Do you think most people are making a big deal out of autism

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Do you think that most of the population is freaking out when people are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Not everyone seems to be suffering, as Autism Speaks suggests. I think a lot of people think the 1 in 91/100/150/160 rate, whatever it is in your country, they think everyone on the spectrum is low functioning and we should feel sorry for them. Your thoughts?

It's more about feeling sorry for the parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. I went through this, somewhat, with my mom and it was not productive and did not help our relationship having people she knew feel sorry for her. Autism Speaks appears to be a parent organization. The parents want sympathy because they have to raise autistic kids and it's tougher than raising NT kids, they think, so they formed this organization and that has been the philosophy behind it.

In all fairness Autism Speaks in particular is more focused on families with low-functioning autistic children - I had a step sister who is low-functioning, she's adorable but a serious hand-full and her father doesn't really know how to handle her, many parents aren't given the information they need or the support they need so they can really suffer and struggle dealing with an autistic kid.

Even those of us who are high-functioning...I wouldn't go so far as to say people should feel sorry for us but we as a group of people I think are seriously lacking in understanding, representation, and support, many of us do struggle because we are invisible in many ways, we do often suffer because the support isn't there to help us function better or the information isn't there to ensure we're understood by others.

The problem is not in autism itself but the fact so little is known about it, there is so much ignorance, prejudice, and just not nearly enough support for autistic people or families with autistic kids - with kids in particular it is tougher to raise autistic kids in many ways, and both lower and higher functioning autistic kids are tougher when there's no support.

Yes I do and so many parents are worried about their kids getting autism so they avoid getting their babies vaccinated.

I think that too many people are making a big deal about autism. They think of the worse case scenerio and they talk about how hard autism is on the family. It's harder on us than it is on our family members who are rejecting us, instead of giving us the acceptance that we need. People also have this idea that there shuld be a cure for autism along with every other difference on this planet. As somebody who's anti cure, I feel that punch of rejection every time I see an Autism Awareness bumper sticker, see an Autism speaks commercial on the telly, or hear an Autism Speaks commercial on the radio. As one of those on the spectrum who needs diapers, the Autism Every Day video really annoys the s**t out of me, because of the way that mother talks about his son who's had two accidents in the same morning. It really annoys the s**t out of me! Autism Speaks can eat my poo.

I do think people freak out. I knew very little about autism until 2-3 weeks ago. I only knew what would be considered low functioning. I didnt realize you could be high functioning as my husband is. We dont have an official dx but mentioned it to his brother who is just like him and word got around the family. They did not take it well at all. Everyone has always known there was something different about the boys, but because we put a name to it, somehow its bad. I dont understand why its so bad. To me, its a relief that others have went through the same things they are. I dont understand why having a name to something that has always been there is so wrong. But wow, the stigma attached to it is bad apparently.

Yeah, the stigma can be bad. It's baffling that you can be the same way your whole life, as soon as you give it a name...particularly one like autism...it's suddenly so bad, people start talking to you like you're simple, like it's your fault. Most people don't seem to know that much about low functioning, so trying to make them understand high functioning and that it isn't so terrible is really tough.

This is downright dangerous! It's not just stigma but people being grossly misinformed about the nature and causes of ASD's.

And that is just it. I just dont understand. Who cares if the reason they didnt cry when there mom died, dont eat beef or vegetable or most fruits, are awkward, have no common sense, and a ton of other oddities are because of Autism and not because of there rough first 5 years old life (which is what the family likes to blame it on. IM sorry, but being neglected doesnt cause you to not understand how a door knob works, or not eat red meat and most other foods because of the texture). I thought WOW, when I read up on aspergers, and husband said he thought he had it, then took every test as a guideline and passed or flunked depending on how you look at it, every single time...

This was exciting to me. My husband struggles. He is in a work place that he goes to because we have 4 kids and I am a stay at home mom and he wants to support us 100 percent, but his work is out of his comfort zone. He is made fun of and talked down to. He cant get peoples respect because he comes off as weird. He is quiet cause he is afraid he will say something stupid. These are all things he tells me that others say, to me, these things do not bother, worry or do I even notice. I have been with him for 8 years and we will be together forever. I love his quirks. But manly men (in a union shop) dont. So he struggles. And I feel bad.

But to find others who go through the same things is a relief. It makes it all make sense. Its like AH HA~! But then we got shot down and looked at like we were crazy...

I'd have to come here to see anyone even talking about it. It's just not something thought about much by most people I see. I'd bet they think this is something they would never encounter.

When my daughter was diagnosed with ASD last year our family friends with children have drifted away - it seems its too hard for them to to start a conversation with us without mentioning how sorry they are for our daughter.

What perhaps surprised me most was the reaction of my immediate family! apart from my mother and my wife's mother nobody else wants to know us.

Exactly. But remember, it's in the interest of such organisations to make people scared so they donate their money. All charities do it to some extent, but the organisations that look to cure autism sometimes blatantly lie or omit details (such as Asperger's existing) to make it look like they have a valid "point".

Of course, a good autism charity would use its resources to help people with autism instead of calling them all monsters, so you should probably donate to one of those instead.

Yes, I think autism is treated more like some scary creature from the planet zog out to steal your children and swap them with one of their mutant alien kids. Yeah I understand it's hard for the parents and extremely so for the parents of low-functioning autistics, but there's no need to be so scared of it or go crazy whenever autism is mentioned. It's just another mental disorder out of many, but still autism is treated as the ULTIMATE disorder.

I get really angry when people feel sorry for parents of children with autism. By all means, provide support and tools to help parents of both high functioning and low functioning children; but these parents don't deserve a medal. I have AS and my son has AS. To me, AS is neither a tragedy nor a superpower. It is what it is. I will parent my son like I need to parent my other three kids. I don't deserve special accolades. I'm involved in a prayer group at my church and when a family with an autistic child is brought onto the prayer list, it really ruffles my feathers. I respond calmly and inquisitively, asking the important questions about the condition, hoping the change the tone from the "awww poor dear" theme that goes around the room. I really just want to plainly state, autism isn't the end of the world. WE FUNCTION!

I went to one of those Autism/Aspergers meetings and although I felt sorry that this woman has a daughter with AS, when she said she cried when she found out I kind of thought to myself "It's not the end of the world, she's not going to die...".

I think the stigma came from vaccinations and the lack of knowledge back then meant that people thought it was a powerful disability...in some people's cases...it's more like a re-wiring of the brain...some things we are actually BETTER at but in the more important cases, we are not as great at doing...