People lying about having autism

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I've encountered many of the issues that people with autism have at one time or another in my life.
Fortunately I've learned ways to avoid repeating those bad times.
In fact, I've gotten so good at it that I doubt I'd be diagnosed with autism today.

About ten years back, the "assburgers" were all over the internet. Basically, trolls and flamers who, when called on it, would respond "I have self-diagnosed Aspergers, so you're oppressing me if you object to my behaviour that I totally can't help." Those ****nuts are a big part of why "autistic" is the go-to insult for many people today. Thing is, based on the behaviour I've witnessed from some of our own residents, I can believe that at least some of these charming specimens were actually autistic.

I'm more familiar with the related "Munchausen's syndrome by proxy" (or "Facticious disorder imposed on another" in new money.) It's pretty horrific, as it often leads to a parent abusing their non-disabled child to prop up the fantasy that they're heroically looking after a disabled kid.

Assburgers came from negative portrayal of Aspergers on a 2011 episode of the popular TV comedy South Park.

A couple of years later when I joined WP Aspies were getting bullied by people who were using “Assburgers”. Many members were citing this bullying as a reason or the reason why they were disassociating themselves from the term “Aspergers”. Also at the time self diagnoses was a bitter controversy here with negative things said about self diagnosers as a group often.

The use of “assburgers” as bullying weapon continued on. Thankfully that is pretty much over at this point. I do not think that episode is much of a factor in the use of “autistic” as an insult today. What predated that South Park episode and as noted in this thread continues to this day is the idea that Autism is over diagnosed(self diagnosis is a subset of that) creating spoiled brats. Leo Kanner bragged he undiagnosed 90 percent of the diagnosed people he saw. This was the 1950s. This was an important reason why Aspergers was taken out of the DSM. That South Park episode was reflective of existing stereotypes not a cause. It arguably made things worse for a time but no more than that.

Before autism can ever be normalized, maybe it DOES need to be trendy, even if that means some people will lie about having it. It's still a stigmatized, misunderstood, myth-laden condition. But for some, it's not serious (depends how you define serious). In my case, it's had no impact on my ability to live fully independently and advocate for myself throughout my life, but, it's had very significant consequences in the realm of friendships and romance. I'm truly crippled in those areas.

Maybe I'm just being pedantic, but I question whether anything that only applies to a small portion of the population should be normalized. Since relatively few people have autism (less than 5% of people even by generous estimates including undiagnosed) it's by definition not normal.

That's not to say it should be stigmatized; it's neither a choice nor something that makes the individual a threat. I would place it in some middle ground category.

Let's say 5% of the population is autistic - at this point in autism research I would take any number with a grain of salt - and that's been the case for about at the very least the last thousand years. Probably ten times longer. Add to that the people that have strong autistic traits without meeting all the criterias for a diagnosis. Then I would say autism is normal. You should not confuse "normal" with "common". It's a lot more common to be autistic than have an IQ of 130 or higher. Does that make being autistic more normal than being highly intelligent?

Perhaps the reason the conversation in the room next to you can evoke rage.. is the inability to nit hear it and at the same time you miss all of the information.. so the part that gets frustrating is the missing bits if information that happens. When im in a loud environment and my wife or kids try to talk to me randomly I have to have them repeat themselves and if they say nevermind it just evokes anger until the information is relayed. Most of the time it's not even important information.. maybe not but for me it's an self observation.. I am waiting for my results.. Might not have autism but more things fit the way my brain works being autism than not. I'm 34 and had never even considered why I felt so different. Now in the theme of this post.. I also don't go running around telling everyone. Discussed it with my wife... therapist.. and grandma.. who then told me apparently it runs in my family. Obviously here in a forum discussing the topic as well. My ability to analyze everything is a great gift and curse. Cannot shut it off ever. So for me crowd's suck as my brain tries to actively analyze every single person, sound, and sight.

Hearing everything in a crowd sounds like you are having issues with sensory gating, i.e, blocking out unnecessary sensory stimuli in your brain. It is a common autistic problem.

Trendiness or the perception of trendiness carries its own stigmas and misunderstandings. Instead of people doubting your Autism because you do not present as intellectually disabled they doubt your autism because you don’t have superpowers or are not a savant. Worse yet they assume autism is a made up condition, or a real condition that is highly over diagnosed. This leads to assumptions that anybody claiming to be autistic is not autistic and is doing so because they are deluded or selfish.

I think normal is whatever the majority represents.

Human intelligence is not normal. Almost no other species on earth has any remotely comparable brain capacity. Even with that capacity humans want to feel, not think. Any useful thing ever deliberately created for some reason other than desperation or personal profit is basically a miracle.

It’s not about normal or common but impairments.

People not being able to do things humans should be able to do like walk, talk etc..

That’s what autism is diagnosed on the deficits or impairments

Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all very common in the population

Fricken people ,,very probably have got no ideas of what proprioception even is, or recently think someone came up
with the term entroperception( i think that was the term used in the vid) so many years after my own being professionally diagnosed..its when your brain doesnt always operate your normal inside processes well.
eg. (example of) like your swallowing mechanism, throat , gullet , whatever word is right ? doesnt operate well .
And this is not simple choking on your food ,( which can be used possibly to identify this) but one side of the throat muscles does not operate at the exact same time as the other.. Or body does not do correct food and water ,going down the right throat, instead of your breathing mechanism . Causing choking .. and not just once in a great while,
but odd times , several times a week , or even a day . And might not return for a few weeks . but then is back again.
Then add stresses that show up subtley . And then out of what appears to be nowhere ,your gagging .
And a whole bunch of other little things but always showing up when you least expect it..
And lets not start on communication skills .. not just speaking , but like , i will write things and mentally assume i wrote a word like "and" or word " or" in a sentence and almost appear mind blind,and miss that i did that.
Or possibly something that shows up like a transient dyslexia. once in a great while or more often for some . .. Even your leg or foot might forget to operate in conjunction with other muscles , once in a while. Making you appear clumsy..etc..etc..

I suppose that could be true. Though I am 34 alot of this information is very new to me. I have read people saying noise canceling headphones are quite helpful. I do remember the first time I tried a good pair I was very fascinated at how it nearly muted everything like magic. Distant conversations are just numbers that the headphones filter out. Only people speaking at a certain threshold get through. I had mostly used them at work for talking to my wife or music... never considered using them to potentially help in crowded places. Worth a shot.. main concern is people thinking I am rude having headphones in but then again if it helps me process their voice better. Net positive? Why haven't I considered this previously lol... have to find a balance in its use though. Was on an airplane once and couldn't hear the people sitting next to me because the headphones were compensating for the jet engines.

Last edited by Cornflake on 08 Nov 2023, 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.: Fixed quoting - please make properly attributed quotes of others

That doesn't surprise me one bit but no I have not met anyone who have lied to me about being on the spectrum.

However, I had a childhood friend whose mother lied about developing a medical condition so she could get benefits. "My doctor won't let me go back to work because I wouldn't do my duties." After my childhood friend and I grew apart, we kept in touch sometimes. She changed her story about how and when she got exposed to carbon monoxide.

They the b..o..s..e.. earbuds i have are heaven sent in crowded markets and stores ..And seem to almost be selective to whom I am facing as to which conversation , i hear clearly . The rest is there,, but a distant sound.
Just personal experience bas3d on last two years of use. Had the original Noise cancelling ones and they were just great ! but lost them .. and got their NC 2 version ..they do the job..but rather have my old ones back .
But NC 2 s are slightly easier to use
Best of Wishes

Great answer.

It also hurts people who are #actuallyautistic when they try to apply for disability benefits, services, or supports, not to mention the initial diagnostic process. There's such a glut of posers out there pretending it's just a fun or quirky difference that the people in charge of our care don't always take it seriously, or have resources and funding to help the most needy.

It does us all a great disservice imo.