Do your friends and family know you have Autisim or AS?

Post Reply New Topic

My wife, mother, brother, his girlfriend (because for some reason he told her), my mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his wife know. Don't see any reason for anyone else to.

yeah pretty much my whole family knows. one of my sisters asked what aspergers was and i just told her it ment i was into rocks&sportscards too much. and she was all like oh, once i had a panic attack at the mall in yuma because i was going to move there and one of my fat cousins was all dude your having a panic attack lets go the er. i couldnt let that happen so eventually after awile it went away and i moved back to flagstaff. yuma sucks but at the time i didnt think so so it threw me in mental torment when i was actually there

I have yet to tell my friend (yes, I only have one friend) but the rest of the family knows.

My immediate family knows I have AS. My close friends think I'm just "quarky".

_________________
Life is a journey, let's ride

I don't tell anyone about my AS. My mom and stepfather apparently know about it. My psychologist secretly told them about it, most likely. I'm OK with it. And like Amhealy described, I can often think of ways to explain my tendencies that are easier for NTs to understand and accept than if I had said that I have AS.

My immediate family all know, but we don't really talk about it. My parents have probably shared it with other family members, but I don't know who. It kinda makes me paranoid not knowing who knows and who doesn't. I have a few friends who know, the rest just think I'm a bit odd.

Only my imediate family knows which consists of my mom, dad and sister.

Yeah.

My family and friends know I have Asperger's Syndrome. I'm very open about it and if people ask I tell them.

Just the other day, my sister, the very person who thought I had AS, told me that I couldn't possibly have it and it was all nonsense in my head. Because I hate arguing, I acted quite passively, so my mum took my sister's side, in a weird way. So they know but don't want to accept that there could be a reason that I act like I do. I tend to keep my AS issues in here, WP.

I am really fine with telling people I have AS because I self-admittedly don't make much effort to 'fit in' anymore so I am quite obviously different. I had more trouble telling people about my Tourette syndrome because there is a lot more stigma attached to it. My Dad hates me now because of that...

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

My mothers side of the family know I have AS, but my fathers side of the family doesn't and nor will I ever tell them because I never see them anyway.

I know for a fact that my mother has told people at her work because I hear her on the phone talking to collegues about it!

A few people I used to consider friends know about it.

I think my mom suspects that I might have it.

A while ago my mother and I were talking about what we think is wrong with my dad (who I strongly believe is an aspie). She said the reason she thinks he has social anxiety and no friends is because of his growing up and his experiences. Then I suggested out of the blue that he might have Asperger's Syndrome. I had only recently at that time heard of it because I knew a kid at my school named Jason who had it. My mom did research and was shocked. My dad fits the description almost to the T. She said that I had an inspired moment. I also later got interested in AS and did my own research and now I'm quite sure that I have it. My dad doesn't think he has it.

I think my mom thinks differently about my dad now. As I've grown up, it's become somewhat evident in my family that my dad and I are different from the others. We all get along great, but I think my brothers and mom know there is something wrong with my dad and me. My brothers, I doubt, know what it is. I suspect it will come out eventually. I just don't care too much if it gets out one way or another. I'm kind of afraid that if I'm labeled with a condition instead of being just the stupid or inept brother, I will be the "disadvantaged" one or whatever. Might feel pity for me. I would much rather be the weird and ret*d normal brother.

I told my mom and dad. My mom doesn't believe me. My dad didn't really seem to care.

A few people know. My mum is the only one who understands and appreciates the difficulties it causes me. Everyone else either doesn't believe me or just can't understand that there's a problem because I'm "too normal". Funny, the people who call me "too normal" are also the ones who always remind me how "weird" or different I am. Yeah, that makes sense . Too normal to be different, to different to be normal, apparently.

I found it best not to tell people unless necessary. If they don't get freaked out by it and slowly cut all contact with me, they just use it against me, like telling a bad joke immediately after finding out about it and then when I don't laugh saying "You woulda got that if you weren't AUTISTIC!" It's not that I don't get it, it's that I know it was done in spite and was not intended to be funny.

Having never been formally diagnosed, it would seem wrong for me to tell friends and colleagues that I have AS, despite the level of certainty in my mind that I do. At this time, I cannot ever envisage myself seeking such a diagnosis; but even if I did, I would only tell closest friends.
My fear is that people would treat me differently than they had done before, upon finding out. At the moment they gently poke fun at my quirkiness, and I have no problem at all with that, in fact I quite enjoy it. I can't recall being poked fun at, even maliciously, ever provoking a negative emotional response in me. (My hypothesis is that I was told the Sticks and Stones verse* in my formative years and took absolutely it to heart.) I find that allowing oneself being gently poked fun at helps cement the bond between the both parties and for this reason such ribbing has become the social norm. However, it is a social taboo to poke fun at any facts about a person that have been given a 'label' (and for quite laudable reasons). Informing people that my eccentricities have the 'label' Asperger's Syndrome would stop them from joking about them. This response would probably be so automatic to them that my telling them it is unnecessary would not change it.

As for my family, I have never voiced my suspicions to them. I think the most probable response would be not to take me seriously. Were I to be diagnosed, I would feel compelled to tell them. My fear here is that they would feel some sense of failure on their part for having never themselves suspected anything. At the moment stories about unusual things I have done or said are told by them with the unconditional parental pride and I don't want to take that away from them.

__________
*Just in case this isn't international, it goes: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."