People Talking About Asperger's In Whispers

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To clarify "Whispers" in this case just means they don't come right out and say they are talking about Asperger's.

I know quite a few people I'm pretty sure have Asperger's and they know I do too. And we have never called it by name.

One person kept commenting on "the way my brain works". He definitely seems like an Aspie to me. The first time we hung out I divulged a bunch of information about drugs. He knows a lot about physics. Eventually I asked what he meant and he just said "you haven't noticed you communicate differently than most people." All I said was "that's what I thought you meant." Clear reference.

One person who from what he's said I think has it I've mentioned certain things to. Says he thinks he knows what I'm talking about. Again it's never called out by name.

Another person I talked to, addressing concerns that even though I'm smart a lot of people think I'm stupid said he's dealt with the "same problem" and thinks it's trouble communicating with other people again didn't call it out by name.

Only one person has actually straight up addressed it by name, telling me he had it and later on that he thought I had it too.

Is this common for people with Asperger's Syndrome to talk to each other about it in innuendo?

I can understand, since I personally wouldn't feel comfortable letting everyone know, but it seems like it all goes by innuendo even behind closed doors.

I also remember in high school I knew a few people who said they had a learning disability that involved thinking too fast, but when asked what it was called said they didn't know who seemed like they might be on the spectrum.

I do it all the time, I will freely admit to friends that I dont read people very well, I dislike eye contact, too many people overwhelm me. Stuff like that, some people know i have aspergers, some dont. Its not like where gonna come out and say it to the whole world i got aspergers. Some people are very open about their disorders...but most people arent. Ive had my lab partner just come out and say he was bipolar and I didnt even know him. This other guy who I dont know well told me he was severely ADHD. I was pretty surprised that they're that open with people knowing.

I think its normal for people to talk about their conditons in innuendo; for any condition. Cause sometimes we want people to know we kinda get a certain way but were not ready to tell people that we do infact have a condition.

I get people not coming right out and saying it when there's other people but I find it odd that the word is never even spoken when we're alone.

As for ADHD that seems to be viewed as being like the common cold of neurological conditions. I know a lot of people who say they have it and will talk openly about it. I think it has to do with the "tweaker" market that has built around people with the disorder. When people here you have ADHD the first thing they think is "I wonder if he has any pills I can buy off of him?" As a result depending on where you live, say in a large urban area or a college town(especially with everyone wanting them to study) mentioning it can be socially advantageous. It also has to do with the rate of diagnosis for ADHD having skyrocketed, and people have mixed ideas about ADHD. Some people associate the "H"-Hyperactive with meaning the person must be fun.

For some reason ADHD, dyslexia, and OCD seem to be the 3 neurological disorders people never have any trouble talking about. I guess OCD, because we've all heard the saying "Everyone is a little OCD". Not sure about dyslexia. Go back far enough in history and dyslexics were often misdiagnosed as ret*d. It's even thought the JFK's sister Rosemarry who eventually was given a lobotomy may have had dyslexia that was mistaken for mental retardation.

It's odd how the more things change the more things stay the same. Back then we had dyslexics mistaken for ret*d. Now a lot of high-functioning autistic people get mistaken for ret*d. At least we don't give people lobotomies any more, but now we have chelation and lupron. I wonder if this historical event will repeat again in 100 years with something new?

Interestingly back in high school people were open about a lot of things. Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, ODD, Borderline Personality Disorder(I knew a Schizophrenic who eventually married a girl with Borderline Personality Disorder. He commented that's not usually a good combination(and they do fight a lot)). Then again that could have had to do with the crowd I hung out with. I talked mostly with noncomformists of various stripes and disliked most preps. It also included a lot of people in sped. classes, even though I never had any myself, but I thought that was just because in my high school at least at first glance they were more likely to belong to some noncomformist clique like goths(including the guy who was regarded as the center of the "Goth" circle but I never knew that guy well), skaters, stoners(the most open clique as long as you had weed) so since I disliked hanging out with preps it made sense that more of my friends would be in sped. Although nobody ever mentioned Asperger's Syndrome, a nameless(they'd even assert they didn't know the name of their own condition because it was too long and scientific or that they were simply dx'd "learning disability" with no stipulations) disorder that caused people to "think too fast" seemed surprisingly common, even among my group of friends. When I heard about it I thought "I think that sounds like me". Makes sense now.

Then there's also something I read once about some high schoolers these days just saying they have a disorder in order to be "unique". I also knew someone who purposefully faked a learning disability just to get easier classes.

I do it all the time with people (and by "it", I mean not referring to AS by name). It's actually quite fun to do so, considering that any bystanders would probably be thinking "what on Earth is going on between these two?". I personally hate the label, every time I mention it, I get a ticklish feeling in my brain. It's better not to, thus avoiding touching the funny spots directly. It's like a game in a way.