Thread devoted to autism/aspergers myths

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Well, duh, of course you would think that, Cheese Deprived. Aspies with empathy had to learn it on purpose, by definition. Some people think NTs acquire it indirectly by immersion (this is what I personally think, from observation). BTW the concomitant of that is that sometimes we Aspies end up better at it, because we have Really Paid Attention.

PERSONAL FAVOURITE MYTH: 'Well, once you know that you have social interaction deficits, surely you can just decide not to do it that way and do it differently instead.' Look, she's a dear friend and I'm trying to teach her that sometimes weird s**t just happens in my life, and why, and that these days I choose not to bang my head against so many brick walls. It's quite hard to explain what's wrong with that 'just fix it' attitude. Any ideas?

MYTH NEXT: 'We all have our crosses to bear or something wrong with us. People like to label things. But, really, just get on with it. It doesn't mean anything special.' Like I'm not getting on with it? Again, she's right as far as it goes.

If you think you are autistic you aren't because someone that really has autism doesn't have enough self awareness to know that they have autism

The myth that all people with Asperger's are good at math. I am, but many aren't.

The myth that people with Asperger's commit more crimes! Many are sticklers for the rules and will NEVER break the law.

I agree. It is VERY insulting to be put in the same category as those predators. But then, normal people are idiots who believe anything they read in newspapers rather than actually looking up facts.

I know that there are SOME people on the spectrum who haven't really identified their emotions and keeps saying "I have no empathy" - these people are the ones that do the most of the damage because of their own ignorance about the word and drag everyone else on the spectrum into the mud.

The rather silly myth that people 'out grow' autism. Adults can't have autism only kids. All autistic adults apparently are invisible by this logic. :I

I really dislike this myth. It has caused me a lot of problems with diagnosis.

I totally agree with that one. I have the same problem...I have become rather high functioning compaired to where I was as a kid. It was a long road and alot of struggle. Now I get told that I dont look like I have autism because I am not distant and I am personable.
It really does feel like all your effort is unacknowledged.
I wish there was more awareness out there that autism becomes less severe with time and learning. However some parts of it never get better...with me it seems to be executive functioning or lack therof. Neverless, It is a developmental delay not that development wont ever happen. We'll get there eventually....maybe at 80.

Also on the lack of imagination thing...I am highly imaginitive, more so than most NT's. I was diagnosed as a kid when my special interest was pretending to be an animal 24/7. Now I have been an artist for 20 years. I think that qualifies me for being "seasoned".

Wave freak.....the one about you cant have autism if you think you do because all autistics have MR is soooo stuffed full of sh*t like a christmas turkey.

Jojo

This is so ignorant it is mind-blowing!

Yep, both are definately myths. I suck at maths, like, really terribly, and every week I hear of a crime happening somewhere around here, and AS is never mentioned. Don't quite know where that stupid myth came from.

i second jojobean's post

I agree with both of you, i have AS and I'm sh*t at Maths, though i do make up for that in Science and Computer Programming.
And i have no idea where the crime myth came from, most people with AS report more crimes than NT's, thus PREVENTING crime.