Do you tell people you have Autism?

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If they ask, i do. If they don't, i assume they don't care.

I don't usually tell people unless I can trust them. Most people don't even ask.

My family knows.

When I had a mild stroke I told my neurolgist.

If somebody says asks are autistic I will tell the truth.

If autism comes up in a conversation in a seroius way such as my kid is autistic I will assess the person, nature of the conversation and decide based on that. I have never been asked nor has autism ever come up in a non family, non support group, non professional setting.

I understand. Mine does too, but many people don't know what it is that they are seeing that makes me SO different.

Yeah, same. I come off as being very weird and when I do tell people that I'm autistic then they are rarely surprised unless all they know about autism is the stereotype, even then though I tend to rock back and forth a lot, my stimming is often not very discrete, my social skills are pretty terrible, I spend a lot of time pacing around by myself, and I sound rather weird when I talk. I still tend to avoid telling people though because some people have talked down to me in a patronizing way because of it, all of which were people who found out before getting to know me.

I feel that I need to tell everyone that starts to become close to me. I've had five people in the last year become close to me, then abandon or betray me because of my personality. So I warn people before they decide to be my friend. Everyone has been accepting so far, but it's only been a little while.

I do it so that others have a comprehensive understanding as to what autism is, and to show that yes, autistic people can assimilate among dominant society with the proper support. If someone asks that I briefly explain what autism is in general, specifically what Asperger's syndrome is, I am more than overjoyed to tell them. Being both autistic and queer, I am, to the general public, trapped in two closets, the former of which I can simply "come out" of in public just by growing very nervous or excited about something and stimming along with smiling or wearing a very stoic expression on my face, the latter, of which only a select few people know about. As more and more autistic children and adolescents reach adulthood and enter college and the workforce if they so choose, it's more than imperative that people begin to better comprehend and accept our autism/AS as just an integral aspect of who and what we are.

i usually tell people i form relationships (inculuding my friends).and teachers if something comes up in class. i jsut want them to know so they undestand, or if i have a meltdown or soemthing like that

I totally agree with StarTrekker, Pie and Novac. I'm NT, my son was just diagnosed with Autism, or Aspergers. I've known NOTHING about it my entire life until recently. If more people came out saying that they were autistic, I believe it would be so much more accepted and understood. I'm sure I have known some autistic people in my life and never knew. My son is such a great kid and I wish more people knew about autism. Before his diagnosis I thought autistics were only non verbal. Ridiculous.

I follow what Department of Defense tell people when they need sensitive information to do their job: only on a need to know basis.

I don't go an announce it to people on the street. However, I told my last boss. It was more a discussion on why he needed to stop coming up and randomly touching me. It didn't work - but he has his own issues. My new boss doesn't know, however that is because I do not think he would know what I was even talking about and would ignore me.

I usually tell my children's case managers at school. This is mostly so they know I will sometimes need extra time to process in IEP meetings, and I will NEVER sign an IEP until the day after the meeting.

Honestly I work at a University where they play guess the Aspie. It was pretty obvious they would put me on the list - although the list is very wrong. When I found out I was more offended by some of the people they put on the list - then the list itself.

I very rarely say anything because can be kind of obvious?

Last edited by Lumi on 27 May 2016, 10:16 am, edited 3 times in total.

No, never. I am uncomfortable even speaking about it with anyone let alone someone in the know, it would have to be for something specific like an accomedation or to a support worker.

I rock side to side, but that blends in since I'm around a lot of parents with young babies (and they don't know that I do it when alone). I ramble, horrifically, and ANYTHING can come out, especially when I'm stressed. People generally thought I was a complete freakshow, so they aren't surprised either when I tell them the diagnosis now. Some come out and ask if I have ADHD (which I have a diagnosis, but I disagree with it), so when they hear I have ASD, they aren't surprised either. No one has tried to talk to me patronizingly, but I tend to, uh, info dump easily, and over technically. The psychologist who assessed me said I would make an excellent college professor (if that helps to explain my general demeanor). I have seen mostly good, so far, from telling. Some people who had absolutely NO tolerance for me are a bit more tolerant or will at least be less subtle when disagreeing. Which helps since subtlety is generally lost on me.

Not usually. It is a "need to know" basis kind of thing. I am not ashamed but it is normally not going to help me in any way to say the reason I annoyed them is I missed a social cue. I am very careful in my interactions. And I don't want negative reinforcement on opinion of ASDs. If conversation is relevant or direct question...then yeah... I am diagnosed Asperger's .

Positive moments that never can be crowed over or come up in a normal conversation:
The reason I doggedly refuse to release project til finished correctly, have high job ethic, have good skills in punctuality is my Asperger's. the reason I am charm school drop out is the charm school part was to overcome the Asperger's. Every person with Asperger's in my family is a professor at Uni, sought after machinist specialist, aeronautical engineer with exception of the three female's affected. I know what all 400 of the people on my face book are doing in a given week, when they last had relationship, when they got job, lost job, changed avatar. I remember birthdays to people

The most touching compliment I ever had was superior officer saying I embodied the Army values standards.


Negative moments that I might try to excuse for missing a mark because I'm Aspie? they would carry as reasons to avoid an Aspie:
Im rude and talk over you-Aspergers
I am shut down (for lack of handling an empathy moment) on you when you need it- Asperger's
I won't look at you_ Asperger's
I am stiff at hugs
I am draconic on schedules and rigid in allowances for circumstance
etc etc

I completely understand how someone with autism would NOT want to share. However, I'd like to say to those of you who say you don't mention it because it's obvious. I hate to admit it, but, before my son's recent diagnosis, I had NO idea what autism looked like, other than the stereotypical one, like rainman. I think it's quite common too for people to be ignorant of autism.