Funny things people think about AS

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People who have never heard of Aspergers assume what it is. Some think it's a type of mental retardation. One of my ex's thought it was a type of ADHD. But my husband, when he first heard the condition from me, he wanted to know what it was because he didn't want me chasing him with a knife and he wanted to make sure I wasn't going to do it. I laughed when he told me that and he said "I didn't know what it was." He had to look it up online and ask one of his online friends what it was since she was studying mental conditions and studying autism. Then my husband said he was joking about the knife. He obviously thought it was a type of mental illness or something or psychotic behavior that causes you to do criminal/violent things.

This made me think of a booking I got for my music ministry at a church recently. The minister said his church was interested in autism, and he thought I would be good to relate personal stories from my life. I said my type of autism was Asperger's---and he had never heard of that before. But I explained it was on the autism spectrum. And then he said that when I got to church, it would be nice for me to greet people at the door and talk to them to make them feel welcome since he was going to be out of town. I'm thinking, does he know anything about autism? Me---greet at the door and chit chat---I don't think so.

I guess what I am adding here is that few people seem to know what Asperger's is. And sadly, few people also seem to know what autism is.

Nice thread Spokane-Girl.

Many people have said to me..."But you don't look like there's anything wrong with you."
It's like they expect people with AS to have some kind of physical characteristic that lets everyone else know they have the 'disorder'. I do find that quite funny not because of what's being said but because it's been said to me so many times.

I've had people ask, "So, do you feel (emotion) anything?" "Are you able to love your children?"

Since describing emotions and love with mere words is difficult for anyone and so subjective, I'm sure I fail somewhat, and confirm the suspicions for some people.

I've never had to convince anyone I had autistic traits. That was apparent, given strong mental math ability and memory, plus very weak social skills. Also, I've gotten into some very weird and even messy situations due to my social impairment.

I long ago got used to the idea that most people know relatively little about the world except for the parts they've personally come in contact with. Given the rate of AS/ASDs in the population, most people will get what little info they have from TV, film, and books at most. Then too, some people seem like they don't want to know.

The funniest part is when they assume all exhibitions of Asperger's Syndrome are going to be the same, and take one person they knew who had it and apply a stereotype to all Aspies. DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Obviously.

One lady said "but you don't throw desks." I've heard countless times that I 'don't look like I have anything wrong with' me. Some people have thrown out Rainman. I should really start using the Einstein example.

"You know how Einstein didn't exactly have the social skills of a politician? That and the type of focus he had are what define Asperger's Syndrome, although the intelligence will depend on how well they use that focus." It really might help reform the stereotypes a bit, and open them up for the variety that is actually seen in Asperger's Syndrome.

Lab Pet admires Lewis Carroll who has been post-humously Dx'd with HFA/AS. Lewis Caroll is known as the author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. But perhaps most notably, he was an Oxford mathematician.

This has occurred to me as of late: In Lewis Carroll's story, Alice is asked to count to 10. She is counting, counting, counting, and counting. But she can never reach 10! She is chastised and nearly drowns in her own tears. But.....Alice is not in base 10! Instead, she's in Eigen values - Lewis Carroll is showing us, via his mathematics, how Alice's own gifted counting 'skills' (savant?) is how she'll never reach that 10, much like how Autists may truly never achieve 'adulthood,' in the metaphorical sense. Recall how Dr. Attwood himself has referred to 'Aspies' as like a Peter Pan character.

Although there is not one true defintion (guess one could just look at DSM-IV TR) my usual 'description' is that Autists are relatively analytical thinkers (in discrete pieces and parts, which are then assembled into a Gestalt whole) as compared to the holistic thinker of Neurotypicals....but I do think Lewis Carroll, Victorian Era Autist, has shown the way through his Alice with her counting, as only an Aspie could 'see.'

For me, this is truth. Although I'm an adult and cognitively enhanced I'll never 'be' that adult - lack Theory of Mind and this is a manifestation. There truly is an Autistic innocence.

I read really OLD antiquated science journals (for my neuroscience program, aside from the usual chemistry part!) and Dr. Leo Kanner, albeit really outdated (!) in his 'science' or rather psychology in this case, describes Autistics as 'angelic.' I have read this in other journals as well, mostly about the physicality of Autistics in general.

Maybe Alice is the prototype, and her counting! I have written (this is secret) in my own science journal, as my own note to self: Remember to use base 10....because sometimes I do not.

Good post, CerebralDreamer, and good question, Spokane_Girl. Glider18: In Through the Looking Glass, there is one scene where Alice 'sees' her mother with clarity but Alice is unreachable, and unseen! Alice is crying "Mummy, I'm still in here...." Maybe this is a metaphor for those with Autism; behind the Looking Glass.

I guess my video shows too, URL in my signature line.

I haven't really gotten reactions from a range of people because I never tell anyone I have it, even my friends. But most of my friends spend a lot of time on the Internet so they think it's just something that makes you whiny and obnoxious, because of some people who cause a lot of drama on other sites and always mention that they have AS. OTL;;; They don't see me that way though, of course, or they wouldn't be my friends. Maybe I'm chicken for not telling them, but it's kind of funny.

That people with AS are usually geeks.

Hmm...

When my classmates asked me about what is AS,i told them it is "one of the three main forms of autism spectrum disorder" and when they heard the word "autism",they laughed and said "ahh,,,you mean those with AS are ret*ds?"

AUTISTIC IS NOT SYNONYMOUS TO ret*d

In a conversation with an acquaitence a few months ago we were talking about 2 boys we know with AS (she doesn't know about mine). She said in year 7 someone pushed her into one of the boys (whom is my best friend) to see if he reacted and he didn't and he used to lash out at people. Then she said "AS is where you hit people if they touch you"

Edit: my amount of post right now (1993) is the year I was born. OK carry on..

Well, by now it seems a lot of people around here (in my area) know it is a form of autism, so they look for me to be rocking back and forth in a corner all day long with my hands over my ears, or banging my head on everything I pass.

They don't really grasp "autism" as a whole itself, either, it sees, if they think these things about it apparently.

I get the whole "but you don't look like there is anything wrong with you..." "You talk just fine." blah blah blah stuff... but then, when I'm suddenly distant from people, they sit there and wonder and take it personally, thinking they did something to offend me because as far as they are concerned, I'm "normal" since there is nothing super obvious.

It's funny... a lot of people will sit there and pretend to be listening to you, interested in it, but are not hearing a word that is said, or retaining it at all. They all make up their own minds about what it is ranging from "it's just an excuse to be lazy/unmotivated" to "My God-that person is just a freak".

It never seems to click with a lot of them no matter how much information is given or not.

How about this?

Me: I think I'm mildly autistic.
Other person: ...what??
Me: It most closely resembles a form called Asperger Syndrome
Other person: (relieved) Oh, okay.

"People with Asperger's are not social". What exactly is "not social", I am not sure.