Is AS actually trendy?

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Geeks are trendy. But only for guys.

I hardly know anything about popular culture, so I don't know whether it's trendy. It would be kind of cool if I knew that it would be seen as a good thing somewhere where I could go and fit in.

Wow. I'm the first yes.

the problem with that is then the media makes up its own version of it, people fall in love (or infatuation) with that sentimentalized version then seek it out to meet a lack in themselves and are disillusioned and upset when expectation does not meet result. As with anything.

The only explanation I've heard of professionals is the following. I'm just going to repeat what I was told in sense:

I f*****g hope not.

I don't have the right concepts to even begin thinking about that. I mean, where's the dividing line between me and my Aspergers? Which bits of my personality are due to apergers, and (this is harder) which ones aren't? I can't partition myself like that; it make no sense.

Although I think I understand what you meant. Sometimes it seems it would be so much easier if I was normal (or if everyone else had aspergers).

I agree. AS has been holding me back my entire life, I want it to stop. It's annoying that people will claim to have AS just because of social issues. They act like that's all the disorder is about. I notice many of the people who claim to have AS but most likely don't... have zero sensory issues, as well as not having many other aspie traits/symptoms. It's like using AS to have an excuse for their poor social skills.

i dont understand "trendy" very much

I agree that people who speak for us are trivialising the condition if they are claiming something that is untrue. I have seen things written which suggest its trendy because it probably sounds much better to claim to be intelligent but wired differently than it does to say you have a mental illness. Though from some things I have seen, some people think autism is a mental illness, so it must depend on who is on the receiving end of the claims. This makes me think that boards like this can be a refuge for people who aren't on the spectrum, and don't have friends or family on the spectrum, but haven't found anywhere else to fit in.

Maybe people see us as these shy non-conformists.

*shrug*

If AS is or was to become trendy then AS would no longer be a genuine condition but a wannabe disability replicated amongst other NT's.

I had to think about this one for a while. I don't know that it's actually trendy, but it is a fairly recently recognised condition, which is, I think, where a lot of the perceived influx is coming from. After all, when I was a child there wasn't even a condition called Asperger's Syndrome on the books. A child was either autistic and nearly completely noncommunicative or normal, and autism was considered to be the result of maternal neglect. There was nothing in between that was recognised.

In my case, I heard about Asperger's a few years ago and actually dismissed it as a real diagnosis. I had many of those symptoms and I was normal, after all. It wasn't until I really started looking closely at my daughter's behaviour and experiences as an adolescent and young adult and comparing it to my own that I began to rethink whether or not my behaviour really qualified as "normal."

It has actually been very hard to accept even the thought that my difficulties might stem from an actual neurological difference between me and the rest of society. On the one hand, it's almost a relief that some of the problems I have are not just me being an idiot or just plain crazy. On the other hand, it's rather horrifying to contemplate that, no matter what I do or how hard I try, if this is true I may never be able to do these things I've been trying to do all my life and feel natural doing them. So, do I want to be someone with AS? The answer is no, I don't; I would much rather be perfectly normal and relate to the world around me in a more typical and socially acceptable fashion, but the fact is that I don't. Do I think it's possible and that it might help me to be a little less hard on myself if I were to be identified with AS? I don't really know right now. That's why I'm here.

Patricia

it may be seen as "trendy" simply because more people are becoming aware of it and many are suddenly smacked in the face with the realization "oh my god that's ME!"

and, like being gay, i don't think many people will want to fake it for long. the consequences are real and many aren't very fun.

but like when one figures out that they are gay, when one figures out that they have AS, suddenly they know that they aren't crazy or stupid or all alone and many other feelings.

so, yeah, it may well be the affliciton-du-jour, and aspies may be coming out of the woodwork, but time will pass, there will be a new affliciton-du-jour, and then we'll see.

but i would hope that any one person would not presume to speak for all aspies or autistics and claim that what may or may not be necessary for them is or is not necessary for others.

at the same time, if it's trendiness leads to more people, who have AS and don't know it and have been suffering in silence, getting diagnosed and getting help, then i'm all for it.

i dont know if its actually trendy. i think certain people are jealous of me, coz of the extra help i get in somethings,, and mybe coz,,, i have As,, they dont.,,,wayy!! !! ! Sucks,, huh? But i dont think its actually trendy.
but for me im super glad i have it.. Heh.
xx

i only just found out about AS this month and while i was investigating it (regarding a close friend of mine) i started not only to see myself in all the descriptions .. but my ENTIRE "eccentric" family. my nephew has been describing these 'symptoms' to me for years begging someone to tell him why his mind does what it does, my own two sons and their struggles and mostly my 16 year old daughter (and the call i got from school suggesting that she go and see someone to find out what's going with in brain)

i could go on .. as for this being trendy .. i can't imagine anyone faking what we've had to deal with all our lives in my family.

i sent all this info to my mother and she isn't remotely questioning that this is us .. she had to deal with the schools that wanted to put both my brothers on meds.

AS might seem like it's trendy because of the explosion in the number of diagnoses, but I'm willing to bet it's only because it's a relatively recently discovered condition which is more common than was originally thought. Some people claiming to be AS might be genuine; others are probably hopping onto the bandwagon.

I now have an official diagnosis but when I initially heard about AS from my parents, I was very skeptical at first. I thought (or wanted to think) I was just a bit odd and quirky, but the more I read up about it, the more it made sense. Many 'wannabe aspies' probably have traits of AS but not the whole enchilada. They will lose interest when they meet real aspies and find out what AS is really like.

The 'trend' will pass, but genuine cases of AS will not.