What are some of your least favourite myths about autism?

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I hope he is now everybody's former physician. You can't be a physician with that kind of idiotic ignorance.

Sorry Seba but I have to disagree with you on this one. If I had been diagnosed before the 2013 change in the DSM, I would have been diagnosed with Asperger's. Since I was diagnosed in 2014, I have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1 which is what Asperger's is not a part of. But there are many many times when my functioning levels are so low that I cannot function at all. Sometimes that happens in some areas and sometimes it can happen in all areas. So it is actually dangerous to assume that if someone has what used to be known as Asperger's that they will only be moderate functioning at worst. This is one of the myths that is one of my biggest peeves. Many people refuse to help me or even believe me when my functioning levels drop to critical levels because they believe this myth. It can make life extremely difficult.

Another one I hate is that Aspergers was ruled out when I was official tested & I had trouble qualifying for services related to developmental disabilities because... I communicated too well verbally to be autistic. I'm dyslexic thou & have a hard time expressing myself through writing. MYTH~ People with Aspergers don't communicate well verbally.

The myth that I get annoyed with is the Sense of Humour.

I was known for having a Sense if Humour at school when I was in a Communication Provision which ironically specialises in Autism with trained experts. Urm I think they might’ve had to re-think that myth with the Sense of Humour and sometimes pranks I’d play.

Also the lack of imagination as well. I have a very good imagination.

I agree. I've been told by many people that I'm intelligent, good with computers, and all sorts of other things, but honestly I'm really dysfunctional and need a lot of help from other people.

The only myth I've experienced with is the vaccination one. My dad thinks vaccines gave my older brother Asperger's.
But he doesn't think it gave myself or my two younger brothers Asperger's (and doesn't even know I have it). Logic...

Thank you for the list, Fnord. Beautiful list.

Hah. I think the NTs are more likely to.
I laugh more often than most of them. And at things they find mundane.


I used to think I was bad at thinking abstractly. My friends insisted I wasn't. Like, "You're discussing psychology with me! You have no problem with abstract concepts."


Oh, that's quite interesting!
It might be related to my habit of being avoidant of stimulating experiences, without ever considering why other than I wasn't interested. But I usually don't experience strong emotions. Passion isn't my thing.
Except...I have experienced happiness almost to the point of being overwhelmed, just from the closeness of a long-distance friendship. Maybe I would feel emotions more strongly then NTs if I let myself.


I read that a group was looking for a cure for autism, but what they were looking into was a way to detect it pre-birth to offer abortions, like Iceland "cured" itself of downs syndrome.


I think I've done that, emotionally. Or at least, I'm not able to give the affection they expect.

And breakups don't really affect me.
Losing a friend does.


Eek, yeah. My brother with Asperger's seems to think this. And he's got an IQ around 140.

I would really dread the day a prenatal test for autism became available. NTs might sterilize or otherwise prevent autistic adults from having babies if a prenatal test became available in the future, leading to more stigma and an even stronger urge to eliminate all autists. After all, even though I currently do not plan on having babies in the future, I might change my mind later. I would tell the people doing potentially harmful autism research to throw all of their work out the window and start listening to autists if it didn't offend them because of their ignorance.

We lack empathy. I actually probably have far more empathy than the average NT, I just don't know how to show it in ways they recognize.

Those diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome are just quiet and exceptionally intelligent, otherwise no different from NTs. My dad believed this for most of my life, and just could not accept that I really was trying my best, that I wasn't just refusing to do things because I didn't want to do them, etc.

Everyone on the spectrum is either extremely gifted with math/technology or extremely creatively gifted, or at least has some sort of "savant" skill/talent. (Where's mine, then?)

All school shooters must have Asperger's/autism, even if no one had the slightest suspicion of that before the incident

And a bunch of the ones that have already been mentioned in this thread, and probably some others that aren't coming to mind at the moment. Stereotypes in general are a major pet peeve of mine (probably in large part because I fit very few, if any, of the ones that people might try to apply to me, so I know how inaccurate they usually are).

MYTH: Once an aspie, always an aspie.

... well, maybe ... some people do learn coping mechanisms that make then virtually indistinguishable from NTs ... but does that mean they are no longer aspies?

This article seemed relevant:

http://autistext.com/2009/07/01/really- ... rotypical/

Myth: all autistics are incapable of having empathy.
Actually, the word 'empathy' itself has a myth attached to it, not so much how it is used in autism diagnostics. The myth about empathy is 'empathy means kind, caring and understanding'. That misleads people (even some autistics themselves) into thinking that all autistics are coldhearted people with no passion or feelings for anybody.

That we are not capable of empathy.