Coming Out as AS

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I was asked to speak at school about autism, and I don't know if I should. Along with informing my peers about the spectrum, there could also be some personal positives as well, like giving a reason to my occasional quirks. But on the other hand, is this just something I should keep to myself? I've kept my AS only between my close family, my therapist, and myself. What's the best that could happen? What's the worst?

I'm not saying that I'm not intrigued by the idea, but I just want to hear other opinions while I think about this.

I really do not know what to tell you Lola. It is a hard choice you'll have to make yourself. There are positives and negatives on both ends. The best thing that could happen is you feel relieved that people understand you, but the worst thing that could happen is people use it as a label and look at you differently. I would hope that people would be understanding and caring, but that is rarely the case. Even people on the spectrum can be pretty insensitive to others in the same situation, so I don't know. Its up to you what you do.

if the students in my department wanted to know about autism i would love to give a talk about it (if i could organise myself to do it).

then again, autism is one of my obsessions. also i do not really keep it to myself - half my classmates know my diagnosis already anyway. (i tell anyone who'll listen ) and i guess it helps that i and all the students are studying communication disorders so autism is actually quite interesting rather than a turnoff for most of them.

- can you organise yourself enough to write a mini-lecture about it?
- are you ok with other people knowing your diagnosis?

after struggling with it just as you are now, i've decided there is no shame in admitting what is only true..

I'm okay with people knowing about my AS, for the most part. As long as they understand what I'm sharing. My focus would be mainly about women and girls on the spectrum, and how AS often expresses itself differently with us.

I prefer it when people know

I think I can see it in their faces, only really what the hell do I know - LOL

I imagine that instead of looking at me with a bewildered and annoyed look when I tread on their ego socially...

They look at me with more of an "aha" recognition...

To be honest I have no idea if they do or not and the reality of it is most 45 - 80 year old adults (age range of my friends) don't really bother to look it up or if they do, don't really get it.

Telling people makes ME feel less weird about it and I relax a bit and accept my social mistakes.

However WHEN to tell them is a real problem.

I tend to throw it into conversation if I need to explain one of my idiosyncrasies.

But again, sometimes without the full explanation it can be meaningless.

Raising awareness is the key.

I might print a business card style card actually thinking about it that explains it in bullet points.

Mark is on the autistic spectrum and has Asperger Syndrome
Mark may not always make appropriate eye contact with you
Mark may stare at the floor if concentrating on what you are saying
Mark may make inappropriate comments or gestures when communicating
Mark may not always understand hidden meanings in conversation
Mark finds it hard to follow more than one conversation at once
Mark may speak over you unintentionally if excited or anxious
Mark may get distracted by or jump at unexpected sounds
Mark is a normal person with Asperger Syndrome he is not mentally ill
Mark's ability to communicate depends on how well he knows you
Environmental factors may affect Mark's ability to function well
There are more things about us that are the same than are different

Hmmmm

My concern about coming out as AS would be steriotypes. That label applying to you could be good in that it explains some things, but people could start making eronious assumptions.
Making you could address that in your speech.
Anyway good luck with whichever path you choose.

I've never regretted telling anyone. As far as steriotypes go, I've been told I don't seem like I have "problems". I like to break wrong ideas of AS.

keep it private. coming out with AS will hurt your employment opportunities. you won't be able job network with people - who wants to recommend a non-normally-perfect-looking-sounding person to a job? keep it to yourself.

I think this is something you need to decide for yourself. The opportunity sounds great and it would be educational to other people as well.

Yes there will probably be downsides to it just as there would be if you didn't do it. Even before I was ever diagnosed, I was known to be very shy or stubborn so I don't think it's ever made a huge difference to me. Then again, I very rarely bring it up and when I do, it's for a good reason.

people are gonna be like but u definately gonna make some fans, maybe u will find more asperger kids

I had to speak to my school about it in fifth grade. I just pretty much gave a general overview, but left out some of the specifics that tend to make Aspies seem strange to most people.

Well, I made up my mind. I'm going to do the presentation.
I'm actually kind of excited now, to be honest.

Wow. I can't really imagine having the guts to talk about something like that in fifth grade. Then again I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I knew about it when I was that age.

I have found that being open about being autistic both has helped me personally and it has helped others with whom I interact. However, I think that I might be pretty nervous about speaking to a group at school. First, they are a group! Second, I would not want it to turn into a carnival freak show.

LG

Why were you asked to speak about autism?

Because there's two other kids speaking for Autism Awareness month, and my counselor asked if I wanted to speak as well.