Is apergers/ autism a glamerised condition.

[ZebraAutismo]

It is the only condition where people go I think I'm a touch autistic. You would never say something like I think I have a touch of cerebral pausy. People also go on about all the celebrities with it and how it is only mild. I sometimes feel like parents want their kids to have it as an excuse to why they aren't as smart as they would like them to be. I don't know it could just be me.

 

[Judge]

IMO it's a preposterous premise. Most often pushed by those who aren't on the spectrum and subsequently only see or consider perceived positive aspects without considering or actually knowing the daily social struggles it so often entails in both childhood and adulthood.

Hollywood because they more often than not want to exploit the subject of autism for profit. To make it appear "trendy" to push their television programming- and those of corporate sponsors. And frustrated parents who would prefer to see their kids in a better light than is usually the case. So they turn autism into some kind of status symbol.

It may also be a strategy by some to deliberately attempt to both trivialize and marginalize autism to keep it from being a reason to receive government entitlements. Though I can only speculate on that, given certain political groups who seek to dismantle the concept of a welfare state in whole or in part.

The real story? We all know it. We all live it. One that isn't quite so attractive or glamorous.

 

[DudBomb]

I had a paranoid elderly uncle who once told his doctor , he thought he might have a touch of the aids.

"Trendy" like the cutesy name aspie?

 

[When In Rome]

I knew a guy one time convinced himself he was actually an orange.

Fortunately it was just a segment of his imagination.

 

[When In Rome]

It is the only condition where people go I think I'm a touch autistic. You would never say something like I think I have a touch of cerebral pausy. People also go on about all the celebrities with it and how it is only mild. I sometimes feel like parents want their kids to have it as an excuse to why they aren't as smart as they would like them to be. I don't know it could just be me.

I do understand your point ZebraAspie.

I never tell people I am autistic unless it is necessary.

And a disability should not be worn as a badge.

 

[kay]

I've had people say that sorta thing to me, that they have always thought they might be a bit on the Spectrum themselves. Most of the time they mean no harm though I do find it annoying. Seems to just be an attempt on their part to somehow try to relate and connect. As annoying as it is somehow I am less bothered by that than the, "oh, my nephew has aspergers!". Oh, why is it always a nephew?

 

[ZebraAutismo]

I've had people say that sorta thing to me, that they have always thought they might be a bit on the Spectrum themselves. Most of the time they mean no harm though I do find it annoying. Seems to just be an attempt on their part to somehow try to relate and connect. As annoying as it is somehow I am less bothered by that than the, "oh, my nephew has aspergers!". Oh, why is it always a nephew?

Yeah true I try not to let it bother me as they usually mean nothing by and are trying to be ice. I get what you mean about the 'My nephew has Asperger's' its like they think their experts became they met one person with autism

 

[xudo]

Yeah, I've heard people say it, but not very often at all. It does grate on me though.

Now, OCD...there's something people have absolutely no issue with saying they have. Keeping your house tidy does not mean you have OCD. The one that irks me most is "oh god yeah, I'm a bit OCD about that"

 

[DudBomb]

When people confuse depression with being depressed. That the one that "grinds my gears".

 

[When In Rome]

Oh, why is it always a nephew?

It might be because according to research, it's just 25% or one in four girls diagnosed with Aspergers.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

Yeah, I've heard people say it, but not very often at all. It does grate on me though.

Now, OCD...there's something people have absolutely no issue with saying they have. Keeping your house tidy does not mean you have OCD. The one that irks me most is "oh god yeah, I'm a bit OCD about that"

Oh God OCD people say all that time it drives me crazy because of my friends who generally do have OCD and no one takes it seriously because of the people who just ay they have it.

 

[ZebraAutismo]

I do understand your point ZebraAspie.

I never tell people I am autistic unless it is necessary.

And a disability should not be worn as a badge.

Agree with the badge thing although I'm not going to lie I'm a little proud to be an aspire. I'm incredibly open as I find it to be the easier way. Since I act and get asked why I need such and such support.

 

[When In Rome]

Agree with the badge thing although I'm not going to lie I'm a little proud to be an aspire.

And so you should.

Also I have a check-box t-shirt that says Sweet, Funny, Smart, Autistic - people like it when they see it but I don't wear it much.

 

[Suzanne]

I said to someone today that I have aspergers and this person said eventually: are you diagnosed? I just could not lie and so, admitted that I was not, but oh dear, I felt such a fraud! I know also if I had said that I have social anxiety, no one would ask if I am formally diganosed and I suppose it is due to the supposed severity of it. I felt like that: as though I was a child being questioned.

I explained that since I discovered it whilst living in France ( I live in France), I cannot get a formal diagnosis because they do not recognise it here and she said: oh yes they do, because my adopted child was diagnosed with autism and I said: yes but aspergers is not autism in the sense that is known about autism and that aspergers is not considered authentic in France.

 

[kay]

It might be because according to research, it's just 25% or one in four girls diagnosed with Aspergers.

But once in awhile it should be a brother, a neighbor, a friend and not always a nephew who tends to be described as such a stereotype that I am starting to doubt the nephew's existence. Proof of the nephew may be required next time someone says that to me.

 

[When In Rome]

But once in awhile it should be a brother, a neighbor, a friend and not always a nephew who tends to be described as such a stereotype that I am starting to doubt the nephew's existence. Proof of the nephew may be required next time someone says that to me.

No, I do get what you mean. honest, it just made me think of that statistic. You might be onto something there.

 

[Grenade]

I've had people say that sorta thing to me, that they have always thought they might be a bit on the Spectrum themselves. Most of the time they mean no harm though I do find it annoying. Seems to just be an attempt on their part to somehow try to relate and connect. As annoying as it is somehow I am less bothered by that than the, "oh, my nephew has aspergers!". Oh, why is it always a nephew?

Ironically, I used to be one of "those" people who would (not meaning any harm) say something like that. I used to even say such-and-such-a-person was "socially retarded." They really did have social issues. Now, I think they probably had some of the same issues I have, though I didn't recognize it in myself.

I think it's really tough; people are trying to relate, which is impossible, because their brains are simply wired differently. I had a person tell me once, when I told him that my nephew had Asperger's (I also have three nieces that I believe might be on the spectrum) that it was "amazing how talented those people are." Like Rain Man!! And this man was somebody I always respected!

I want to be the sort of gentle educator. It's so easy to get huffy puffy about it. People can say the stupidist things, mostly out of ignorance. And let's face it, not that many people want to take the time to understand something unless they actually know someone who has it. And sometimes not even then (I worked briefly as an echocardiographer [sonograms of the heart] and I once asked a woman how long she'd had heart trouble. "Oh, I don't have heart trouble!" she said. In the same paragraph, she told me that when she was little, the doctor told her parents to not let her run around and play because of her heart). Sometimes people don't even bother to learn about themselves!

 

[Grenade]

Oh God OCD people say all that time it drives me crazy because of my friends who generally do have OCD and no one takes it seriously because of the people who just ay they have it.

Or they'll make cutesie remarks about their ADD. My husband has ADHD and it's a struggle every day. He and I (and others who know about Aspergers) believe I am on the autism spectrum. ADHD and Aspergers make for some funny (and frustrating) conversations at our house. I don't like it when people lightly say these things. I think they are trying to say, "We all have something not quite right" but they don't want to say it that way, in case they offend.

 

[fuzz]

Also I have a check-box t-shirt that says Sweet, Funny, Smart, Autistic - people like it when they see it but I don't wear it much.

I think I may be misunderstanding you when you said a disability should not be worn as a badge.

I thought you meant you shouldn't be proud of that part of you.

Did you mean something else?

 

[When In Rome]

I think I may be misunderstanding you when you said a disability should not be worn as a badge.

I thought you meant you shouldn't be proud of that part of you.

Did you mean something else?

I meant it in the context of what was being discussed. And that was some people seeming to be wanting to announce and glamourize the condition. Quite different from being proud of who and what you are.