Do you find that AS gives the wrong impression? (IQ)

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Hmm, well we all know that MR can be co-morbid with an ASD, but I think most of the so-called "retardation" in autism is caused by communication difficulties.
That being said, I cannot say I have ever met someone with Down's or other MR that claimed to be autistic. Nor am I aware of any being falsely labelled such. Sometimes the flip side, people with ASDs get the MR label. Often, actually. See communication difficulties again..

Sincerely,
Matthew

Long before I knew anything about AS, I used to work with a female programmer whose speech was really slow and... odd. Sounded a lot like retardation, but her code was far too good for her to actually be ret*d. I didn't know what to make of her. Now I'm pretty sure she's autistic.

It's ironic that you guys have been talking about Down syndrome so much, because DS and autism have a high overlap rate; autism is 25 times as likely for the DS group.

Asperger's itself is highly variable, ranging from barely noticeable to blatantly obvious.

I personally don't like being put into the Asperger's category simply because I'm verbal and semi-independent. The idea of a diagnosis is to be able to use the diagnosis to predict what a person will need--but for me, the Asperger's diagnosis often gets in the way. Rather than being a socially awkward, anxious sort of person whose major difficulties involve socialization, I'm a socially oblivious person whose major difficulties involve cognitive problems like transitioning from one thing to another or focusing on more than one thing at once. The difficulties I have are often more similar to those faced by people with "classic autism"--except that it's harder for me to get help with them, because people don't expect me to have them. And sometimes, when I do get help, they expect me to be more "low-functioning" and need more help than I actually do, or to be capable of less than I am. I'm honestly sick of it; the AS stereotype hasn't helped me much at all. Having people assume you're intelligent may flatter your ego, but if it doesn't help you get what you need, it won't do a thing for you.

You asked for thoughts on this so here are mine;
First of all what do you mean by "ret*d"? ret*d can be a very broad colloquial term which I have sometimes used to refer to myself. I see myself as emotionally and socially ret*d and have mockingly described myself as such to others. I don't do it to "own" the labels or because I'm pleased about being slow socially and emotionally, I do it just to confront what were always subconscious concerns and be honest about them with myself and others (maybe in a slightly unhealthy, self deprecating way).
If you're talking about actual down syndrome or some other recognised, diagnosable condition like that then I don't see how it could be mistaken for Asperger's. I thought an IQ lower than 70 meant an autistic condition officially became LFA and was no longer considered Asperger's. If you're not talking about an actual condition but just mean "low functioning" in some particular cognitive capacity then this basically just becomes a pissing contest about who can pass a maths test or get good enough grades to go to university or something. Do you think you're better than someone who would fail that same maths test even though neither of you can look someone in the eye or make small talk? Don't you see how hypocritical that is? You probably whine to yourself about how you're misunderstood but then you turn around and sound as though you'd like some people removed from the AS diagnosed community because you think they make you look bad. You sound like several kinds of ret*d. Get over yourself.
As someone else pointed out they might be getting rid of the "Asperger's" label from diagnostics next year so I guess we'll all be ret*ds then Maybe that will thin the crowd a bit of the insecure scene-sters who write vague stupid posts about "fake Aspies" all the time or ret*ds making them look bad. Maybe next year those people will decide they were NT's all along.

I knew a ret*d girl in 7th grade. The other boys used to pick on her a lot. They called her "Rat Fink" and "Master Splinter." I felt sorry for her. Then they found out she was a tomboy and she was good at sports. Then she joined there group and started picking on ME. I was picked on by a ret*d girl every day for two years. And I was high honors back then.

I don't begrudge ret*d people though. I am a strong supporter. I watch the NFL like, EVERY Sunday.

I know this reply has nothing to do with this discussion really, but it's been my experience that they seldom ever do.

Very offensive post, despite all the revisions.

He forgot to revise the title....

Not all aspies have a high iq. There are a few people with both as and mental retardation (not just my view, they are diagnosed with mental retardation) in my aspie group. They are aspies just as we.