Board index › General Discussion › General Autism Discussion

Pretending to have an autistic friend or family member

Page 1 of 1 [ 7 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

DevilKisses
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Jul 2010
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,067
Location: Canada

11 Jan 2016, 6:34 pm

When I describe my autistic traits to people I often pretend I'm talking about someone else. Does anyone else do this?


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 82 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 124 of 200
You are very likely neurotypical


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

11 Jan 2016, 8:25 pm

Nope.



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,939
Location:      

11 Jan 2016, 8:58 pm

Nope. I don't describe my autistic traits to anyone that I know personally. I figure that if my traits are obvious, then people will notice them and I won't have to describe them; and if they're not obvious, then why bother?



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,465
Location: my own little world

11 Jan 2016, 9:03 pm

No. I m very honest about my traits and symptoms. If people want to know me they need to know me.


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 70
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,189
Location: temperate zone

11 Jan 2016, 9:06 pm

Have seriously thought about that.

Was dxd late in life recently so have only been aware of my own aspergers a few years. Rarely have reason to talk about my own, nor anyone else's ASD, but on the rare occasions that the subject of ASD's might come up (with coworkers for example) it has occurred to me that it would be better to say something like "I have a nephew who has been dx'd with an ASD so I know something about it" than to say "I have been dx'd with an ASD myself so I know what I am talking about".

I get where you're coming from.



DevilKisses
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Jul 2010
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,067
Location: Canada

11 Jan 2016, 10:16 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Have seriously thought about that.

Was dxd late in life recently so have only been aware of my own aspergers a few years. Rarely have reason to talk about my own, nor anyone else's ASD, but on the rare occasions that the subject of ASD's might come up (with coworkers for example) it has occurred to me that it would be better to say something like "I have a nephew who has been dx'd with an ASD so I know something about it" than to say "I have been dx'd with an ASD myself so I know what I am talking about".

I get where you're coming from.

You should do it to test people's attitudes about autism. If they're patronizing or weird towards your "nephew" or "friend", you can avoid telling them. If they talk about him like a person you can feel more safe about disclosing. I also do this stuff with being gay.


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 82 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 124 of 200
You are very likely neurotypical


SocOfAutism
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Mar 2015
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,953

12 Jan 2016, 10:07 am

DevilKisses wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Have seriously thought about that.

Was dxd late in life recently so have only been aware of my own aspergers a few years. Rarely have reason to talk about my own, nor anyone else's ASD, but on the rare occasions that the subject of ASD's might come up (with coworkers for example) it has occurred to me that it would be better to say something like "I have a nephew who has been dx'd with an ASD so I know something about it" than to say "I have been dx'd with an ASD myself so I know what I am talking about".

I get where you're coming from.

You should do it to test people's attitudes about autism. If they're patronizing or weird towards your "nephew" or "friend", you can avoid telling them. If they talk about him like a person you can feel more safe about disclosing. I also do this stuff with being gay.


I agree. I think this is a smart method for finding out what you're dealing with before you put yourself out there. I'm surprised more people don't do it. I feel like this should be common.