Aspergers in your country

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I come from Italy and here awareness is really limited. Diagnosis seems to be given only to quite severe cases, and I'd never heard about asperger's before I went on exchange in Denmark, where I met my boyfriend and some other diagnosed people. My mother at first didn't believe me when I told her he has it, she said he doesn't seem to be shyer than my ex-boyfriend... it was hard explaining that it's not just about being shy.

I live in the UK. From what I've noticed people have either heard of Autism and think you're rainman or they haven't heard of Autism. In both cases it's hard to explain the idea of a spectrum to people who think it's just one thing or that it doesn't exist.

Finland. Our stereotype national mentality is a little autistic, so it doesn't matter too much if one really is that sort of person. In Finland it is possible to wait for a bus together with another human being without either one saying a word, and still not be considered rude or wierd.

Moi

No, moi moi!

The only Finnish I know is heista vittu, and I've been told it's not acceptable as a greeting.

Yes, I think that is the case here too. The only kind of autism I knew of was the low-functioning kind until recently - and I wish it wasn't, or I might have realised earlier that I was on the spectrum.

I am fairly new to this whole business so I don't have much of my own experience to report yet, but I seem to see conflicting reports about the UK. Some people on here say it's better than the US in terms of diagnosing and that's why there are so many British people on WP. Others say knowledge and treatment of AS is appalling and that it's far better in the US. I don't know who's right, but I do think that it probably differs vastly depending where in the UK you are. There are always better resources for anything in a city, whereas outlying towns and villages will be hard pressed to find a health professional who will know what to do with someone with an unusual condition (such as undiagnosed adult AS), let alone support groups and so on. The only problem is I can't stand noisy busy cities! There's no way I would want to be in one. So I'm just going to have to manage in my quiet environment without the resources, I guess.

heres a laugh for all the Finns..... sorry about the dickhead comments made by our acting New Zealand Prime Minister a few months back.....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgcyf11Lgao[/youtube]

wat...

sounds like a country for me

You're practically not allowed to have AS here in the East UK. The government has the ''all or nothing'' attitude, so if you can get a bus on your own, then you are 100 percent able and should not be on benefits like DLA, ESA, or incapacity. Yes, it's unbelievable. If you do claim DLA but only have a mild condition, then you may be watched and end up in prison if you are caught out, despite the fact that just because you are able to get on a bus by yourself it doesn't mean you don't have any other invisible issues that come with AS that can be disabling for you to live with. I'm sorry, it just happened to somebody I knew who was diagnosed AS and ADHD, she came off DLA in a panic because she thought she was being watched and observed. I don't know what got her thinking that, probably all the different stuff she read in the papers. Now she is really struggling, for reasons that I won't mention due to privacy.

Also the general public is practically f****d up too. I don't know about anywhere else, but here you kind of HAVE TO appear confident when out in public. If you appear shy, but normal (like me), you will be picked on, targeted, singled out, snickered at, and all the other things you can think of. It's unbelievable. People never grow up. Well, most people, especially women. I've only got to walk into a clothes shop and start looking at a rail of ordinary clothes like any other normal person, and I get the feeling that the shop assistants are watching me and whispering about me. Yes, it may be social anxiety taking over my rational common sense, but how can I be sure? What if I do look that funny, and get other people laughing? It does my head in. It makes me feel like a freak when I'm not one. Makes me want to quit wasting money on keeping a maintained hairstyle and buying nice trendy clothes in order to conform to the normal NT standards, because whatever I look and act like I still get ridiculed. I might aswell go up to a dead horse and yell, ''giddy up!''

God, what is up with British people? Snobby, or just so f*****g judgemental that they end up on belittling their own people?

The director of the municipality social services, a branch on the Ministry of Welfare, said I was "sick with Asperger's". When I said Asperger's is not an illness, she rolled her eyes and suppressed a laugh. So you can imagine the rest of the population's idea of what AS is. Welcome to Israel.

Almost no one has heard of AS, except a few who've seen a documentary on TV recently. No one ever believed me that you can have Autism and be able to speak. Let alone work, be independent, be able to converse with neighbors, manage your own finances, etc.

There's only one institution that helps adult aspies, and they refuse to take on anyone above age 30. They also refuse to help keep your job unless you introduce them to your employer - which ironically gets you immediately fired, because there are no laws against discrimination in this country.

I am from Australia and i believe the awareness of AS in the medical community is very high, though not great amongst the general populace. there is a great deal of help for children with any form of autism, next to none for adults.

Interesting video clip, Surfman. Well, like I said above, the nation as a whole is somewhat autistic.

Just the opposite, we use it as a greeting all the time. But we wouldn't say it to a nightclub doorman

…and hello, fellow citizens. By the way, the local greeting commonly spelled "No moi" usually causes raised eyebrows among members of the more civilized world. Anyways "Moi to you, too"

I would agree with this in part. My son has received a lot of help with early intervention, through the local community health as well as Federal funding for private therapies, we are lucky in that sense. However, the community health intervention stops at the end of the year, and the funding for therapies is available until he turns 7, and then apparently, as if by magic, he no longer requires any therapy.

In addition, Victorian education laws require that a child have autism and as well as another 'affliction' - low IQ or behavioural issues before they qualify for funding at school and therefore, my son will miss out. As a result, we have opted for a Catholic school, as they seem to be more lenient on the requirements although the funding is much less. From what I have read, we would be better off in Queensland for various reasons.

That said, my cousin who lives in South Africa gets absolutely no help for her son, who is lower functioning that my son, so I shouldn't complain too much.

edit - I would also like to add that I have recently learnt that 'child development' does not form any part of the curriculum for a person to become an educator in Australian schools, which I find alarming in itself.