Would this offend you?

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so we have this Facebook page for funny things heard at my college and someone posted that they over heard "We get to play the fun game of Aspergers or theater major." said in the library. Knowing theater majors I found this hilarious ':lol:', but others didn't. Some people found it really offensive ':roll:',so they deicide they should speak up and the things they said I found very offensive myself, one girl said that it was on the verge of bullying (referring to theater people being bulled not aspies) another said "The theater majors here are stunningly talented,this is super disrespectful." I was really upset at how they were implying being compared to an aspie was offensive and told a friend who posted a very long comment explaining that a friend of hers with autistic traits (me) found this offensive and asking them to be more considerate and their response was that "Autism could be a very touchy subject for someone in our own field (theater)" and "it's never okay to call anyone - or say that they might be- autistic. ever. under any circumstance." and they repeatedly called the original post "offensive crap".
Firstly I don't get how it was offensive so if anyone could explain that it would help clear up somethings.
Secondly does anyone else find the way people respond to this offensive to those on the spectrum?

Um, nope, I'm not offended at all, but then, I would like to add that many people find "Shoot? Shag? Marry?" offensive, yet I don't feel anything at all even when people are playing "Shoot? Shag? Marry?" in front of me.

I hate to make this comparison, but I think to the NT's at least it ranks with someone saying:

"We get to play the fun game of Down's Syndrome or theater major."

Which I think can be viewed as insulting to both parties; calling theater major "ret*d" and also making a joke at the expense of people suffering from Down's Syndrome.

Now I personally don't think AS compares to DS, but others might, in that they are both considered to be a neurological disability.

I myself didn't find the comment offensive. It gave me a bit of a chuckle.

Its hard to be offended when I don't even understand the joke, I feel more like confused.

f*****g as*holes.

"Autism could be a very touchy subject for someone in our own field (theater)"

I'd want to know exactly why they think this is the case

is it because in their opinion if a person was thought/known to be autistic they could kiss goodbye to
their chance of a glittering career on stage and screen??

I'd want a full explanation of their logic

I don't quite get it either. Reading briankelley's post (thanks, Brian!) I get the sense that they are watching people they think are weird in some way and then assigning alternative explanations for the observed weirdness of the observed person has AS or the observed person is a theater major.

I guess there must be some stereotyped image of the theater major that implies a similar but distinct weirdness from the stereotyped Aspergerian.

I think I would find that game offensive, if I could figure out what was going on!
It seems like a game for nasty people who I would not want to know.

"The theater majors here are stunningly talented,this is super disrespectful."
"it's never okay to call anyone - or say that they might be- autistic. ever. under any circumstance."

Those are the only things you mentioned that I thought were offensive. I'd much rather see people make jokes about how weird we are than act as though we are the worst thing imaginable and should never even be mentioned.

okay I probably should have explained the joke, the reason the comparison was made was both aspies and theater majors have abstract ways of thinking that leads them to conclude that things are okay to do in public that others might not find so, and can also have trouble accepting that something should be done a certain way because it's "socially acceptable". Many in theater people, actors especially show very high autistic traits. A lot of studies have been made to back this up and a lot of what gives them their special and unique personalities is very close to the thought process of those on the spectrum. They learn about this in their classes and are taught that it isn't a bad thing so I'm not sure why they were offend at the comparison.

Like Rapidroy I found the joke to be far too cryptic to be offensive.

If the joke went "lets play the fun game of 'asperger's', also known as 'engineering major' it wouldve made sense to me.

The world of jokes is the world of stereotypes- and in my inner world of stereotypes I think of aspies as being dorks and nerds- and engineers as being dorks and nerds- and many of both (engineers and aspies) are also the other. I thought we are all supposed to be either like the Rainman, or like Sheldon Cooper on the BBT- arent we? Get you're stereotypes right!

But now that youve explained it ( and it definetly DID take some expaining) its too mindblowing to be offensive. I find it kinda flattering (maybe even empowering) actually- that we are thought of as being like struggling actors.

Im aware that there are showbiz stars who are aspies ( I believe Dan Akroyd is an aspie). But I didnt realize that autism and acting were linked in anyone's mind that way. Who woulda thunk it?

Ive taken a couple acting classes, and you have to learn not to give a damn about what people think- and be unselfconscious in one way ( in a subjective way) - but more selfconscious than most people in other ways (objective ways).

I dunno.. this is all very thought provoking.

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clip ... tereotypes
The joke is at 01:19

It's hard to say what someone else meant by something.

I took her comment to mean that it is offensive to try to label strangers or categorize them (no matter what the label is.) Maybe she felt making a game of it was making a joke of a stranger's life.

I find it ironic when an NT tells us not to take the micky out of them, when taking it out of a lot of us seems to be one of their favourite pasttimes!

It seems it's fine for us to be joked about and ridiculed but not them

The message couldn't be clearer that they think they have far more intrinsic value than us

I've always been reluctant to use the word Asperger's because it's now a label to which prejudices can be attached to. If people puzzle over my behavior, they might just say "Bifford is just... weird or something". But if I say "Asperger's", I bring up all sorts of negative prejudices. So I prefer to avoid that and only mention my condition to doctors. Nobody can crack an "ass burgers" joke at me if they don't know that I'm an Asperger's.

To me- a middle aged guy (not dxd until middle age) who until recently went to a middle aged lady shrink who said that she "never even heard of asperger's" until our family brought it up as a possibility only a few years ago- it amazes me that the younger generation has any awareness of the word at all- information OR missinformation.

Apparently modern college kids today not only know the word but now have stereotypes about it.

Amazing!

I chuckled because I thought it was associating Aspergers with dramatics i.e. anxiety and meltdowns etc. I can laugh at myself