If only Hans didn't have the last name Aspergers.

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That link there has some flaws...I certainly never chose to see myself as worthless, or lesser, or even different really...that is all stuff that was inflicted on my by others since I was a child. I wasn't the one that put it into my head that any of that stuff was true. I felt that way complete with misery long before I even had any clue I might have any kind of disability...truth is I have endured bullying/ostracism and thus am a victim of that, trying to pretend that was just nothing that had no effect does not serve me well. I am not obsessed with never ever being a victim of anything though since life happens, sometimes bad things so at some point or another everyone will experience being a victim of something.

And since diagnoses, I don't get a bunch of pity....understanding and coddling, I get a disability income that keeps me below the poverty line and medicaid. Still plenty of stigma or people thinking I'm a 'loser' hell maybe by some definitions I am as I am 25, live in my moms basement and have no job....or that I am lazy, need to try harder, am not doing enough...I do not get a bunch of understanding or sympathy. with all the disorders I have it really does effect executive functioning and short term memory/staying organized yet I still get endless chastising for forgetting little things from my moms boyfriend...along with condecendingness like acting like I need to be taught to throw my tea wrapper away for instance when I simply forgot, that is just one example where people still disregard my condition.

Och I get that all the time, especially from family. I didn't ask to be this way, guys, and I'm not trying to have trouble with something just to ruin your day, folks.

A lot of people do internalize bad stuff constantly said to them. You just have to look at the are there "hot" Aspie guys girls threads to see an example of it and the high suicide ideation rate among diagnosed Aspergers adults to see it is more then the actual difficulties involved.

"Duh, his rocks got gilded! Har Har har!"
"Hey, where's your rocks, Gildy! Har Har..."

It's inevitable as whatever the name, like how anything can be turned into a double entrende.

Or Dumas

I have internalized plenty of stuff...but my point is doing so wasn't a choice, when you are repeatedly fed the same garbage over and over growing up it can stick no matter how hard you try not to believe any of it. I have attempted suicide and have had plenty of suicidal ideation since than...on an objective level I've come to realize a lot of it was BS and I'm not an entirely worthless individual but internally I still end up feeling like crap about myself due to the internalized crap. Also didn't really relate much to the 'playing a victim' bit....but maybe for some people pretending to be one is a thing for them, I don't really see what good pretending would do its bad enough actually being the victim of something why anyone would want to act out that role just 'because' is beyond me. However it does seem that terminology gets used quite a bit towards people who actually have endured a trauma or ongoing bullying or some other kind of harrassment as if their being significantly effected by that is 'choosing' to 'play the victim'....due to some unreasonable sense of entitlement to all the pity in the world, which is well disvalidating to people who actually are dealing with coping with something they've been a victim of.

So that is where I kinda take a little issue with the article....I mean its like things I've read that attempt to portray 'learned helplessness' as some kind of choice that someone does to them-self, when its actually simply a psychological phenomena that happens when someones been stuck enduring a negative situation too long......so end up stuck in a negative loop. Someone in this state may not be able to see when options to change their situation arise...or be unable to act on them but they aren't choosing this, its how their brain has for whatever reason gotten conditioned. So no amount of pressuring that person to 'act' by using any kind of guilt tripping will help instead they need confidence building and what not to sort of be reconditioned. Lol not trying to derail the thread with all this, just seems like a lot of behaviors that come out of things like neglect/constant ostracism/harrassment or even straight up abuse end up being blamed on the victim of such like they should have some magical ability to just get through it unscathed lest they be considered weak or 'attention seeking' or playing up the victim role when it actually profoundly effects them and their ability to pull themselves out of the mental hell they've fallen into..and they really can't help it.

OK, if any of us plan to get famous, we better change our surname to something non-offensive in any language first.

Maybe I should change anyway. People tend to choke when trying to say my name correctly.

Exactly. We use the hard g like giraffe in Australia, which is closer than how you say it in the USA but still not the correct pronunciation. Even the YouTube 'pronunciation book' link says ass burgers. Ass burgers and ass pees makes me glad to be autistic.

Or Woodcock. That could get confusing in the ER.

i could give it a try, or three. i love trying to pronounce words that would make throats sore.

Australians probably go along with the British pronunciation. In the UK either pronunciation of the G is acceptable:asperGers, or asperJers.

In the USA you only hear "asperGers". Never "asperJers".

The reason for this difference in convention between the USA, and the UK/Australia is (from what I gather)because of a little known word in the English language. Believe it or not "asperger" (pronounced "asperJer") is a noun in English. It means "someone who asperges (asperjes)". The verb "to asperge" is to "sprinkle holy water in a Catholic church ritual".

The doctor pronounced his name "G". And the word for sprinkling holy water is also pronounced as G in his native German (its spelled the same way as in English).

If you go by the assumption that Dr. Hans Asperger is named after the occupation of "asperging"(sprinkling holy water) then it would be acceptable to Anglicize it to "J". So either the Anglicized, or the non Anglicized, version would be acceptable. So either J or G would be fine.

However...there is a town in southern Germany named "Asperg" (pronounced G).

So it comes down to how Dr. Hans got his family name.

If his ancestor came from the town of Asperg, and they called this ancestor "asperger" for that reason then Americans would be right in only allowing the G pronunciation, and in forbidding the J pronunciation.

But he was named after an ancestor who was an alter boy, or something, whose job was to sprinkle holy water-then the Brits are right in using both pronunciations!

So that's why my computer pronounces it with a j sound. I use a screen reader and I have it set on the Irish voice. I thought it was just a weird Jaws thing.

It doesn't sound like "ass burgers" to me; I pronounce it with the most emphasis on the first syllable and the second most emphasis on the third syllable. I can see how it could sound like that, but I've never heard anyone actually make fun of that in real life. I really couldn't care less.

I am sure we all have internalized bad stuff. It is called being human. How does one fight it? One way is describing what it is and pointing it out when you think is occurring. If it was just juvinilization of a name I would say trivial stuff, fight another day, but when it is associated in my view as mentioned in the other thread what seems to be, unlike say "autistics are a burden or a disease" acceptable stereotypes/prejudices within the community of a certain part of the community I won't and can't accept that. As far as the comparing us with gays I feel their approach was and is better then ours in many ways.

Thats true.

And Salmonella is a rather lovely word if you think about it, but that doesnt make having the condition of that name anymore fun. Same with having melanoma.

Who cares? People who make fun of people that way are really just saying showing the world how intelligent they are. It's honestly not even clever. Comparatively, this is pretty darn clever ---> http://i.imgur.com/KrThVg2.png . It's unexpected see?


If you simply choose to not be offended you will find yourself infinitely happier. Before you say, "That's impossible!" Give it a shot. You might be surprised.