People who don't "believe in" Aspergers?

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Even if I were diagnosed with Asperger's, I would not tell anyone I had it. To be honest I am kind of embarrassed to even be posting here. I'm sorry for that but Asperger's is not considered to be a real disease by a lot of people.

I believe it is, and I also believe that even if it were a completely fictional disease, we still all clearly suffer from some kind of social difficulty that has a cause other than being a total loser, which is what some people who don't believe in it allege.

Lately there is a trend going around, especially on the Internet, that Asperger's is not a real disease and it's just an excuse that fat teenage boys who play Counter Strike in their mom's basement while eating cheetos and Mountain Dew use to explain why they can't make friends or get jobs. And while I hate to admit it, while Asperger's is real, I don't think everyone who claims to have it really does. But that's still no reason to assume they're losers.

What benefit is it to anyone to tell someone you have it anyway? There's no cure, there are really very few effective treatments, and the majority of people you tell will misunderstand you and judge you for it.

For your reading pleasure: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... s+Syndrome

I don't want to be described this way.

People who don't believe in autism...
...are ret*d
Yeah you see it from time to time.

I met an Objectivist on an IRC channel who refused to acknowledge the existence of Aspergers (or any mental illness in fact). He called it an excuse by the lazy for their failure. Then he went on to dismiss schizophrenia as a "conscious rejection of reason".

Well, I'm glad all these perfect people have all the answers to universal questions man has been struggling with since he first learned how to think cognitively.

It must be nice to be born genetically perfect, with a high IQ, in perfect physical and mental health, and 100% motivated and infallible all the time.
Yet instead of being appreciative of the CIRCUMSTANCES that led to their happiness and success in life, they put down the less fortunate for failing to live up to their lofty expectations. Because clearly, if they don't have a mental illness or a physical disability, no one else could either! People who aren't as successful as you must just be lazy and stupid.

These people need to get real. It's the same hokey crap as Republicans who are born into wealthy families and don't support tax breaks, insurance, or welfare benefits for the poor because "Poor people are lazy, if they just worked hard and made something of themselves they would have enough money!".

Too many people don't seem to realize that their success in life is LARGELY due to where, when, and to the people whom they were born. Imagine two scenarios:

You are born white, male, American, into an upper-middle class family to married parents. You are given a good childhood in a stable home, and your parents have a college fund all ready for you, and then you of course get a good job after you graduate! Soon, by doing little more than following your set course in life, you are happy, wealthy, and successful. Quite hard to mess up, in my opinion!

OR

You are born a minority to an unwed mother living in a housing project who is gone all day every day working so she can feed her children. There is no college fund. There is no private school. There is a bad neighborhood and little parental supervision. They will likely not get the chance to go to college, and will likely make poor choices out of desperation or an ignorance of alternatives. Yet these perfect people with $100,000 per year salaries are BETTER PEOPLE because they "worked harder" and "made better choices". Your parents did maybe!

Sorry, people with the attitude you're describing really anger me.

I'm still not convinced that there is anything wrong except the way that people treat us. It's like we have a syndrome that makes other people different.

This isn't really the same thing as the original topic, but before I heard about AS, every time I mentioned to my mother that I have and have always had difficulties with certain things (nearly all of our discussions are fueled by her complaining), she would say "well then there must be something wrong with you!" in a very accusing way (and in Swedish). Then one day a friend's mom wondered if I have AS, so I looked it up, and it all started to make sense. It was like I was reading more or less a description of myself. So the next time my mother complained about how worthless I am, I told her I think I have AS, and instead of going into the old "something wrong with you" routine she went into denial mode. Not denying the existence of AS (I'm not even sure if she knows much about it) but she started acting like I was just going through a phase or something. And now she's going on about how we all have social problems sometimes and it's all a matter of learning to think positively. Did I mention her profession is the rehabilitation of old people or something like that?

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... y&jid=5364

Maybe its hard for people to believe in something they can't really see. Other people can't know the way we feel and I imagine that its hard for people to even imagine what its like. Being social and connect with people is partially instinct. Its like trying to understand how a person can not blink. Its just not something people can easily comprehend I think.