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

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I think AS has become a fad. I hear AD/HD was a fad in the 90's and now in the 2000's AS became one. Now I wonder what the next condition will be this decade to become a fad?

In the 80's asthma was a fad it looks like because it was all over the media. I wonder what condition was a fad in the 70's and 60's and 50's?

i would like to point out, ive never bin anti 'self diagnosed' but i do fear the fad status of it. i feel the media attention is a double sided sword, the exposure might make it ezer for people in general to understand us, but i fear it might make people think were full of s**t who seen some stuff about it, but are still ignorant, but i think it will do a lot more good than bad in the long run,

I notice online people seem to assume every aspie they see is self diagnosed. They also seem to assume anyone who is diagnosed with it these days was misdiagnosed because AS is being "over diagnosed." So I always say I was diagnosed with AS in 1997 before it became a fad so they take me seriously. Back then it was still fairly new and been in the DSM for three years. I don't think many AS diagnoses was made then compare to now. But I think it's under diagnosed in adults.

Some people already think AS is made up and an excuse. They think it's a new word for being socially awkward or if you don't fit in or for being a geek or nerd.

I am unsure if AS is over diagnosed or not in kids. It might seem like it is because AS AS AS what we hear in the media a lot. The whole spectrum I mean.

The thing with Down syndrome is that your basic global developmental delay is measured with IQ tests; and IQ tests measure skills that center mostly around academics. Down syndrome people often aren't nearly as delayed when it comes to social skills; some actually learn them as fast as their typical peers, and many have social skills as a relative strength. That's possibly the origin of the grain of truth in the stereotype of the happy, sociable Down's child (which is annoying; but at least it isn't as bad as the soulless-child autism stereotype). Most are delayed in social skills like in everything else; there are courses to teach them how to get around in the social world; but as far as comparison to autism/AS goes, they'll leave us in the dust most of the time. Autism seems to create, most of the time, such a glaring weakness in social skills that the same low level of social talent in someone with more evened-out skills would probably be found in someone a great deal more delayed than the average Down's individual.

Actually, I remember some of the stuff I learned about profound mental retardation during the whole Ashley debacle, and some of those kids can do things in the social realm that I couldn't do at their age... things like back-and-forth conversations (with sounds or single words, but still), and getting information from eye contact and facial expressions. Autism just hits the social skills so hard that it makes sense to compare us to Down's kids to quantify the exact difference between specific autism-related problems and global delays, and it's easier to match by developmental levels by using Down's controls when you run out of NTs at the delayed end of the autistic development spectrum. Of course then there's the problem of how you define developmental levels when your autistic subjects are probably at several different spots simultaneously; but we'll leave that up to the (likely severely confused) researchers.

Well, I think the "fad" affects how much the mental health professionals want to consider it. I mean seriously, he said he was hesitant to even talk to me about AS because of how much it is over diagnosed, but he's not squeamish about slapping on a label of OCD just because I used the word obsessive to describe myself one day. He later took off OCD when I protested against it.

Actually, I think OCD is also a fad...
I've heard many people talk about how they're "sooOOOooo OCD (insert awkward polite laughter that women do)."
So I don't know...

Though I think I understand the point the OP's trying to make.
From what I've gathered, a lot of people use Asperger's as an excuse for why they're a virgin with no friends. Instead of trying to improve themselves, they try to put a label on it so they don't feel so weird.
Things like asthma are more of a medical problem, so things like that don't tend to become fads.

Mental things tend to be fads on the whole, I think. Lots of people like to self diagnose themselves with BPD, bipolar disorder, etc etc, because they feel like it gives them a "reason" for doing what they do.

I believe it's a fad. And I place much of the blame on the phony "liberal" bourgeois for this. Keep in mind, i'm more to the "left" on just about every issue than the vast majority of so-called liberals in this country. I don't care how much they agree with me on the social and cultural issues, I still see through their vomit-inducing hypocrisy.

You see....these type of "liberals" claim a United colors of Benetton love of diversity.

After all....one can no longer proudly pin a good guy/girl to their lapel these days unless they pay lip-service to the importance of respecting and supporting "diversity".


However....the line is drawn at cool diverse groups and individuals. The black person who makes snappy hip-hop music these liberals swoon over is cool. He's the first one on the liberal VIP list...cuz' that's a covenient way for them to flaunt their "diversity" credentials. The same liberals who are sure to call the police when the homeless black Vietnam veteran dares set foot in their neighborhoods.

Ditto for Aspies....let's show how "diverse" and "inclusive" we are by asking that quirky-but-brilliant Aspie Actuarial to the office Christmas party. Later on we can sneak a few good laughs at the Down Syndrome kid who bags our groceries at Piggly-Wiggly. We would never DREAM of inviting HIM to our party. More importantly....we would never DREAM of advocating for him like we do for the "cooler" black, gay and Aspie folks. After all....THEY have something to OFFER us. THEY make great music we can dance to and wear hip clothes. THEY DESIGN the hip clothes and show us how to redecorate our homes in Marin county. And THEY make computers scream and tell us all sorts of neat stuff about science.

But woe unto the less glamorous, sexy and "useful" diverse ones. Woe unto the millions of poor black Americans who, for all intents and purposes, aren't even ALLOWED in Marin county. Woe unto the gay guy who just drives a taxi for a living and can't tell you anything about the latest fashions. And woe unto the "low-functioning" autistic who can't work wonders with computers or tell you about all about the electron wave model. The much-heralded "love of diversity" stops with these "untouchables".

Needless to say.....Madison ave. and big business in general picked up on this fad shortly after it's inception.

In fact...i'm surprised there's not a pop group made up of nerd-chic sexy Aspie Wunderkinds yet. Then the "liberal" entertainment media could wax poetic about what a triumphant step this is for "diversity".
They could tell us about how wonderful it is that those with autistic spectrum disorders have finally arrived, following in the footsteps of their female, African-American and Homosexual brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile....millions of blacks and hispanics remain in grinding poverty and millions of unsexy and "useless" mentally ill people remain homeless (many of them Vietnam Vets....so much for "honoring the troops" eh?) and millions of "low-functioning" people with neuropsychological differences are essentially without services and any chance of improving their circumstances.


So ain't that America eh? And ain't that the smug and contemptible frauds who have the unmitigated audacity to call themselves "liberals"?