people are starting to use Autism as an excuse.....

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People nowadays are blaming Autism as an excuse for mishaps and inferiority? That's exactly how the Nazis viewed Jewish people!

I don't think it was an excuse, more like a reason. It does sound like you lack empathy for that particular reason being used. Almost as if you would rather have him not mention it at all, like he should have some discretion with his son's diagnosis; this implies he should have some shame when disclosing such information.

Autism isn't an excuse but COULD be a reason about someone's behaviour. I have to hold things with 2 hands or I'll probably drop it but an adult holding an ice cream cone with 2 hands just looks weird.

Some AS people are dyspraxic, some aren't. For some of those who are, co-ordination mistakes are more common. For some it is a weakness in hand/eye co-ordination, for others it is a muscular weakness. IF you are AS and have neither of these afflictions, perhaps it is hard to understand, and you judge people with it as using an excuse, rather than trying to explain errors they have made (which they have no doubt been harshly shamed for by people ignorant of their dyspraxia in the past). So the father was trying to explain, as best as he could perhaps. If he had said "my son has dyspraxia" - would the OP have understood that term at the time? (The question is rhetorical, I realise this is a bumped thread from ages ago).

I only read the first few responses to the original post so I will respond to the original post.

I drop things a lot. I have even dropped ice cream. I especially drop things when my energy levels are low. I don't have a problem with the guy asking for another ice cream. I do have a big problem with the guy if he was rude and demanding. I also don't think it was necessary for him to say his kid was Autistic. His kid did not drop the ice cream because he's Autistic. He dropped it because it slipped out of his hand. That has happened to everyone. Even nts drop things sometimes. If his Autism is so severe that he can't hold a cup, he shouldn't be given one to hold or he should be helped so that he can manage it. And even if his Autism is the reason he dropped it, the dad did not need to say that. Saying he dropped it because he is Autistic is kind of rude. If he had Cerebral Palsey and dropped it, the dad should have just said, "I'm really sorry, my son dropped his ice cream. May we please have another one. Thank you." That is all that needed to be said. And a kind person would have offered to pay again because it's not the store's fault that the kid dropped it.

I hate the functioning label, but I'm not what people would call low-functioning and yet I drop things all the time. I'll be holding a cup or a glass with relative ease, and then suddenly it just slips out of my hand like I'm a real butterfingers. One time a few years ago I got a build-your-own frozen yogurt sundae as a birthday treat, and I dropped it before I even got a chance to eat it, and I actually cried a little. Fortunately they let me have another one.

As a kid, my actually catching a ball after it was thrown to me was something of a miracle. Of course, it would have helped if I didn't always feel like it was being aimed right at my head.

Of course, I wouldn't have used my Asperger's as an excuse because I rarely tell strangers in public about it unless I feel it's absolutely necessary, and most NT people where I live are clueless about it anyway. Sometimes I just say I have a disability that makes it hard for me to do or cope with certain things or situations.

I'm like that, too, lostonearth. I'm not stupid, but sometimes I'm a klutz.