I'm trying to catch up on all the threads now I've discovered this, it's so hard and reading through all these stories makes me feel for you all - as well as myself. I hope you don't mind if I join in and get some stuff off my chest.
My husband was diagnosed about 3 years ago and since then has totally embraced his aspie traits. He now sort of looks down on NT people, thinks he's smarter than everyone. Admitted he 'mimicked' or 'masked' me into a marriage but since kids came along he's too exhausted to keep it up. He said he was miserable as always pretending, but now he's given up making any effort to be an 'average' person I am miserable. He's spent the entire past year getting more and more addicted to his PS4 games. He's built a small group of online friends which is great actually, as he's never had mates before, but the fact is he can manage to chat to them about issues beyond just the game. Yet if I ask him to spend some time with me he'll just stare at his phone or laptop, not talking. Won't discuss a film to watch. Can't talk about a topic unless it's something he's interested in, and then it's just a very one-sides rant from his side. I spend every evening sat alone or with our dog once the kids are in bed. He's told me he feels comfortable in the gaming scenario, it helps him to relax and he can open up and chat over his headset, so I suppose he just really doesn't feel that with me.
He's essentially happy with our life the way it is. He works for himself around 10 hours a day, doesn't have to interact with anyone except emails, comes home and sees the kids for an hour or so before their bedtime, then just games all night. At weekends he just seems to sleep the days away unless I force him out for a family walk or direct him to take the kids to their grandad or the park if I am busy.
I am totally financially reliant on him, due to various things I left my career after having our second child and set up a small business. It makes me happy to have my own hours that work around the school run, as he'll never step up to do that, but it makes barely any money. So although I'm not happy with the status quo at all, I can't afford to leave or ask him to go.
The other issue stopping me from making any decisions is the kids. They adore him and think it's normal that Daddy has his own bedroom away from Mummy and they can watch tv there while he just sleeps if Mummy has to go out. I can't trust him with them at all so I don't know how access would work even if I did manage to go. He'd probably want 50/50 access even though I know he wouldn't be able to care for them properly. I think deep down I'm biding my time until they're old enough not to need so much care. Then if things are the same I'd have to make a change. But our son has just been diagnosed as high functioning ASD so perhaps that day won't come, as he'll always need that extra support and I can't see my husband ever being capable.
Sometimes after I've talked to him about how much he ignores me, he'll try to make more effort. It'll last maybe 2 days, sometimes as long as a week, but then go right back to how it was. Those times when he's trying are so nice that I realise most of the time I don't actually want us to split - I just want him to be the guy he apparently was pretending to be. Funny, conversation, a companion who was interested in things other than just a screen. But then at other times I'm wondering 'he seems happy, but is he masking right now?' Whats the point of he's just pretending? Constantly second guessing what's going on. So I can never fully relax and enjoy what little time we do have together before the gaming sucks him back in.
I've made enquiries with a few therapists and I'm hoping I can find one who knows about ASD. We've tried counselling in the past but it was useless because the techniques really didn't apply to him. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know! And thank you if anyone has read this. It's nice to know I'm not totally alone in this situation even though I feel so isolated.