Ever been accused of calling yourself an aspie to be trendy?

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Yeah, and honestly? I think the expectation (on the part of some nonautistic people) that autistic people will use it as a get out of jail free card, is itself a get out of jail free card for the nonautistic people in question to stereotype, bully, disbelieve, whatever, the autistic person in question.

I have seen a lot of people accused of this and the vast majority of the time it's a totally unfounded accusation. Either it's someone misunderstanding the social model of disability and similar ways of looking at the world, or it's someone who doesn't want to be held responsible themselves for being nasty to a disabled person (especially if they have the common idea in their head that that is "lower than low" and don't want to think of themselves that way).

A lot of the time the accusation comes during something like a debate that has gone nasty because someone really didn't get that autistic people don't take things literally just to be a smart aleck. And they say "no seriously I'm autistic I take things literally I didn't mean anything by it" and the other person snaps back with "I bet you're one of those self-diagnosed Asperger types who use it as an excuse to be a jerk. You should see what real autism is like." Because the person really doesn't want to admit they were wrong about the autistic person's motivations.

The worst part of situations like that is you just know the person will see that as someone using it as an excuse and then later will be able to add, " And I have personal experience so don't tell me it doesn't happen."

Other times I have seen it where the autistic person is really and truly being messed with by bullies who don't want to admit that they have been targeting someone because of disability.

And other times the person has either heard rumors that Aspergers is a fake condition people self diagnose to avoid responsibility, or has met (or thinks they've met) a few who do.

Among autistic people there can be totally similar misunderstandings leading some of us go think it truly is rampant and then distance themselves from the stereotype instead of denying the stereotype itself.

Plus once you've heard the rumor and you meet someone who either fits it or just seems to, it's a common human fallacy to see those few people as proof the stereotype is real. I have met a small number of people who fit it, a slightly larger number of people who just seem to fit it, and a huge number of people who don't. But the few who do don't make me think it's widespread, and I don't pretend to be able to tell with someone I don't know particularly well most of the time.

But... yeah. Not only don't I think it's common, but when it's real I don't think it has anything to do with being self-diagnosed. The person I know (in person) who is the absolute worst I have ever seen, is professionally diagnosed and seems to have behaved this way since childhood because he was allowed to get away with it. And the funny thing us one of his pet peeves is "autistic people who won't take responsibility" even though he evades responsibility for even the tiniest of things.

Not me. I've been told that I don't look autistic.

No, never. I don't call myself an aspie anyway. I hate that word, I always have and always will. I don't understand how calling yourself an aspie can be seen as trendy anyway.

I learned that there is a trend of calling yourself an Aspie when I idly posted the AQ test on another board to see where some of my favorite argument/debate foes and friends scored, strictly out of curiousity, without mentioning that I suspected myself to be on the spectrum.

"Oh you're just another deviantart aspie using it as an excuse for being awkward and wanting the world to know you're a creative special butterfly, stfu Max"...

Uh, ok, wut?

As a result of going into denial, I gave up middle-rate DLA and suffered countless personal humiliations in the name of trying to make a contribution to a society that couldn't care less about me. Don't talk to me about excuses.

what's a DLA?

DLA stands for Disability Living Allowance.

Exactly. I don't discuss my (not officially diagnosed) AS with too many ppl, but my husband seemed to take that attitude. I don't really care, though, because *I* understand things that have never made sense to me before and that's worth more than anyone else's "stamp of approval". *I* know I am not selfish, uncaring, weird, or anything else ppl want to throw at me. The "label" is only good for understanding and learning ways to adapt, IMHO.

~Kate

No.
I hate that word and I hate the word trendy.
I use my not caring as an excuse.
Although that is not much of an excuse.
It is useful because people usually try to guilt-trip me which never works.
I try not to submit to fallacies.

Ever get the feeling that the whole 'trendy diagnoses' thing is just bullshit made up by the internet? I've only ever encountered that once in real life, everyone else looks puzzled when I talk about it!

I hate being an "aspie" or having "Asperger's" partly for this reason. I'd rather be called flat out autistic.

we might very well be calling ourselves 'autistic' after the new DSM comes out.

I don't mind, though, I kinda like being 'generic' in that way. Frankly when someone breaks out the long explanation starting with vague 'odd duck' references and finishing up with some rare neurological condition you have never heard about most people start inching towards the door. Autistic seems like a cool word, like MS or Diabetes, easily recognized just waiting for us to set free their preconceived ideas of what it really is to be autistic.




Merle

Never.
I rarely ever mention that I have Asperger's, and for two reasons:
1) It's very a mild case, so most of the time I try to over look it
2) I'm often afraid that when someone finds out, they're going to think aspie = autistic = retard = stupid

Although I admit that when I'm having troubles, or when a friend of mine wants to know more about me because I'm not very open, I will sometimes blurt out that I have AS & blame my problems on it.

Well, it probably IS why you dont want to be more open, so explaining you have AS is probably helpful in that case. Now using it to get out of work/ school/ real life would be more what a lot of folks are talking about.

they would forgive you for being stupid, but a-social? never. . .