How open are you about your Asperger's?

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Sounds all too familiar.

Not open at all. I geuss the only exception would be if I met someone who was open about his/her's. I might open up to that person in private or in a group of like minded individuals but they better not rat me out to any NTs!

I want to amend mine.

I am not open about my diagnosis.

I am open about certain challenges (related to the diagnosis) and some are apparent without me trying to be open about them.

I rock in private and keep that to myself (unless I'm severely agitated and then I cannot help it). I'm slowly opening up to colleagues about the extent of my sensory difficulties (when it's pertinent information...or when I should have mentioned it already).

I'm open about it to really close friends, with other people who have a good idea of what aspergers means and peers who also have disabilities. In essence, I tend to make sure its the kind of person who will accept me for it, so I'm very cautious about it.

I'm open to the point where I don't lie about having disabilities, but I don't go out of my way to let people know. Having more than just Asperger's, I feel like people might think I'm making it up and suffer from 'special snowflake syndrome', so I usually just mention which disability is relevant at the time.

I mention it whenever the topic or something like it comes up. I used to be really secretive about it, but now I'm more comfortable with people knowing.

I want to be open about it with everyone, but am painfully aware of the lack of understanding out there, so I mostly keep my mouth shut. I have NEVER shared it at work because I predict it would be more harmful than helpful...precisely because autism is NOT accurately understood.

The exception is my family, although even with them, I don't talk about it much. My family members (husband, children, mother, siblings, etc), like most folks, are grossly under- and mis-informed about autism. Any discussion with them on the topic quickly hits a wall.

Sadly, I know that the few people I have told make no effort whatsoever to seek out greater knowledge on autism, which (if I allow it to) makes me feel I am personally not worthwhile enough to them that they would want to understand it (and therefore me) better. The status quo continues: they know about it, but there is rarely any conversation on it beyond that.

I have only told 2 people I consider(ed) friends, and one of those 2 "friends" used it against me in the worst way imaginable (I won't go into details, but needless to say, we are no longer friends).

I vacillate between feeling very sad, and sometimes just outright furious, that my "disability" or whatever you want to call it, means so little to the people I care about. It's hard not to take it personally.

Only people I trust completely, plus one ex-girlfriend know about it.

I don't hide that I have autism. I have shared the fact that I was diagnosed with autism to family, friends, and my fellow workers. I even have autism license plates on my car. I am also involved in a music ministry where I give thanks to God for making me autistic because it has given me special talents and gifts that I enjoy and share.

I generally dont tell people unless they are close friends I know I can trust. Or if they mention/ask about it. Generally its not something I talk about or disclose.

It came up with some people on my course, because there is a mature student with a child with aspergers and I found it interesting to offer my perspective.

xx

I will mention having Aspergers to anyone and everyone, just so they understand why I act the way I do.

I am fairly open about it. I think it helps that I work in an environment where people know a lot about autism anyway so a lot of my colleagues worked it out themselves that I have Aspergers.

I don't tell anyone as most people will think you wear it like a badge if your up front and open

I am not so open about it (especially since I don't have the official diagnosis yet) but I also don't hide the fact although usually I just tell "this is who I am", "I got problem with understanding some social rules", "I can't do 2 things at once" or "I am too focused on details". I come with the AS thing only if it is a right thing to say at the moment, at least in my opinion. Today it wasn't so good idea I think but well, at least one of my friends knows now.

In my weekend school the teacher told us to - anonymously - grade other people projects. I choose the grades honestly, A if the work was great, B if it was lacking something and C or D if it was lacking a lot. Then the teacher told us the results:

- Most people choosed similar grades which was straight A for all projects, only Kate choose the grades lower than the rest.
- I was just honest! The point was to grade the projects honestly...
- Honesty is not always socially acceptable.
So I lowered my voice and told to my friend, angry for myself:
- Looks like I did it again. I understand it other than the whole rest of class.
- It like you got something like obsessive telling truth issue. Ha, ha.
- Close but not quite right, I got Asperger Syndrome.
- Ohh... <silence>
- You know what it is?
-<nod>
- OK...

I hope he is OK with it. He was still sitting next to me for the rest of day and we laughed a bit so I guess it wasn't that big issue.