"You can't have Asperger's!"

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I don't like it when people tell me that. I sometimes hear that from people who see me for one hour a week in exactly the kind of setting where I do my best to be as normal as possible, only to come home and breathe a sigh of relief when I'm finally alone and I don't have to pretend anymore. They don't notice the anxiety, they don't notice that I don't talk to peers, the stimming, the lack of empathy, the non-understanding of other people's emotions, the compulsive behavior, the absolute lack of friends... Sure, I guess I can appear almost normal for an hour a week.

I hate that too! I get it from lost of people who don't know me very well, and distant relatives. My boss told me that he never would've known from the interview, and he doesn't regret hiring me despite my sometimes obvious disadvantages at work.

I suppose, in an ironic way, im lucky since people can tell that im 'not normal' by my facial expressions and Antisocial social skills. What gets me though is people who claim to be 'a bit autistic' or the classic 'I was autistic when I was younger but i outgrew it'.

I totally agree, or it's like when people dont accept that AS is any reason not be behave and act normally all the time. Ive gotten into situations where people think I am just being deliberately perverse to attract attention(in fact I will do anything to get noticed) or think that I am mentally incapable because I react very badly to crowds or noise.

Euclid

I think that most of us aspies could probably pass for weird NT's any day of the week. The part I don't like is that they think we are NT just by looking at us and then make totally wrong assumptions based on our non-existent body language. I have been accused of being a playboy, a person with anger management issues, and a child molester - all totally false and way off base - just by the way I look and not by my actions. Because of the latter, I consciously avoid areas where kids congregate because I don't want people saying stuff. I know for a fact that other aspies have actually been arrested on those kinds of suspicions.

That's may be true but some symptoms do get better over time with the right help or even medication, but you never technically out grow it. It doesn't just magically go away. You just eventually learn things to help you cope and you become more comfortable and slightly more function-able over time.

Some people, usually those who were borderline cases in childhood, do lose the diagnosis altogether. They don't lose the cognitive style, of course, but maybe some people think that the diagnosis is the important thing?

I've only gotten it from idiots online. Never in real life. Maybe because I never tell anyone. However my elementary school didn't think I had it but my speech therapist suspected it when I was in 5th grade. I am sure my 5th grade teacher noticed too since he had an autistic son.


EDIT: I just remembered my ex said I didn't have it because I wasn't good at math or into tech stuff and I was too immature.
Instead he said I was PDD. Well I was the one who kept saying I didn't have it because I wasn't like him. So he used this place as a tool for AS and he saw how other aspies were good at math and what they were into and all.

Last edited by League_Girl on 26 Jun 2010, 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I hate "Autism, huh? Heheh - Maybe that's what's wrong with me, too!"

Which I take to mean: "Hey, great SCAM you're running there, maybe I should get in on that, too." Schmucks.

Its the eye contact issues and facial expression isnt it? I too avoid areas near parks pools, malls (except during the day while school is in session) and when i cannot avoid these area, mirror sunglasses work wonders, you dont even have to worry about eye contact with peers.

Many states, if not all, have laws pertaining to "visual sexual aggression" which in my mind is a very ambiguous term, in maine it can be the act of even glancing at a persons backside or chest. for those of us who avoid eye contact when facing someone, where do you think the "default glance" is?

Really? Why not? Is there a licensing system for it nobody told me about?

MrXxx- i was thinking the exact same thing. Only certain people may have aspergers, its illegal for the rest of us.

The thing that I get from people, is "You don't seem autistic to me." or "I would have never have guessed." How is an autistic person supposed to look?

I think we are expected to look like a stereotyped "mentally ret*d" person. (I hate the R word, but sometimes theres no way around it)

Arrest me.

I think if someone says this, you should immediately ask them, "Do you even know what Asperger's is?" and/or "Have you ever heard of Asperger's before this conversation?"

Just so everyone's clear.