Autistic/Aspie Stereotypes You Don't Display?

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-I don't get straight A's, and I often struggle to pass classes.
-I try to fit in and socialize, and I indeed feel lonely if I go for too long without interacting with other people.
-I look like an everyday person. I'm not extremely fat or thin.
-I usually understand sarcasm.
-While my sense of humor is odd sometimes, I can't say that it's lacking.
-I shower and shave regularly. I don't emit a strong offensive odor, and I try to stay fairly hygienic.
-I rarely have meltdowns. (I do, however, shut down more frequently than melt down.)
-I'm not bothered by crowds or noise if I know when to expect them. I've gone to concerts and crowded places and fully enjoyed them, since I anticipated the unusual features of those environments beforehand.
-I don't usually talk about AS or autism to people, and I don't use it as an excuse.

Same here. A big stereotype that goes around on an Autism forum is ''we don't have any self-awareness/we do embarrassing things all the time without knowing''. I bite my nails too, but I don't know if that counts as stimming or not.

Stereotypes I Dont have

1.Lack of interest in sex or asexual

2.Likes math and is good at math.

3.Is apathetic towards everything.

4.Obsessed with trains.

5.hates flying airplane.s

6.As anal as Sheldon Cooper.

7. can count cards

Same here.

Things that don't fit:

1. I'm not fat; I'm actually around thirty pounds underweight though so I'm still rather unhealthy.

2. I'm obsessed with something that is physically challenging, mixed martial arts. It involves a lot of physical contact with jiu jitsu and boxing. I enjoy it immensely however.

3. I am horrible at math. It's not that I don't understand it, I just don't try to. I don't like it. It's extremely boring.

Things that do fit:

1. I wear glasses and look very "nerdy."

2. I don't make eye contact.

3. I 'stim' a lot.

I don't feel the need to contribute to the list-based 'I'm like this' threads, which always seem to go down a storm on WP and seem to be like drawing a line in the sand as to what is 'proper' AS/ASD but shows by the sheer variety of stuff on the lists that it's all meaningless

DSM-IV - throw it out the window right now, they've got it ALL wrong!

Anyone can have Aspergers if they really want to that badly but what I find amazing is that with people so insistent on not being 'like this' or 'like that', why on earth would you seek out a label in the first place??

it's a paradox to say 'I've got this label but I don't conform to any or many of the criteria for it'

that's just weird to me and makes me think 'So what exactly do you have then?'

Just for the record as well - I'm fat and I have yet to see 'must be fat and ugly' in the DSM-whatever

This is a prejudice from within our own 'community' imo as everyone seems pretty desperate to not be seen as fat!

Loving the conformity on that one! - that's all I'm saying

What next? Instant banning for anyone who IS fat and ugly?

This is too ironic for words!

The gist of this thread in a nutshell is:-

"I've like got Asperger's like but don't include me in with those like fat, ugly, ret*d spacca train-loving types like right?
cos I'm like totally not one of those types of Aspies, right?"

It's the 'Too Cool for Special School' type of Aspie, the 'Hey everyone, the party's round my house (but not the ret*d ugly
ones yeah?')

Last edited by nessa238 on 13 May 2013, 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

Basically the same with me, although since I'm bordeine neurotypical, there are some more traits I don't possess.

1. I don't talk in a monotone voice
2. I have a lot of friends and a boyfriend
3. I am comfortable in my sexuality.
4. My obsession is usually kept under wraps and not as intense as others'. (Although I have my moments where once I start talking about a disease a person told me to look up I can go on for ages!)
5. I never flapped, but I do bite my nails when I'm anxious.
6. I don't rock back and forth ever. In fact, I find it cumbersome
7. Despite issues, I actually did quite well in school and even got into med school.
8. I don't game.
9. My fine motor skills are excellent (gross motor skills suck though).
10. I absolutely hate routine. I love mixing things up and having a job where I do the same thing every day would drive me crazy. I used to he obsessed with routine as a kid though but I grew out of it to the other extreme. I feel so much freer now!
11. Short attention span. I'm also pretty ADHD and can't focus on the same thing for long!
12. I used to be extremely sensitive to stimuli and now I'm not so much... I'm hyposensitive to pain now and can even eat spicy food (to a certain degree).
13. I don't collect things (although I used to when I was a kid).
14. I don't have a speech impeppermint (although when i get very anxious and start talking fast sometimes i slur my speech.
15. I am pretty good at analyzing and understanding abstract symbolism... As long as it's not in a social setting.
16. My major strength is writing, not math. I almost failed calculus. No idea how I got into medicine with that C!
17. I'm not really into the mechanics of how machines work and avoid engineering like the plague.
18. I am very empathetic and caring.... most of the time. (That used to be a huge area of weakness as a kid - I'd even laugh when people got hurt, not knowing how to deal.)

I have pretty much all the other stereotypical aspie traits. Siiiigh.

Could you list the traits that you do have and how you came to need an AS diagnosis in the first place?

i have low iq

i dont get obsessions, only have casual intrests

i am slim (didnt know being fat was a autism stereotype, statistics say more people are overwieght these days than not)

i can make eye contact naturaly

i can be extroverted, as in show authority well and can have a desent convesation with people and can be high strung, only i just dont like socialising much because i prefer not to

i am fussy with my hygiene and have a bath every day at some point

i enjoy grooming myself and i take a lot of care in how i have my hair and i like to wear makeup and dress up if i am going out somewhere with my husband

i dont have sensory issues with light, touch, taste or smell. only some sounds

i am married

i have a job and happy and capable of keeping it going

i have lived on my own for years before i met my husband and i ran my home well and still do now

i am a organised person

Well, I have to admit that I like the list: "I'm like this , this and this.......I'm not like that, that and that" format threads a lot. I don't like that I don't conform to a lot of these stereotypes though which include:

- I'm not a genius
- I'm not good at math
- I have no special talents (music or art ect)
-Wasn't the good , quiet girl that did well in elementary school who hid her traits and was overlooked (aspie girl stereotype )
-I'm not an expert mimic (aspie girl stereotype)

I REALLY wish I did conform to these stereotypes and am quite jealous of people who do.

In the other hand , negative stereotypical ASD traits I DO have

- For a while I did talk a lot about ASD to other people and I do if it comes up (Iknow a lot about it)
-I do use ASD as an excuse sometimes
-I haven't been able to hold down a job, have gotten fired many times from many different types of work
-I haven't been able to maintain friendships or relationships for very long and only have one friend now (she's also has ASD-diagnosed and I met her at an ASD support group) who I see about once a month
-I am negative and cynical and have low self esteem (in case you couldn't tell )
- Odd facial expressions, odd gestures mentioned to me/made fun of for over the years, also been told I have an odd tone of voice a few times
-I stim (twirl a string in front of my eyes) for hours at home
-Socially awkward/socially inept
-offend people unintentionally
-slow to make inferences/get sarcasm and sometimes don't get it at all in real life situations (I DO have good reading comprehension though including making emotional inferences
-I'm a loner
-Have interests that take up an inordinate amount of time each day (spend about 7 hours a day reading -re-read the same novels)
-Really rigid, stubborn and argumentative
-go on and on and give too much information
-Get mad when my routines are interfered with
-Really sensitive to sound and can't handle crowded places
-Have tantrums and meltdowns occasionally which look like a three year old with brain damage and involve screaming, weird gestures and self injury.

The other ones I don;t have like:
- I don't have a montone voice or flat affect.
Well, in a way that's good but then I DO have the have clumsy, gauche body language and weird expressions which is sometimes more annoying or creepy to other people. Sometimes I wish I had the traditional flat affect instead.

I don't equate fat with ugly AT ALL. I think the only reason people mentioned that was because there was a study showing people with ASD tend to be obese. There was a previous study showing that we tend to be underweight. These things contradict each other, obviously. I am too skinny but not pretty (kind of scrawny - spots all over my face). Anyway, I definitely don't think the stereotypical traits that I don't have make me cool or anything (as I said most of the ones I don't have are the positive ones ) I just find it interesting to compare the ones I don't have to the ones others don't have -similarities and differences between myself and others with the same diagnosis.

Last edited by daydreamer84 on 13 May 2013, 7:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Another stereotype I don't have is I am not a genius. I just hover around average, and sometimes feel underaverage at times. I even get mistaken for having learning difficulties.

I thought this was a thread about stereotypes, not actual diagnostic criteria.

I don't assume that someone can't have AS just because they display the "stereotypical" ASD traits I don't show.
That's pointless to do, because AS affects everyone in a different way.
I neither knew that being fat/ugly is an AS stereotype.
I'm not fat or ugly, but I don't assume that someone can't have AS because they are. Physical appearance is not related to AS.


I didn't seek out the "AS label".
I was diagnosed with AS when I was a little child, and knew nothing about labels back then, and I know very little about them now.

If I was diagnosed, this means I fit the criteria for it.
But still, I don't fit some of the stereotypical characteristics related to AS, while I fit others. This is different for anyone, I guess.
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Same here.

- I understand sarcasm 99.9% of the time, and use it effectively
- I generally don't have a problem understanding figures of speech
- I suck at maths and science (chemistry is my worst nightmare)
- As I got older, my imagination improved; I now write fiction stories and have always loved reading it
- I don't typically speak in a monotone unless I'm: perseverating on my favourite subject, bored, or tired
- I can handle changes in my daily routine, even the unexpected
- I don't have meltdowns (though I've come fairly close on occasion)
- I am very organised
- I have had special interests in things other than academic subjects in the past, and have never obsessed over video games
- I can recognise facial expressions, except very subtle ones, like in movies where the characters just stare at each other and you're supposed to determine what they're communicating.

Although I tend to form routines, I am not rigid about them.

I understand and apply sarcasm and figurative language. However, as a child I tended to take things very literally.

I can take others' perspective.

I know less about technical computer stuff than several of my NT friends. (I am very much into mathematics and programming though - unlike many other posters in this thread, apparently.)

I am not interested in fantasy/star trek/star wars/etc.

I don't mind taking public transport.

I can read facial expressions reasonably well (but may not have a memory of the the listener's expression if I have talked about something interesting ).

I used to think my table tennis skills were one of the strongest arguments against a possible AS diagnosis - until my HFA nephew beat me at it.

Last edited by isometry on 14 May 2013, 1:55 am, edited 3 times in total.

It just seems that a lot of peoples' main aim on here is one-upmanship

"Far from being the stereotypical fat, ugly aspie, I was beauty queen 5 years running at my local carnival"

When I read stuff like this I think to myself "No s**t! Tell me something I don't know about how wonderful you are!"

NTs are all about oneupmanship but it's pretty clear to me that it's a human as opposed to just an NT trait