I don't get it

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I haven't even had the diagnostic test yet, so I can't with a clear conscience tell people. I would tell people in a heartbeat, though, if I ever get tested & diagnosed. Right now, I'm left telling people that I get very scared around people & don't know what to say to them &/or that I have a hard time understanding things that are said to me & what I'm expected to do. It's nothing anyone understands, so if I knew for certain I was on the autism spectrum, I think it would make others understand me a bit better. I know learning about it has certainly made me understand myself better.

Well, i don't have any issue with telling people. I haven't felt this urge to hide it from people that a lot of people here seem to have. I don't go yelling it from the rooftops, but most people i work with and stuff know. I do know that some people i work with have been negative about it though, and that might be a reason why some people hide it. For example, a few days ago there was a little misunderstanding about what this new girl in my department wanted me to help with, so i briefly explained to her that i didn't always pick up on those things, so if she wanted me to do something to clearly tell me instead of expecting that i already know it, because i have AS. I thought that was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but she just said that "too many people use that as a crutch." So, i guess sometimes when you say it, people think you're just trying to get special treatment since they can't visibly see your disability. Even if you're doing the best you're able to, they just see a somewhat odd regular person who doesn't care.

I don't tell people because there is no way I can smoothly slide it into a conversation without somehow seeming like even more of a freak.

I still refuse to tell people I have it and my mom thinks I should.


I don't think people need to know my condition when I tell them what problems I have. Back when I worked swing shift, I told my office clerk it's not that I am lacking common sense, I am just not good at reading between the lines and he needs to be direct with me and he still didn't seem to get it. He still had the same attitude. I don't know if the label would have changed anything if I told him.

But not everyone has heard of it and they might want to know what it is and then I am going to have to explain to them what it is and I don't want to go there. I can tell them to look it up but that sounds unfriendly. Or I can just say it's a form of autism. But then they might go onto thinking "But you don't look autistic" or think I am BSing because I look normal. Or they might believe me thinking that explains my behavior and they don't go asking what it is. They might decide to look it up when they get home.

Also, you people are taking the 'proud' thing too literally. What I just meant was that those that are happy, content, doing A-OK with their AS enough to not want to be cured because they don't want to lose their skills still keep it hidden from people. And it's probably due to a lack of self esteem and a fear to be alienated. But like I've been saying - who cares what they think? You shouldn't be around people who would treat you bad for being yourself.