most annoying aspergers myth!

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THIS right here.

& Just because I don't know how to portray said emotion properly doesn't mean that I'm not feeling it. I just have a hard time expressing it. That's the big one with me.

When it comes to muscles, I am (and have been) pretty strong considering my lean muscle build. But I'm one of those people who grew up running and spending nearly the whole summer in the pool or at the beach (as a kid I was all about the monkey bars). Admittingly, most of my muscles these days come from yoga and playing violin (which I know sounds funny but it really does build arm muscle).

We all love trains.

A lot of the myths surrounding ASD seem to be due to lack of knowledge that it's a SPECTRUM. The biggest myth that impacted me was that if I was on the spectrum I would be a mute boy and that I would collect batteries. Actually I am a female who alternates between hyperverbal and silent and I collect tickets, information on my special interest and I really like tickets, if others wouldn't have applied the 'mute boy' hypothesis as being the only way ASD presents itself I would have been diagnosed before 24.

Just saw these two gems on another forum:

Aspie women do not know right from wrong and will do anything with anyone without realizing they have done something wrong.

This, and train thing, I care more than most (or more than many people seem to)about others feelings, and while I did like playing with toy trains(Thomas) as toddler, I wasn't interested in their inner workings.

Agreed. I've come across people who know a person with Autism who does xyz or has this issue and assumes that we all do. There is also someone who thinks that because some of us act "normal", it can't be that bad. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I may act normal; but inside I'm screaming.

I agree, since all autistic people I know are nothing like Hoffman's Raymond Babbitt.

The megasavant Kim Peek (Hoffman's character was based on him) was thought to have FG Syndrome. This X-linked condition does have a few similarities with ASDs, such as anxiety due to schedule changes and an interest in technology/appliances like dryers and fans. Many comorbid disorders common in ASDs like OCD, and sensory integration dysfunction may also occur.

People (mainly males) with this syndrome are generally social. They also have distinct physical characteristics and health anomalies. It is different from ASDs.
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One man told me that there was no way I could have AS, because I live on my own. What?????

We talk excessively about our interests. I did when I was a kid, but now that I am an adult, I keep quiet.

Last edited by Didgeeeee on 20 Aug 2012, 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah; i hate this one. I love fiction, I spent my entire childhood reading stories. And I write my own stuff as well.

Does anyone else hide their interests from others?

That we have poor hygiene.

Most annoying me is when we get called ret*ds.

That every SOCIOPATH in history has/had Asperger's and that it primarily affects people with behavioral issues.

Also, that there are no feelings.

...And just thought of another: that Jodi Piccoult's House Rules provides the typical model of a person with Asperger's. (I don't know about you guys, but it feels like she found a list of every possible symptom EVER and just taped it on that miserable character. Not to mention the character's mother's consideration of the slightest possibility that it had something to do with....vaccines.)

That all we "lack empathy", meaning we don't care at all about other people.

That we "lack imagination". Obviously they mean some very narrow definition of "imagination" here, like "accurately imagining what that other person, who is wired very differently from me and who I don't understand at all, is feeling" or something like that.

That women with AS are all able to appear normal and don't have any problems. If you don't have any problems you don't meet the criteria, first off, and there are plenty of us who can't fake "normal".

I do, except for close family. I know well enough it's considered annoying. Problem is that this often leaves me with nothing to say at all.

This one annoys me the most. It's more of a stereotype that gets blamed on Autistics or other non-NTs.

''People on the spectrum lack empathy''
I don't know why but this really annoys me, but a lot of people still believe it. Yes, Aspies can lack empathy, but so can NTs. If NTs had empathy then they would understand us a little better, by trying to imagine how we must be feeling and trying to act more supportive or encouraging, instead of hostile and cliquey towards us, like we're a piece of dirt with no feelings. I find I'm considering other people's feelings more than what they consider mine (by the way not everybody's like this, some NTs try their best to consider how I feel, but generally people don't). It's a bit like, NTs not understanding non-NTs is OK, but non-NTs not understanding NTs is bad, as though more is expected from non-NTs than from NTs. This is why I was an NT - you get away with being an a***hole more.

Most of the myths mentioned on this thread don't apply to me -- except for the physical weakness thing. I am horribly physically awkward, uncoordinated, and, yes -- weak. I've often been unable to open a door that's heavier than average. It's embarrassing when I come and tell someone that the door is locked, it won't open, and the other person comes and opens the door easily. I've gotten some really odd looks in those situations. At other times, I've had others tell me, "Push it hard!" Sometimes it helps when I push the door with my whole body, instead of just my arms -- often though,, I just can't apply enough force. I also struggle to lift things that other adults lift easily. I actually am very weak physically, but I know that most aspies do not share the extent of my motoric impairments/ physical strength deficits.
The first time I started to suspect I might have AS, and confided my suspicions to my Mom, she shot it down, saying that there was no way , because I'm too imaginative, funny and verbal. Moreover, I always struggled immensely with Math in school, moreso than any other subject. At that time, I agreed with my Mom, and dropped the theory that I might have AS. It wasn't until years later, when I read about the condition in greater depth and learned out the difference between a symptom and a stereotype, that I revisited my previous theory, and realized that I probably do have AS.
These myths really are harmful. Many people on the spectrum undoubtedly fly beneath the radar because of them.

LOL! the poor imagination one I dont get either. I am very creative and my imagination, though was usually my undoing as a kid, is now my best strength.

The one that annoys me the most is "excels in computers and math" I suck at math soooo bad that I flunked college math 095 which is the developmental course to prepare you for the developmental course math099 even though I was in with a tutor 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.
It took me 3 years to learn how to multiply...finally they gave up on teaching me the concept of multiplication and taught me to memorize the multiplication tables. Algebra makes no sense, whatsoever, to me.
Yet I am really good at english, writing, and the visual arts.

I am barely computer literate. I love science, but the math involved always caused me to score low.