Aspergers as an insult

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Hi everyone, sorry I've been away for a while (been very busy with work), but I have a question and thought I'd stop in to ask you all. I recently went to a comedy show and heard a brief segment about someone's ex who they had self-diagnosed with Asperger's and proceeded to refer to as "Asperger" throughout the story. The jokes were essentially mild insults about how awkward and clueless the guy was. It reminded me of that Aspartners site, but not nearly as extreme.

After the show I tweeted the comic and pointed out that people with AS have enough problems without being bullied by comics, and got the response, "It was just a joke..."

I'm wondering if anyone has any sugestions on well-written articles perhaps by people with AS discussing why they would prefer that people not do this. I'm hoping to refer her to one of those rather than try to write an essay on twitter.

I know that this sort of thing has already been addressed very well with the word "ret*d" but it seems that the trend to use AS as a flippant insult is relatively new. Thanks again, and I hope you all are well.

It's discrimination. The old "UIt was just a joke" line is stale - that is one of the red flags for discriminatory comments.

http://www.martindale.com/labor-employm ... 693404.htm
http://www.carternewell.com/icms_docs/1 ... a_joke.pdf

Google the following text:

discrimination "It was just a joke"

and you will find more links.

Yes that's very rude of him. He wouldn't say that stuff about say, black people, unless he was black, or Jewish people, unless he was Jewish, or dentists, unless he was a dentist. Only us aspies are allowed to poke fun at ourselves. Not you and not the hack comedian.

On a side note I think those self-diagnosed guys are a little bit hypochondriac. Only a professional can diagnose asperger's. Having asperger's doesn't make someone a psychologist anymore than having cancer makes someone an oncologist.

I doubt research matters to him I think the best response is to walk out of to say "not funny". Maybe complain to the management.

Lately I've heard disparaging remarks about Asperger's. Ironically, those who sling these insults are clueless as to what is AS! Awareness about AS has grown. That is good news, but the downside is that we can now we targets for jokes and slander.

Recently someone I know was complaining about her ex-husband. She described him as 'Asperger's.' Her 'diagnosis' is of course baseless and bogus, but her comments stung. Her ex was distant/cold and therefore, according to her, this 'jerk' is now an Asperger's individual. Other women chimed in, using the term Asperger's to describe and explain immature selfish behaviour.

Yes, this is discriminatory and slanderous - that's never a funny joke. EmileMulder, thanks for bringing this to the comic's attention - you did the right thing.

I would respond by asking if he also tells jokes about blacks, gays, midgets, people with CP, or people with DS. How about those stroke victims? Pretty funny with their drooping faces, slurred speech, and "dead limbs"! A true riot!

It is not funny to joke about things that people cannot control, help, or change, particularly when those things are apt to draw criticism or negative attention from ignorant people. He is doing no one a favor by encouraging others to laugh at someone else's unalterable state-of-being. He emboldens the flag-waving ignorant to stand proud and loud in their hurtful ignorance.

Who was he? I enjoy comedy and I'd like to know so I can make sure to avoid his shows. I might end up arrested.

Here's Stewart Lee's wonderful deconstruction of offensive humour and the "it's just a joke" response. It's a little long and you may find it distasteful at around the four-minute mark but stick with it as the payoff works brilliantly.



"Remember, all it takes for Jeremy Clarkson to prevail is for Richard Hammond to do nothing."

Oops, just call me necromancer! This is what comes from having multiple tabs containing multiple forums open Still, I hope someone enjoys it.

Some time ago I noticed the journalists (and I use that term very, very loosely!) for an online news site I checked every day seemed to go through a swathe of abuse and homicide stories where the culprit was always 'diagnosed with Aspergers'. There were a load of them posted in a very short time. I can't help but think the authors of these articles were playing upon the increase in awareness of the syndrome in the most negative (and profitable) light by searching for and selecting events caused by what will always be a very small minority in any 'group' of people. Quite disgusted, all in all.

I agree. It's not funny.

An even worse trend than using Autism/Asperger syndrome as an insult in comedy is to use it as an excuse. I saw a comedy show on television about an AS comic who said, "I can't do that. I'm autistic." Insulting yourself or committing yourself to a life of failure and inaction is the greatest insult.

I just see them as ignorant or misunderstand, just like with diabetes

I have never in my 49 years heard Aspergers being used as an insult?

I have certainly heard the term "autism" being slung around to put people down