people are starting to use Autism as an excuse.....

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I was at work yesterday, preparing to switch shifts at my station--I was the closing shift.

Some Dad came back with his son, and asked if we could refill his cup of ice cream cause he dropped it.

Now, actually we have to, or else they'll complain, but we gotta push the illusion that we won't, or they'll all be irresponsible...at least moreso than they already are.

Anyway, the guy said "sorry about that; my son's Autistic".

Right there...I wanted to smack both him and his son. His son looked to be about 12 years old; and no, for those wondering, he was in no way low functioning; he was at the functioning level I was at age 12; definitely HFA.

Now, I know we have lousy coordination skills, but geez....he couldn't hold a freakin' cup of ice cream? And he had to use Autism as the reason for it?

I found that very insulting; and no, I didn't say "so am I"..it wouldn't have been professional.

So yah....Autism's the new "ADD diagnosis"; great....

That is really sad. Not the son's autism, but the dad feeling like it is a social excuse that everyone will understand and give his son slack for. I am not saying we shouldn't give slack to those that need it, but it is just not healthy for his son to grow up thinking he can use an excuse rather than just sucking it up and trying again.

One of the best things about not understanding I was autistic for most of my life is I never had an excuse. I never knew there were things I wasn't going to be able to do (be a famous dancer, for one, my 'awkward gait' and clumsiness.) and I had no idea my dancing was . . ah. . .embarrassing. But I got to try, I got to try.

Merle

the thing is....I know Autism has its disadvantages; it also has advantages; so I work around the disadvantages with the advantages.

Are my social skills severely lacking? Yes; so, every time I talk to my co-workers, and I say something stupid, I jokingly admit I'm Autistic, and use some mildly self-deprecating humor; but at the same time, they know I'm busting my ass doing what I gotta get done. Plus, if I'm not good at communicating something verbally, I write it down; and again, my actions speak louder than anything I'm actually saying.

I'm more than willing to admit I'm Autistic, but if I have problems doing something, I find another way to do it....I don't just use it as an excuse to get thru life.

I'd be one sad individual to attempt that...

I had a very interesting reaction to my autism at my work. Somehow they thought that an autistic could not . . well. . DO the same job that they, a non-autistic found challenging.
I got a bit of resentment, because I think they had to change their attitude about what autism was all about.

I often drop things due to my fine motor problems, and I'm "high-functioning".

It's not an excuse, it's a valid reason. It could very well be in this person's case too.

Me too, I have fine motor skills problems an I'm always dropping things.

I've dropped things before.

Maybe he didn't want his boy to have a meltdown because he dropped his icecream, and he was going to keep him calm by getting him another?

I tend to knock stuff off shelves when looking for things . I have very fast conditioned reflexes and can catch a falling object usually at chest height before it gets anywhere near the floor. If I drop a kitchen knife I can move my foot out of the way whilst it is still in mid air .

I can be organised when taking stuff out of the food cupboard but you have to be in the right frame of mind and plan ahead. This is why it makes sense to organize food packaging and containers to make it less likely that everything falls out when you open the cupboard door.

I have two hybrid NT's : Disordered food storage is a general teenage NT trait, as is dropping ice cream, as is dropping underpants and pretending not to understand how they get back into the washing cycle, as is leaving bathroom towels on the floor without giving a single thought to the magical force which places them back on the radiators when they are not looking.

I wonder if the ability to condition our reflexes is evolutionary counter for general clumsiness?

I wonder if we gave NT kids the excuse that they were naturally clumsy and disordered they would just play the role to their advantage instead of learning how valuable food is and how not to give into domestic entropy.

That's the thing. You work around the problems you have, other people may not be that lucky. This has nothing to do with the ice cream situation, it's my own personal opinion. You probably don't have symptoms as bad as some. Some people simply can't work around their problems. Some people can't date at all. So yeah, have an open mind.