Has autism been a useful label for you?

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I am me. I don't disclose anything. I let other people decide if I'm crazy or not. As long as it doesn't affect my work, I don't see the need to tell any bosses or colleagues.

It helped me because it helped me understand why I don't fit in and why I have reacted so badly to many things in my life. I wish I'd been Dx'ed earlier because then maybe I'd have got help at uni and school.

i was diagnosed when i was 4, before i could have had any say in the batter so i've been wearing the label pretty much all my life.
i don't disclose to anyone, but somehow people find out either way. so far nobody has picked on me or discriminated me for my ASD but that will change when i go into the working world.
my parents even now are just starting to get it. when i was diagnosed, they had the hardest time believing it. they denied it.

rather let them think i'm just 'weird', crazy or make them guess, than tell them of my aspergers and they drown me in stereotypes and come to me asking for homework help because, you know, aspies are good at math.

The label has been useful for me because it is now enabling me to get the help I need at school, as well as helping to pinpoint my specific difficulties in other areas of life so I can work on improving them without just thinking there's something wrong with me or I'm crazy or it's all in my head. It's also helped me be more comfortable socializing (slightly) because when people know about my ASD (even if I have to explain to them what it means) they're much more understanding of my quirks and strange behaviour (though I never tell anyone at work, just in case they use it as an excuse to find a "non-autism related" reason to fire me).

It's a much more useful and better-perceived label than many others. It's far less stigmatized. If I could have a choice of an autism diagnosis or a schizophrenia diagnosis, I'd take autism any day. Many people have a positive impression of Aspies, I think, there's a positive stereotype around here of the quiet nerd.

For me, it has been a definite way to get people to give me more loose string rather than holding me to the same stringent standards, like being 'creepy' or whatever. It is liberating for me to just say to people. I have autism. This is me. Otherwise they would think the worst.