Do you think that Autism and Aspergers is becoming a trend?

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I've seen a lot of social sites with people claiming to be autistic due to being 'shy'. People on Yahoo Answers are asking if they have Aspergers Syndrome because they like maths and hate talking to people.

I've heard people say things like 'I'm really into computers right now, I must be autistic or something' or 'I hate crowds, I must be autistic'.

Is it becoming a trend?

I think people are really misunderstanding what Autism actually is due to the portrayal of Autism and Aspergers in a lot of movies and TV shows.

I mean is autism going to be the new 'OCD'. People used to think that because they kept a clean house, they had OCD. People believed that because they had a bad day, they must have Bipolar. People thought that because they were sad, they must be depressed. People would say they had dyslexia (when they didn't) as an excuse for their poor spelling and grammar or use ADHD (when they don't have it) as an excuse for not doing homework.

I've seen a lot of this on Tumblr in the past but that's... Well, that's Tumblr! I'm seeing this on every single social network site there is!

A lot of people these days do the one or two online tests about a mental disorder and because they got a higher than normal score, they self diagnose themselves...

Is it just me who's noticing this?

Autism is also become a new insult too. Has this been going on for a long time and I haven't noticed it until now or is it just a coincidence that I'm seeing a lot of this crap and it's not a thing?

Is mental illnesses becoming romanticised? Or am I just being silly?

[Sarcasm mode]

I hope not. I couldn't bear being "trendy."

I think people are just really misinformed. I was pretty frustrated once when I was talking to a really good friend about my Aspie traits and some of the challenges I was having. He said that he thinks that his son is on the spectrum because he is really intelligent. It does get a little infuriating when people say things like that. They have no idea how debilitating life can be with sensory overload issues and communication issues and the anxiety that can cause and how disruptions of routines can make us anxious and how some of us with child personalities and processing can be really impaired by that. When everybody's kid is on the Spectrum because he is shy or she is super intelligent and that is what they are all basing their comments on, that really annoys me. I feel like telling them to try living like we do for a day and see if their kid is still on the Spectrum. Not that I would ever want to trade my life for another, I love who I am exactly as I am, but yeah, making it just a trend is totally not cool at all.

Last edited by skibum on 11 Jul 2014, 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Some posters say that once they found out their kid had Asperger's they studied it and discovered they did too. So whenever one person learns they have Asperger's and shares that information there is a chance someone else will start to realize they have it as well. I told a girl online that she might have it because I recognized similar things between us. After telling her some things about it she said there is a chance she has it. I recommended for her to look into it further to see if there are more similarities between herself and people with Asperger's.

15 years ago, it was ADHD that every kid needed medication for. At least this "trend" doesn't come with pills or anything you don't need because you don't have it.

There are times when people not on the Spectrum might use their fringe symptoms as an excuse to not get a job, be positive in a relationship, and attempt to rely on disability payments for their livelihood.

I think believe Asperger's is actually less of a "trend" than it was, say, around five years ago because of some recent murders, and the accompanying media portrayal and exposure of Asperger's Syndrome--and, by extension, autism. There are people who are actually scared of people with Asperger's because they are seen as lacking the proper "social skills" to lead a successful life, thereby frustrating them enough to plan mayhem (e.g., murders, computer hacking)--as well as other myths.

However, people are still fascinated with the savant abilities of some on the Spectrum, and their supposed superior abilities in the area of computers.

They are put off by the seeming lack of social skills of people on the Spectrum, and believe they are "not trying hard enough."

There is very little understanding of the present conception of autism spectrum disorders by the public at large. This is especially true in relation to sensory difficulties.

So many people ask me if my daughter is on any medication. The question is so insulting, but I know they don't really mean anything... I think a lot of people really do think there is a standard medication for it because the perception is that drug companies are making buku bucks off of autism. When I take the time to explain that ACTUALLY no they aren't they insist SOMEONE is and that the drug companies WILL make money off of it. PEople are ignorant. They have no idea what autism is.

I think it is sort of trendy to people who do not know a person with actual autism or if they do, they have not seen that person at a time when they might have been having an issue.

So for clueless people who like to be "cool" yes, unfortunately, it is. Once they realize that there are no fun pills associated with it though, it will die off.

Yes, it has become a trend, medical, mental and developmental disorders do become fads, oddly enough.

If this is becoming a trend then God help us all. Why on earth would someone pretend to be autistic or have aspergers? I doubt they can even fathom the kind of hell that having these disorders can entail.
I truly wish that I didn't have aspergers so that I would actually be a happy, normal person and not an outsider that is the subject to insults and torment.

Yup.

We've got our own posers.

And because we've got our own posers, we've also got those who doubt.... and the millions who have nothing better to do than mock and belittle us.

O'course I tend to laugh a bit when the mundies do mock and belittle us. It is sorta like being mocked by a chimp. I just smirk and remark to myself "Awww... it thinks its a person!" ...

I think some of them are just using hyperbole to make a point, or trying to be funny. It's become a trend in the sense of being a sort of slang (maybe there's an I-want-to-be-autistic trend too, I don't know) to describe one's difficulties, kind of like the way people say that they are "going crazy" even though they aren't actually descending into insanity. I don't think quite so many people truly think that they have these conditions based on their relatively minor problems.

I saw it used as an insult once, on a dental phobia site I used to visit. I was reading the post of someone who had gone through a similar situation to me and I was preparing a reply in my head, but then I got to a line where the person said something like their dentist was so uncaring and mean that they must be autistic. It was the first time I had seen anyone say something like that. I wasn't sure whether to reply or not and whether to say anything about the comment, so in the end I didn't reply at all. I'm still not sure if I should have said anything or not.

^I agree with this.

I don't know, I think it might be one of those things that is exaggerated by the internet, it comes up a lot on here but I've never met anyone that knows anything about it or seriously thinks they have it. I think people use it as a short hand, 'I think I'm slightly autistic' or 'I think I have a touch of aspergers' as a way of referencing some traits, I don't think that often means they think they are diagnosable but some of them may well be. I always knew I was weird, but never dreamed I was autistic as I had such a stereotypical view of it, could easily imagine myself a few years ago saying 'I think I'm slightly autistic' to someone to explain some quirks, but I wouldn't have actually believed it or been actually trying to convince someone. don think I explained that well.

No it's not a trend, it's just fear, ignorance, slack use of language and hyperbole.

Just like every Winter people with a cold or slight sniffle say they have "the worst flu ever", or a slight headache is a migraine, and some of it is just sympathy/attention seeking, or trying to make in an immature way what they think are smart comments (which are in fact dumb).

Don't know what could be trendy about the challenges that come with being on the spectrum, given the stigmatisation we face for being on it.

If it was trendy, the media wouldn't rush to label criminals who go on shooting sprees as being Aspergers, would they? ASD is what Erving Goffman (sociologist) called a "spoiled identity". We are an out group, subject to prejudice and exclusionary treatment, and NTs don't want to be in it, that's for sure.

It's a trend in research (there's more money in researching it than other developmental disorders, lots of prestige in researching it right now), diagnosis and in the media (awareness and activism ect.) I don't like that it's a trend and maybe many others don't either but yes, it is a trend.