Misconceptions of Autistics and Aspies

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So I have a friend who displays stronger Asperger's symptoms than I do. Multiple times someone had asked him if he was ret*d. I even admit that before I leaned that I had AS and before I accepted it I had thought that Autistics were mentally ret*d. Now I know that there is a difference between your brain not functioning at all and your brain not functioning correctly. I even admire some Autistics now that put behind useless social skills and focus on more useful things. However, I still feel like NTs around me have the idea that I someone is autistic hat it means they are ret*d. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, or if it is just that that misconception is common with narrow minded and uneducated NTs.

If you don't have an ASD, know anyone with an ASD then you would probably think that autistics were ret*d. My own mother has what I call the 'old view' of autism, that is she thinks that autistics are ret*d or emotionless shells that scream at the drop of a hat. And even people in my group of friends see autism that way.

But you have a ASD so why would your mother still think that?

Yes, it's wrong to assume that all autistics have mental retardation, but 70% of autistics do have some form of mental retardation, so it is only natural that this misconception is widespread. It's the same as why people think that most OCD-ers are compulsive handwashers and germaphobes. It's because the most common type of OCD is fear of contamination.
-OddDuckNash99-

I think it's because of how it is generally portrayed. I don't think I see a well spoken person on TV very often at all... in the commercials, it's always just a kid spinning in circles and the people talking about it spreading a message about how it can destroy lives, or how horrible it is. Then, there is the older view of it of a kid just sitting there in the corner banging their heads on the wall.

They say if you learn something incorrectly the first time, it's very hard to learn it the "right" way after that, because your tendency will always be to do it the other way.

I suppose it's kind of the same with this.

Just ran across a review of a book [details not at hand as I write] which quoted the author as claiming that "probably mathematicians and physicists need to be somewhat autistic" and that the famous Nazi experimenters were a bit too autistic.

Implication, I assume, autistic = viewing humans without humanity.

That misconception really gets my dander up. People are making this up, because of Autism Speaks. I may be a little bit slow, but I'm not ret*d, by any means.

Is there the opposite misconception, too ? That Aspies are a kind of gifted and eccentric people ?

Not from what ive seen . . . eccentrics are just that (ie absent-minded professors). But, not all eccentrics are aspies (gotta love these if/then, but not always arguments ).

We're supposedly all males that can't function in real life but who are math geniuses.

Everytime the math genius sterotype gets mentioned, I want to strangle the person that mintioned it. Aparently I was the poster child for AS (aside from being female) yet I had the poorest math grades in the class. I'm good at algebra as an adult but I can't do simple arethemitc to save my life. If they don't let me use a simple calculator on the MCAT, I am screwed. I can understand the principles for algebra (I found a program that is a match to my learning style) but cannot memorise the times tables. I can't even do the simplest addition problems without using my fingers. I need a visual, physical representive of how many. A symbol just dosen't work. If I wasn't allowed to use my fingers as a child, I coudn't even understand one plus one. I personaly think we should do away with arethmitic in schools and teach calculator skills in kindergarden and start basic algebra in first grade. The misconception that it is a strictly male condition is annoying but I could kill anyone who brings up the math one.


That taking away and limiting our special intrests will make us better.

That a child who is born LF is going to stay that way.

That only white people can have AS/autism.