Why isn't OCD or asthma a fad, but apparently AS/HFA is?

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I sometimes hear people say that Asperger's is a new fad out. So what I'm trying to figure out, a lot more people are diagnosed with OCD. A lot more people are diagnosed with asthma. Why is it that people with OCD or asthma are allowed go in for professional help, but if someone has sensory and sever social problems, many people think that's bad and a fad? Why aren't people with OCD or asthma fulfilling some fad, but those diagnosed with Asperger's who are less in number are considered a fad?

Most would consider Down Syndrome to be real. Something I found interesting is there are tests to see how good you are at reading social situations. Those with Down Syndrome do better on tests of picking up on social situations than those with AS/HFA, which shows that it's not intelligence but rather social impairments. It's interesting because those with AS/HFA do better than Down Syndrome on cause-effect cognition tests.

Why is it that those with dyslexia may have trouble with reading and need extra help/instruction, learning disorders the same way with learning, but people claim AS/HFA can't possibly have trouble with social skills learning, and they don't need help?

Pure, simple, willful ignorance. If they don't understand it, it can't be too important.
Some people are too self-absorbed to engage their brains in anything useful.

I think a lot of people consider AS/Autism a fad, due to over-diagnoses - which is controversial, in it of itself. Its been widely considered that AS and Bipolar are the fad of the 2000's, much like ADD/ADHD was the fad of the 1990's.

Bottom line: Who cares? You are who you are.

What evidence is there that it is a fad? I think if anything is a fad it's ADHD. I never really hear of autism/asperger's, but hear of ADHD a lot. Same about OCD. I never hear someone say, "Oh, I'm a bit autistic" but I hear "Oh, I'm a bit ADHD/OCD"...

More people know what OCD is because of tv show monk I think Asperger's is not a fad just more and people are just saying they have it now and people are more understanding.

And some of the ocd/adhd might also be on the spectrum. Someone I know about who is ADHD got in trouble either for attacking someone or preparing to do so, under circumstances that indicate a difficulty in working out other people's intentions.

What I meant is people discredit those who think they may have Asperger's, saying it's a fad, but they don't do the same to those who think they may have OCD and want help. I don't understand?

Well, AS does have a lot of people who are close to it but not diagnosable; maybe people see it as a fad because they figure, "Well, I have trouble with social situations sometimes too, but I'm okay, so AS must be a fad with nothing to it"?

I have "fad" it topic

Any condition that can be medicated/and or glamourized will be the newest fad. A possible reason why Schizophrenia never "hit it off" with the crowd is the negative connotations, despite the movie/book A Beautiful Mind.

Until we have a "hero" with Asperger's, I doubt AS/Autism will be seen as desirable, or at least a realistic difference.

Um.....
Haven't you been listening? We have a gazillion.

The reasons because some people think that AS is a "fad":

- If Einstein, Michaelangelo, Thomas Jefferson, Bill Gates, Charles Darwin, (Gordon Brown?), Eamon de Valera, etc., etc., etc. could be sucessful people having AS, many will think that AS is a condition so mild that don't deserve a diagnosis (or, in alternative, that there are diagnosis of AS produced from thin air)

- This own forum is full of threads saying "AS is not a disability nor a disease, it is only a difference"; well, if many Aspies don't feel themselfes "disabled", it is natural that many NTs think that "Asperger's Syndrome is nothing".

I think that it is the opposite: many people don't see AS as a a "realistic difference" exactly because they don't see it as a particularly undeserible thing.

If someone is clinically impacted at the social/sensory level and they want help, I just don't understand why those with OCD/asthma aren't told their condition is a fad, but I hear people accuse AS all the time of that.

I completely agree, I'm guilty of thinking I have a little OCD sometimes (even though my Autism does make me very obsessive about things, I just don't have compulsions.)
People are more likely to think that they're just a little awkward instead of a little Autistic.
I think that people are definitely paying more attention to Autism and Aspergers though - while it's good that people will get help when they need it quicker with the extra attention, there are people who are diagnosis crazy and don't realize the difference between Aspergers and just being awkward like most people.

I imagine that the internet forums for ObsessiveCompulsives or for asthmatics are not full of threads saying "OCD/asthma it is not a disease" or "we are the next step of human evolution".

Something we all may want to consider is forums with OCD actually do say that OCD is not a disease nor illness, not the patient's fault, not a personality problem, although I haven't heard them say "OCD is the next step of human evolution." However, most threads in the social skills section here ask about help, and only a few talk about how neurotypicals aren't rationale.

Something I've found interesting is a lot of books accuse Thomas Jefferson and Bill Gates of having OCD, and others.

I just don't understand how a few who say "Asperger's is the next step of human evolution" ruin it for all those who want to learn how to talk to people and have the bare minimum level of friendship and deal with sensory issues?