Aspies, autistic or not?

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Good question and well thought out in my humble opinion.

Not quite sure how to answer it yet though. I do have an answer swimming around in there but it's not quite formed.

I'll get back to you.

Oh, here it comes. I don't consider myself autistic. No.

It's weird because I used to but as I've got older I've sort of settled in to mainstream life a lot more although I still do have difficulties.

I would say that autistic is far too severe a label for what I have.

And personally as well, i think we have two distinct categories of people here and I'm actually beginning to wonder if it's a cultural thing.

We have the people with Aspergers who believe they have a disability and then we have the people with Aspergers who don't believe they are disabled.

I fall into the latter by the way.

So what I'm saying is (and I'm sure you'll all jump on me if I'm wrong) the people who believe that Aspergers does make them disabled are more likely to call themselves autistic.

*bites knuckle*

Aggree, - but do you seriously think, that this is what happened?

Personally I think that as someone who has Aspergers and who understands how it can affect ones life it comes in useful to helping people who aren't so fortunate.

I know that there is a lot of knowledge out there and a lot of non-autistic people are very qualified to help but I don't think there is anyone more qualified than someone who has actually lived with similar difficulties (albeit on a smaller scale) to actually comprehend what an autistic person has to live with.

I do function in society and I don't consider myself autistic, I was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome and I do consider that as a kind of separate thing (for me anyway) these days.

However, I do understand the helplessness to a degree and I would never demean anybody who is low functioning and I don't expect that most people would.

Thank you!

I prefer both, depending on the context and who I'm speaking with. I think autism carries more weight to it, which can be both beneficial and problematic. So I use it when I'm trying to get across to someone that my mind really does work differently than theirs. I think when they hear Aspie they tend to think "that means he's just a little different" without really understanding the implications of what it means.

On the other hand, I pass reasonably well, so sometimes autism is too big of a concept for people to wrap their heads around immediately. How they think of autism, and how they view me are too different for them to align the two. So they dismiss the idea that I'm autistic too quickly. Aspie sort of minimalizes it some, and helps ease them into the idea that I'm on the spectrum.

Different words for different situations.

This might sound disrespectful to some people so apologies in advance.

If I'm out with people either at work or out out and I do something a little bit "spectrumish" I just turn round and say "oh I must be wired a bit different".

It usually gets a laugh and people just move on.

Aspie and Asperger have never sat well with me, I'm fine with just ASD or HFA.

These are just words. Someone's choice of wording doesn't change anything.

My opinion on the matter should be of no consequence; I want to know if it's factually so. I usually say I have Aspergers Syndrome, for that is the diagnosis I have. I will sometimes use "I am autistic/mildly autistic" for brevity or variety, as I have been taught that these things are close points on a large spectrum, making all of the above true. That being said, there is apparently some evidence that suggests people with Aspergers have some sort of significant difference in brain functionality compared to other categories of autism. How much truth there is to that, I can't say.

Regardless of what my signature says below, 95% of the time I tell people I'm autistic. I think my medical file says: High Functioning Autism (Asperger's subtype).