Dumb things I've heard non-autistics say about autism

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http://www.amazon.com/All-Cats-Have-Asp ... 1843104814

"You can't have asperger syndrome because an autistic person could never learn enough social skills to do your job." -my mother

'You seem normal enough to me - thought you wouldn't know how to speak''

''You seem able - thought you would be severely scatterbrained and in your own world''

''You are averagely intellegent - thought you would be so incredibly slow-witted''

Obviously no-one has said that in those words, but they were what I read between the lines. I suppose I should take it as a compliment really, if you know what I mean.

My mother when I tried bringing up that I think I have Aspergers (after friends and my boss asked if I did): "You're not autistic...You're just unique."

To this day she still refuses to have me see someone for a diagnosis on the basis that I'm just "quirky." It's rather irritating.

"You can't be autistic...you don't make noises!"

Oooooookaaaaaay!

"Autistic people don't feel pain." Let that one sink in a bit.

Mindblind, your post made me laugh. Thank you for that. I haven't heard any dumb things directed at me yet, but I probably would have if I had been diagnosed while I was still in school.

This thread has made me laugh a fair bit .

I've been told repeatedly that I can't have Aspergers because I work full time. This one really drives me nuts because I was THREE FULL YEARS looking for work despite being a superior candidate on paper and with a impeccable work history. This doesn't even considering that I can't do the vast majority of jobs full time (like cashier) because of the sensory overload. What more ironic is how the same psychiatrist told me how Einstein and Gates are/were almost certainly Aspies. Guess they are unemployed!

Never mind the fact I have ALL the symptoms and meet ALL the criteria. Apparently if you work, you aren't impaired by it and hence don't have it! I now realize that most "experts" are only good at seeing ASD's in children.... before they work!

Yep. I work full time. I also meet ALL the criteria, not just the minimum, and I suffer from regular meltdowns and near-constant sensory distress. A few weeks ago I gave myself a mild concussion by slamming my head against the wall. But hey, I have a full-time job, so a lot of ignorant people still argue that I "can't" have AS.

Oh, so because I'm employed, that's OK then.

Never mind that I'm doing a job that anyone with basic administrative skills could pick up in a flash, when I'm knowledgeable in specialist subject areas (self taught - no money for college).

Never mind that I am bored senseless and am too embarrassed to even tell people what my job is. Never mind how I engage professionals and academics in the area of my special interest and they just assume I am an educated professional, and they are shocked to learn I never even got O-levels, never mind degrees.

Never mind that I have an IQ off the charts but never got a commensurate level of education due to no diagnosis or support at the time when it might have made a difference.

No, never mind all that. I can be educationally disserviced and work below my potential my whole life, but I guess I'm paying my taxes, so move on people, nothing to see here.

"She's not autistic, she just has a bad attitude." - my father.

Yeah, you should have seen me two weeks ago. I COMPLETELY melted down at work and told a few of my coworkers they were a bunch of of incompetent fools and were a f**** embarrassment to the word professionalism and how ashamed I was to work with such people after they royally screwed up. I don't regret what I said but wow I think I shocked a few people to say the least given how intense I got out of nowhere. That would have gotten me fired at many jobs but I was able to get away with it because a)I'm very well liked and near the top in my department b)I'm unionized and c)I've been there over 5 years. I have also been known to violently break my hockey sticks (but never near anyone else) for no apparent reason but it's probably a delayed meltdown from work again. I was able to get experts to fully agree I have a textbook Asperger personality but not a "formal" Asperger Syndrome diagnosis because I have a)a job (that took over 3 years to get) b) a girlfriend (my first at age 29 who is almost certainly Autistic) and c)my own apartment (again, my first at 29). I was told I'm clearly very socially awkward but that's not "unusual". What a joke! I've had managers from other locations tell me I should be making 50% more given my skills but I can't seem to get noticed because my social skills are awful and I come across as unintelligent in interviews due to how I can mildly stutter in new situations. Of course the advice given was to stop stuttering as if I didn't f***ing want to already!

The only reason I can function okay is because I have a private, secluded office where nobody bothers me and I can socialize at my pace and run my own show. Otherwise, I simply don't get along in an office environment and not for a lack of desire to. This doesn't even get into the fact with my high IQ I'm doing a job that a High School student can do (granted, I DO love my job) and have been continually underemployed since the age of 21 but no, I can't have Asperger Sydrome because I work