Are Aspies a bunch of entitled brats?

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I know a kid who is about 16, and he's one of these kids whose mom tells him he's special and all his problems are because of the world, that he doesn't need to change because he's 'special" just the way he is. The problem is, that no one is really special.

This kid is a bit of a brat and thinks that just because he has autism the world should serve everything to him on a silver platter. The question is, is this common amongst Aspie kids or just a symptom of a larger cultural phenomena?

"If you've met one Aspie, you've met one Aspie."

It's a well known saying around here ;P

But generally, I highly doubt he gets EVERYTHING. I mean, something like keeping perfume out of the house I can understand, since it messes with us so much ><

Its not him, its his mother. He may come across as a brat but if his mother wasn't there and he had to fend for himself, would you laugh as became isolated and alone, would you say tough luck kid when he cannot make it through college because of social anxiety we aspies experience? Finally if he took his own life would you blame him for this or just say "good riddance to bad rubbish"?. You see what you only choose to see. He has trouble with social cues, he acts like a brat from your point of view but he may be scared of the world. Consider these things.

Last edited by mrL on 12 Feb 2013, 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I agree with the post above.

He will sooner or later have to face the facts. AS is a diagnosis that is better than being mislabeled and being called ret*d, slow, halfwit or anything like that. But it should not be used as an excuse for being different and antisocial or asocial.

Well, in my opinion the phenomenon you describe is that of "mollycoddling parent", that is to say, if the parent is apt to behave that way the boy will be coddled whether he has AS or not.

I roll my eyes when I come across parents like this too, but I don't think AS is something which makes parents more likely to spoil their children. I DO think that some young people with AS can be given negative labels such as bratty, demanding, prone to tantrums etc because some (not all, in fact not even the majority of high-functioning individuals) autistic people react to sensory overwhelm or lack of routine with anger and upset. Unfortunately the loud minority is usually the one which is noticed and which the stereotype is based upon. See: extreme fundamental Christians, very effeminate gay men, etc. In the same way, the loud annoying minority do not represent the majority of AS people, young or old.

In my case, I went undiagnosed until my 30s, my father estranged himself from me, and my mother and her partner threw me out because they didn't feel like supporting me, so I've been struggling all my life to earn a living independently and doing so with enormous difficulty. Actually, I'm doing the exact same thing now, since the diagnosis doesn't change the fact that there is little support available for autistic adults in this country. I wouldn't call that being "entitled", and I know a lot of other people on this forum who have had similar experiences to mine.

No, everyone is special.

I think that a large proportion of the population, especially younger people, are spoiled brats. Those who have always had it their way always seem to want more and think that the rules do not apply to them.

There are far too few who are content with what they have and who realize how lucky they are to have been born into a society where they have anything at all.

I think it depends on the Aspie. I was spoiled by my grandmother for being that poor disabled kid and my issues were blamed on being spoiled or being disabled. No one bothered to teach me how to interact, so I learned badly and mostly from books (meaning quite a few things that were learned were BS). I got Dxed at 24.

I think sometimes, being Aspie and being spoiled look very much alike. You don't know whether the child refuses to even attempt to wear the expensive clothes her parents bought her because she is spoiled or has a sensory issue making touching the thing about as appealing as touching a snail. She might always come late because sje likes it if everyone waits for her with lunch or because she is bullied on the way home and just very, very afraid. In my case it was the latter, but I am aware as to how it appeared by now.

I think your parents generation thought the same about your generation. And so on for thousands of years.

That is probably true.



That is unlikely.

If you go back three hundred years, the situation of your children would be hardly any different from your own and your situation would be hardly any different from your parents or their parents. Except for the elite, people generally had little or nothing of their own.

There was little or no education for most people and it wasn't at all unusual to start working at very early ages. Life was usually much harder for everyone.

What changed everything is the result of one of the greatest achievements of modern man -- Capitalism. Without the extraordinary advancements in our economic position brought about by Capitalism, we live in exceedingly great luxury compared to earlier generations. And Capitalism, for all of its greatness, does have occasional irritating side-effects of which the increased numbers of people who feel entitled to everything is one of them.

You may think it's unlikely, but it's documented. Aristotle thought the younger generation were a bunch of brats, and he lived in ancient Greece.

That's the age talking more than the Asperger's. As time goes on, the sense of entitlement fades away.

It's the fault of his mother for spoiling him, and giving him this sense of entitlement. as you actually indicted in your original post, Disraeli. What evidence do you have to suggest that Neurotypical children are any better? None, I expect.

In future, I suggest keep your offensive generalisations to yourself, as some will not respond as nicely and civilly as we have.

I have never been a brat, and I suppose you should be entitled to ask your question because you don't know much about it, apparently, but it is generally wrong to make assumptions about entire groups of people based on such a small sample size.

Some of us actually get walked all over, used, taken for granted, bullied etc, because we don't know how to fight back, or stand up for ourselves, or judge what is really going on.

I would sometimes see bratty behaviour and automatically think the parents did not do their job and teach their kid, but in this case, as someone else mentioned, there could be issues going on with the child, who may be struggling to cope with day to day living. Their Mum may also be struggling to know how to manage it, and make the best decisions.

Try not to judge this sort of thing. If you are neurotypical, then you don't know what it's like to be autistic any more than people like, say, me, know what it's like to be 'normal'.

<--- Wishes he was an entitled brat.

The "Entitlement Generation" is an all-encompassing plague that has managed to burrow itself deep within the brains of our Western culture; it has little to do with ASDs.