Ignorant Comments About Autism?

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On a slightly different topic, someone I used to know once told me that people with heart problems should be left alone to die off and should receive no medical care at all.

My guess is that if he thought about it, he would probably think the same thing about anyone with Autism as well as other things.

"People with Asperger's are perfectly happy, they just cause problems for everyone else."

"The need for routine and predictability is just about controlling other people."

I heard both of those from the same person.

Somebody once told my mom that the reason why it was okay for me to learn to read phonetically, but not okay for his son to learn/know phonics is because I wasn't "fully autistic". He used the term "fully autistic" exactly. As if he knew me well enough to know much I struggle.

Yeah, this ties in well with the whole Gary Mckinnen extradition story. It does baffle me how some people are so ignorant about Autism and Asperger's. Such comments like "His asperger's is unrelated, he's playing on it" and "He knew exactly what he was doing and he had every intention to destroy the US military infrastructure" It really grinds my gears! Having asperger's myself I completely understand what it's like to get so obessed with something you block everything and everyone out. Nothing quite on this level but I do understand. Good news at least though.

U.S WP members what do you think about the extradition? (apologies for going slightly off topic)

That I was dumb and that I do not have the ability to even turn a computer on and play a xbox game that I cannot possibly know anything at all. I had a moderator on a website ban my profile because I wrote something he thought was just to smart for me to write and that I could not possibly of written it he thought someone had hacked my profile and wrote it.

"oh... you must be extremely high functioning"

"I learned a long time ago....it's just Gloria being Gloria"

"You don't look autistic"

**sigh**

AUTISTIC STUDENTS LACK SUPPORT WHEN NAVIGATING CAMPUS

When I was assessed/tested for Aspergers, I was told I communicated too well verbally & seemed too intelligent to have anything on the autism spectrum. I have aLOT of traits & characteristics of autism but those were never talked about or asked by the people doing the assessment. They mostly tested the way I think & process information. Not having an official diagnoses prevented me from qualifying for help/services/programs specially related for people with autism or developmental disabilities.

I have heard so many stupid and offensive things. I was told by a psychiatrist that I can't be Autistic because Autistic people don't have emotions. I was told by my mother that all of the things that I have tried and failed at in life, school, jobs, have nothing to do with Autism and that it's my bad decisions and laziness. She once said, "What does not being able to hold a job have to do with Autism?" She also sent me a list of the twenty most successful Aspergians in the world and asked me what my excuse was because if they can make it, I should be able to. She also once said, "Why don't you look on the computer and type into your search, 'what can people with high functioning Autism do?'" and find a job that I can succeed at that way. My aunt asked me once was I capable of running full marathons in high school if I was Autistic? And I could go on and on.

One person quoted Doyle from Slingblade at the mention of autism: "... the kind of r****d that drools and rubs s*** in his hair and all that...".

A general practitioner that I used to go to once said, "You can't be autistic. You don't play with fire, wet the bed or torture animals".

Another person said that she would rather have a hysterectomy than risk giving birth to an autistic child.

Personally, I would rather take my secret to the grave than "come out" to people like these.

Probably the worst comment I ever heard was from this pregnant 37-year-old woman at my work who was talking about how she was scared her baby would have complications because of her age. In attempts to soothe her fears, I told her that even though odds increase for some things, the vast majority of under-40 pregnancies are without complication, and that my mom had me when she was 39. My co-worker's response was:

"Yeah but don't you have like- a ton of problems or something?"

It was then that I began to wonder... am I really a mother's worst nightmare? Do pregnant women see me and hope their children won't turn out like me? It was a rather sobering moment.