Denial

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I was reading from another forum (a 'personality type' forum) and was struck by the number of deniers - people who don't believe in Asperger's or see it as nothing more than an extension of personality type. One member said, (paraphrasing) "I have some of the traits, but why get tested? Just so they can put me on this or that medication?" One even said, it's just the fashionable American Zeitgeist to put a label on everything psychological.

I know that whatever topic you put out there, there will always be deniers and conspiracy theorists, but it's just so damn frustrating to read them. Even before I had any idea that I might be ASD, I accepted the science of it - it just made sense - and with my analytical brain, I don't just automatically accept things. So much of the deny rhetoric seems to come from "belief" rather than knowledge. So frigging annoying!!

Sorry, read it just now and had to let off steam.

I think you just can't take people like that seriously. I remember some "skeptic's" blog that had like 3 dozen conditions that he didn't believe in, including things like PTSD, and type 2 diabetes.

I think the psychology behind it is a combination of fear and envy. If you minimize something then you don't have to worry about getting it, and the envy is that others are getting undesevered "special treatment" that they're not getting. Or, something like that.

Majority of human thinking: ego > social status > rational thought. Level 3 is rarely reached...thus the unfounded beliefs.

I was at the bank a few weeks ago with my cane, and this teller noticed that I wasn't leaning on it. So, she sarcastically says (like totally over-the-top) that she's sorry for my pain. I informed her that I use the cane for dizziness and balance problems, not pain. What a dipshit. She was so wound up thinking that she caught someone 'cheating the system' that she couldn't be bothered to inquire about, or imagine any other possibilities.

Many people online and offline say things based on their belief/guess/imagination rather than based on facts. They can't differentiate between facts and beliefs/guesses/imaginations etc. They are often poor listeners and just deny what others say out of hand or don't even give others a chance to express their opinions. Really many people are like that. So you had better brace yourself for unreasonable attacks/disagreements when you discuss something that is not an absolutely well-known fact even if you have a logical/scientific basis for what you say. Simply put, some people are not capable of discussions. The best way to avoid that kind of frustration is just not to participate in discussions with such people.

A part of me really wants to be offended by this, but at the same time, I am very wary of the way mental illnesses are looked at in modern times and have been very much anti-psychiatry since I was essentially abused by the system. I think I would be a hypocrite if I said anymore, so it's probably best if I refrain. (Note: NOT anti-psychology)

People still don't understand what it is. Yeah you can have traits and not be impaired by them but they are not really traits then. Everyone has some degree of traits in the DSM but it has to cause an impairment. It is also the same with other mental conditions too. You can read any criteria and think you have it. I can remember someone in the autism group telling me when he was taking a psychology class in college, the professor told all his students to not self diagnose after reading about mental conditions.

Sometimes I do think it's denial. I call them denaspies or aspies in denial.

What is even more frustrating is the American Psychological Association agrees with them to some degree. They can say whatever they want about it, but the bottom line is they did away with the diagnosis.

Even more frustrating is that some here in reaction to having this done to us is denying and trivializing what other other members go through.