Why are many people happy to be diagnosed with AS?

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Now there's a good idea. Pour some gasoline on that fire!

It's helped me because my classmates have always insisted that I deserved the bullying and teasing I got from them because of my anti-social behavior (which makes me the bad guy in their eyes). I really took it seriously and became very suicidal.

Because of my AS diagnosis I know now that none of this is my fault. However I am bitter because nobody seems to even care even when I tell them I have it. Especially my family, they insist that my behaviors and habits can be fixed.

I beg to differ. Being diagnosed means you have a disease. If you don't have a disease, you don't get diagnosed. Not everything different is disease.

I love anonymous forums

I haven't been officially diagnosed yet, as the shrinks that I've been to have been hostile as*holes so far... I'm going to a specialist for testing soon but she is really expensive...

I'm not at all thrilled about it, I don't think I understand you folks that are. I never knew I had it, I wish I didn't, and all my life I've been trying to figure out why I'm so damn strange and different from everyone else. I never knew AS existed until my wife (psych major) learned about it in a developmental psych class last semester, and it feels like I just got hit with a huge mallet when I think about it. It's a combination of being super pissed off and the world and myself, annoyed at the huge amounts of trials and pain I've been through because of this, and hesitation at even taking this label on myself. So far, only my wife and mother know what I have, and I'm not thrilled about letting anyone else know, because I think I'll be stigmatized constantly by whoever knows. I want to "get rid" of this however I can, and I know many of you have developed yourself right out of being noticeably AS. I have worked for my entire teen and adult life to develop into someone that can understand what it is that is actually going on around me, and though I still have huge trials ahead of myself, and will probably never get over certain things (understanding speech properly, NT humor at a lot of things, taking things literally), I think I can "pretend" enough on the social areas right now that I have some hope of "normalcy" in this area someday.

tl;dr
Not happy about it.

It gave me another special interest, to throw myself into. I also know, that I wasn't lazy, dumb or obnoxious.

That doesn't make any sense.

Autism is not a disease. It's a pervasive developmental disorder. It is not contagious. it doesn't spread throughout your body, or from person to person.

Okay, sorry that I misunderstood.

From my own experience, I was shocked when diagnosed. It was a roller coaster of disbelief and understanding why I reacted the way I did, why I behaved the way I did. I was more moderate scale as a kid and through teen years. Now as an adult after getting assessed by two professionals, things that I didn't understand before finally became understood and through that I was able to make more of an effort to try to do something about it.

I still have problems but not near as much as I used to. I am now considered mild.

Having said that, I am not into groups or herd mentality. For the first time in my life, I am okay with being me and more comfortable. I went from barely saying anything to anyone to being able to do one on one conversation with ease. I still can't do the group conversations. Too many sounds to process and it's difficult to keep up with what everyone is saying. People talk alot in those scenerios and there is no clear answer to me when I am able to speak.

QFT.

And yes, I absorbed all these critiques into myself. The only people suggesting otherwise, after all, were my parents, hardly a disinterested source - and when the entire rest of your world agrees on the point, it's kind of hard to just shrug and say, "You're the one with the problem," even when it's the truth.

To be more specific: you can only be diagnosed with a disease, not with being different or a terminology to describe yourself.

The word "disorder" implies "disease" (or "illness" if you prefer, basically something pathologic in your body). Not all diseases are contagious.

I also dont get why so many people are happy. All i know is that autism is not lupus.

That doesn't make any sense either. The term normal can be used as: "(psychology) being approximately average or within certain limits in e.g. intelligence and development". If you aren't normal in areas like these, it means different. The label just signifies that your brain is different (at least with autism.)


Troll? If you're seriously a long time lurker here you would also have noticed the bottom of the webpage states "Asperger's is not a disease". Diseases are things to be eradicated.

I resisted posting here because the answer to his question seemed rather obvious. Indeed, he has received the answer from multiple sources. I have to agree with buryuntime's assessment that the OP is merely trolling.

The term 'disorder' implies an alteration to normal function. Short-sightedness is a 'disorder' of normal vision. Dwarfism is a 'disorder' of normal growth. Sterility is a 'disorder' of normal reproductive function. None of these are indicative of a disease.

You can't cure something that's not a disease. Autism is a disorder, not a disease, or an illness. Somebody, point out the difference to the OP, please?