WHEN Amie Hooper was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 22, she described the revelation as an “absolute relief”.

For years she had suspected her inability to form lasting friendships or interact in a meaningful way with her school friends had been down to a psychological problem.

Her suspicions were confirmed 18 months ago when a private consultant confirmed she had been living with the condition throughout her life.

The symptoms, which are believed to come from a dysfunction in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, mean those who have the condition can come across to others as self-absorbed, lacking in empathy, obsessed with one or two particular subjects, or just clumsy or plain eccentric.

It is estimated that one in 200 people have Asperger’s in the UK, and 23-year-old Amie is one of the 25 per cent of females which makes up that group.

Now looking to apply for a place in college to peruse her dream of a career in science, Amie talked about her difficult school years and the joy of recognition for her condition.

“It’s relatively late on to be diagnosed,” she said.

“Most males with Asperger’s are diagnosed at an early age, but with females the symptoms are a little more passive and they adapt better to social situations. When I was about 11 years old I began to notice something in myself.”

Amie said she remembers being taken to a child psychologist when she was seven, but said she was unsure of the purpose of the visit, though thinks it may have been to do with the epilepsy which she also suffers from.

Following the death of her mother she admits there is now little chance of finding out why she was taken, but said nothing was picked up at the time.

Later, as a pupil at King James School, in her home town of Knaresborough, she said she felt “completely isolated”.

“I had friends, but I didn’t hang around with them outside school,” she said. “I didn’t contact them outside school because it just didn't occur to me to do so. Now I am more aware, so I make an effort.

“I did have one good friend, who was about three years older than me, and I hung around with her. I was okay with that because she grew up with me knowing how I was. I sort of isolated myself to having one friend.” Still convinced all was not well – Amie began to look into autism, but recognised the symptoms as “too severe” in her case. Meanwhile, she took her GCSEs, eventually gaining seven qualifications before taking an NVQ in bar service and starting a job in a pub in Knaresborough.

For someone with a condition which makes it extremely difficult to pick up the nuances and subtle body language displayed in everyday interaction with people, a job behind a bar could have been a disaster.

“I found it okay because it was routine,” said Amie. “It was just ‘hi, how can I help you?’ – you didn’t have to get too deep.”

Amie said throughout her teens, people would point out the way she reacted to certain situations.

“Growing up, I assumed I was normal until I started thinking about things, then I thought maybe something wasn't right.

“If my friends reacted to something emotionally I would sometimes think ‘why are you reacting like that – it makes no sense’.”

It was, however, the death of her mother which prompted Amie to finally seek medical help to get answers to why she was like she was.

“When I was diagnosed it was an absolute relief. Before, I felt I was just making up excuses for myself, but now I had it written down in front of me and I felt different.

“The next step for me was trying to find some support, but the lack of support was ridiculous. If you are diagnosed at school, you get the support and learn how to deal with it. I have never had that so I struggle.

“I want to see more support groups and more teachers being more aware.

“If they see somebody they should be able to recognise the symptoms and alert the parents, so they can be diagnosed at an early stage – that’s the one thing I wish had happened to me.”

Amie did, however, have praise for organisations and employers who are slowly waking up to Asperger’s.

“North Yorkshire Police have had training in autism,” she said. “That’s fantastic – I would like to see that done a lot more in other organisations.”

Amie now shares a house in Knaresborough with a group of friends and is looking forward to studying science, though at the moment is deciding which branch to concentrate on.

“I don’t think I would I would like to do research into Asperger’s myself,” she admits. It’s a little too close to home. But I would really love to see more research in to it.”

The Asperger’s Syndrome Foundation was set up ten years ago to increase understanding of the situation among sufferers and their friends and family.

According to the foundation people with Asperger’s Syndrome often have good language skills, but find it hard to grasp the underlying meaning of conversation and understand jokes, idioms, metaphors and sarcasm.

Their voices often sound monotonous and their language pedantic and idiosyncratic.

They often have narrow interests which dominate their conversations and they find if difficult to have a mutual sharing of ideas and feelings.

Sufferers may also find it hard to think flexibly and in abstract ways. This manifests itself in several ways such an inability to understand other people's points of view, taking things literally, and difficulties applying knowledge and skills across settings with different people.

People with Asperger’s Syndrome can also be sensitive or even hyper-sensitive to certain sounds or sensory stimuli, such as noise, smell and light.

This can lead to a feeling of being “overloaded” and often results in angry outbursts.

If you would like more in formation on Asperger’s Syndrome, visit aspergerfoundation.org.uk