Syndrome has affected me over the years. There are two reasons: 1. There has been a drama series on BBC1 about a family with an autistic boy called The a word and the first episode made me think of a post to blog about, and 2) I have started working on my Asperkids series called The Rainbow School, so these posts can be the start of promoting it.

In the first episode of The a Word, the family have a birthday party for their boy, Joe who is now 5. He hated being the centre of attention and laid on the floor. When I was that age, I didn't have any birthday parties. For two reasons, 1. I was too shy because of my Asperger's, and 2 because of my Asperger's I found it difficult to make friends of my own (one of the social impairments of AS). I also didn't go to any parties myself, again because of the reasons above.

It was only later on in life, when I was an adult and went to work, that I really started celebrating my birthday with others. I did have a party for my 18th, but I didn't mingle with my guests. I made myself in charge of the music in a corner and wanted to stay there the rest of the time.

So, there you have what I was like with birthday parties when I was younger.

If you have ASD, did you have birthday parties? If so, what were you like at them?