Why do people think this way?

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Whenever people imagine someone who has Autism, they either think someone who is mentally ret*d or an Einstein-Esq Genius.

Why is this?

Media has taught the average Joe that's what autism is. Most of it isn't true but the average Joe doesn't know that. There's also stereo-types that just won't believe anything else even after proof that what they think isn't true.

I don't really understand... people on WP are always saying that the media sterotypes people with Autism, yet I watch the news all the time and never see/hear about Autism... perhaps I'm just unlucky and I turn on the Television/Computer at the wrong time?

For example where I live there are two trashy 'current affair' shows at 6:30pm on weeknights, these shows in their once or twice a year story including a family with an autistic person, this will be a five year old, completely undisciplined child running around screaming 24/7. The uneducated masses enjoy these shows.

So, for the people who know nothing about autism you have two different types of people:
- those who only know these incorrect stereotypes because they've never seen anything to suggest otherwise, but are rather open to the concept that the stereotypes are wrong if introduced to more evidence/it is explained to them
- those who only know these incorrect stereotypes and they must be right. It is not worth debating with these types of people or trying to knock a shred of sense into them.

that's part of the problem really; all that is reported around autism is rare, and if you even hear something, it's usually on either extreme end; the non-extremes just blend in.

think of it; how often do you read in the newspaper something like "old woman not robbed in mall"?, kind of the same thing...

All that is reported and interesting is at the extremes..

Think of the weather, flooding interesting, drought interesting. You won't want to listen to some news piece about how average and optimal the weather has been this year.

Death, young person dies (under 50) always makes the front page of the local paper. 79 year old dies peacefully in sleep, that's not interesting.

Aspie who is a bit of a loner, doesnt talk much, but lives a manageable average life, boring! Kid who is a walking calculator interesting.

There are people who find the everyday interesting, but these articles or stories are not prime time or page 1 material.

Jason

Why not? That's how the popular media portrays us, and it seems that most folks get their "knowledge" about us solely through movies, cop shows, sit-coms, and tabloid news outlets.

That's why I prefer the label "Aspergers" rather than "High functioning autism". You say "autism" and people think you are slow.

I don´t think that autism and intelligence are necessarily connected. Most aspergers have a normal to high IQ but the fact that lots of verbal and non-verbal people with classic autism have normal intelligence as well is just being discovered. And what's IQ anyway. I thinkt that a lot of these IQ tests are pretty ridiculous and superficial, eventhough my own scores are reasonably good.

A lot of people who we see as "non-verbal" are learning to type these days which makes it possible for them to express themselves to the outside world. Only than is the discovery made that there is normal to high intelligence there. The tought that a lot of people who have another form of autism than aspergers have been wrongfully regarded as ret*ds makes me shiver, because I think it's one of the worst forms of injustice when it comes to autism in general.

I don't think that aspergers is better than any other form of autism by the way. It's just a bit different that's all.