"You're not autistic!"

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I've only been diagnosed for a little over a year and I've only recently gotten my head around what it means to me, so I haven't really had much exposure to this. The only person who questioned it was more surprised than anything, but he reasoned that it's not the sort of thing I would have a reason to lie about.

Having said that, it's been a bit of a steep learning curve for my wife. She notices too many similarities between me and the symptoms to deny it though.

I'm fairly open about my ADS and ADHD. I don't have printed t-shirts or anything like that. But if someone was to ask for some reason I wouldn't deny it and I'm quick to involve myself when ever I hear something daft being said about either ADHD or ADS.

my therapist does not think I am autistic...even though I have an offical diagnosis when I was 8 years old. Those who did not know me then, dont know the struggle I went through to get where I am now...now they just tell me I am not autistic, makes me feel lonely in that my struggle is one that only few people, who are in my life now, know about.

Speaking of "You seem normal" I have gotten it quite a bit too when I be talking about how different I was in my childhood and that's when I get it. I never was insulted by it nor took offense, I took it as a compliment because they saw me as a normal person, not as some weirdo or freak or ret*d they will single me out or make fun of me or judge me.

But yet my husband could tell I had it the first time we met but he still says I'm normal.

I think most people with "invisible" disabilities will get this response at some time or another. Most people that say "You seem normal to me" or "Everyone's weird" are trying to emphasize with you, albeit poorly.

I've actually never been told I wasn't however except by one poor psych.

I like the way it is put "invisible disability". It is very real to me, but t others, I just seem kinda stand offish. I would concider it real when I get stuck on one activity and cant devate from it to get basic things done to live in a modern world. Changing activities is very hard for me and comes with acute but moderate stress, but soon as my mind is on the next thing, the stress disipates. This kind of struggle cannot be seen by just meeting me. Nor can you see the strugle I have with tasks...putting things where they belong, cleaning up after myself because I got diverted...then the mess overwhelms me visually and I get confused and too overwhelmed to deal with it. One cannot see that either by just meeting me. Now my struggles now are alot less than what they were when I was a kid and could not understand how to congergate verbs at 9 years old, nor could I comphrehend what people where saying. My spelling still sucks really bad though...something I have given up on because of my hearing loss.

This is one reason that... I would just keep shut about it.

Maybe tell teachers/professors, but that's it. Everyone else? We've all got secrets to hide, this would just be yours (and ours). It does suck that this does directly still affect us whether others know or not, but... well, that's life.

The problem here is stigma; If they do believe you have autism, you'll be, at the very best, still looked down upon and treated lowly, given less chances. Possibly, you could be targeted just because they know about it.

If they don't believe you have autism, then you get the case stated in the first post. You confuse a lot of others, find it hard to explain yourself about it... and so you've got everyone still thinking you're a weirdo to avoid.

I see no rationality in telling people about your diagnosis. Yes, you may have a new form of Autism, but your efforts will inevitably be in vain when you attempt to explain that you have Autism. Modern Society has created a stereotype of Autism, which you will probably not fit into. So, people assume now that you are eccentric and a liar. In my opinion - Shut Up about your diagnosis, there is hardly any use in proclaiming it to the world.

Maybe I'm in a different position, but I don't really care if anyone looks down on me. I've already 'made it' despite my struggles with a world that largely doesn't make sense to me. I earn above average money, in a respected industry. I moved to another country, settled and got married. The only thing anyone could have 'over' me is my lack of children and it's still early days in that regard anyway.

It's me that's choosing to drop out of my current career and go to uni. I haven't failed or been pushed. I just don't have any interest in that particular industry and I only do it because it pays and it's easy.

I'm living proof that a lot of the things people say about Asperger's/HFA/ASD/PDD-NOS are bulls**t.

I am finding the concept of nobody noticing what internally, for me, is a very big deal quite interesting. I guess I can put it down to a mixture of my acting skills and people's vacuousness. Despite all they seem to go on about how in tune with feelings and emotions NTs are, they seem pretty shallow and clueless in practice sometimes.

My parents. They out right, utterly refuse to believe I have Aspergers. Even though I deal with all the problems, the signs and the symptoms. I just seem like the average bullied kid to them. The person who has suffered from being bullied and treated badly. To them I need to learn from a very good person and all I need is a good person in my life. Is their belief.
But they don't understand. It's different from being alone. It's different from feeling alone. It's more like a ghost. You can touch people's world and their reality, but you cannot directly influence. You feel so disconnected. You can talk, but maybe in such a cryptic way most people don't understand. And those you do get along are just people who see the surface you're showing. While in your heard the gears are moving. As you try and figure out how to speak to people. How to focus.
Remember all the rules. And try to be normal. But I don't feel normal. I don't feel like everyone else. I get panic attacks or anxiety in social situations or in outside situations and events.
When I'm at school, all the noises and all the people seem louder. The world is brighter too. And I get a major headache from it all. After school I have to recharge. Talking to people and being in a social situation really just drains a lot of my energy.
But my parents won't believe me. So I'm stuck trying to deal with everything on my own. And it's hard. It isn't something you can easily get over and control.

After both my psychologist and psychiatrist agreed that I had AS, I told a few people that I had AS and most of them didn't believe me. So many people seemed to agree that either AS didn't exist or that it was being over-diagnosed that I actually went into denial of my AS for a while. It kind of hurt to believe that I was just a socially-inept loser, rather than autistic.

I don't talk to anyone about it so no.