"But you seem normal!"

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I always get "I knew it was something. Your just too shy and weird to be normal."

I have an autism service dog and she has a patch on her vest that says "AUTISM SERVICE DOG" on it, so people think I am training her for someone and when I tell them no she is mine she is working for me I almost alwYs get

"you have autism?" you don't LOOK autistic!" one person told me "one person said you don't seem at all autistic and I said I am high functioning they said you must be VERY high functioning!!...... Yeah kinda though the irony here is I took the PDD severity test and I cpgot moderate lol

The weirdest one I have gotten from a few people was "you seem to high functioning to need a service dog or have those issues." ................ummm no I'm not to high functioning to have those issues if I was I wouldn't Ned the dog.


The next time anyone says that I will invite them to spend the net day or two with me then ask them to judge after lol


Mostly we get a LOT of really nice people though who want info on how to get one or where to learn more about them so we have flyers for them. We have had a few people cry because they had no idea they had autism service dogs and they feel it has been the help their families have been waiting for and something tat can make a REAL difference in the life of their loved one. Some cry when they hear Nim's tasks and tasks that other autism dogs have.

I just saw a kid the other day calling someone ret*d like as a joke and this other girl and i said that it wasn't ok to make that kind of joke. One guy said his mom worked with special ed kids and then the girl said that her brother was special ed. The boy who made the joke said her brother wasn't and she told him that he had autism. The boy continued to say that he did not have it, and as the girl continued to argue he finally said, "but he acts so normal!".

It just upset me that he assumed that having autism meant that you were a total freak. I know that he was just a kid, but i feel like there should be more information out there which would lead to more understanding.

You guys said it all for me. Yes, people spot me straight away as being odd, but if you ask them if they thought whether I was autistic, they'll say 'No way'.

I am uite successful at my job but that's because I am allowed to decide where and when to work (at home or at the lab, 9 to 5 or 5 to 9, etc.) and I don't work with people much. I am married but to be honest I should have remained single as I am rubbish at anything related to marriage apart from cooking and cleaning - I'd gladly leave and I won't be sorry, it is just not my kind of thing, I would cook and clean for myself either way. I am perfectly independent and have been since I was very young, but that is because I hate the thought of having to rely on other people.
So if these are the main criteria for being a success in a NT world, I have failed in all of them. My empathy is minimal, ditto my sense of perspective, ditto my desire for sharing experiences, ditto my patience for people, I have multiple sensory issues and my areas of interest are weird - mildly put. All this projects an aura of weirdness, but if you ask people, they'll tell you I were anything but autistic. Cold, yes, arrogant, yes, insensitive, yes, completely lacking maternal instinsct, yes, odd, yes, but autistic? No sir, that's for kids only.

Most people give me the "Oh, really? You don't seem autistic at all!" speech, including (initially) my parents. My Dad refused to believe I had PDD-NOS because I had a university degree and a social life. It wasn't until I explained to him how much effort I put into adapting to the NT world that he understood. I don't mind blending in and not seeming like I have PDD-NOS. I'm often quiet and keep to myself and nobody attempts to interfere with that - awesome. What I do hate is becoming upset over things such as last-minute changes to plans or not being able to do things the way I had envisioned and people telling me afterwards that they "totally see it now". Especially if they start asking me whether certain behaviour of mine is "autistic" afterwards. First I have to prove myself, and afterwards I'm turned into a one-dimensional character whose every move simply has to be rooted in PDD-NOS. You can't win.

Severus! Thank you so much for sharing!
It is very helpful to know someone else had the same difficulties
I luaghed a lot and also empathized with you
actually this my exam is really really important
it will be affect my future academic path!
I am not talking active person and this "small talk" way to check my english speaking skills
is so difficult for my brain..I can't play the game and I don't fit in
I am practicing with a teacher
but I feel so uncomfortable and I need to steam and do a slow gentle rocking
I am bad wit conversation also in my native language.. I am italian
Anycase I don't give up and I will repeat the exam very soon....

I have had the same thing. I dont know whether to take it as a complament or to take it as an Insult. Its nice to have people assume you to be just like them in their NT world even though I have no idea about their world. But the downside is when they are using that phrase when they are using it against you in hate, bullying, vandetta which I get quiet regularly with a bunch of people in my set of units accusing me of faking it or pretending. Some people have no idea at what Aspergers Syndrome is and constantly ask me Whats Aspergers? I feel that alot of people have not been educated in the different disablities and have a narrowed view of the meaning of the word disablitiy the people I live around and the people I associate with feel that if you cant physically see the disability you dont have a disability. I ask the question and my closest friends who except me for me and understand me also ask What is normal? cated in the different disablities and have a narrowed view of the meaning of the word disablitiy the people I live around and the people I associate with feel that if you cant physically see the disability you dont have a disability. I ask the question and my closest friends who except me for me and understand me also ask What is normal?