Do you "identify" as Autistic?

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I was asked if I "identify" as Autistic. What could this possibly mean?

They're asking if you're autistic but they don't care if it's a formal diagnosis or not.

Translation: "Do you consider yourself to be Autistic?"

If you consider yourself to be autistic, you identify as autistic even if you don't have a diagnosis.

If you don't consider yourself autistic, you don't identify as autistic even if you do have a diagnosis.

I am diagnosed with moderate classic autism. Does that mean I identify as Autistic?

Do you think the diagnosis is correct?

If so, you identify as autistic. If not, you don't identify as autistic.



I guess there is a way that someone could agree with a diagnosis but still not "identify" as autistic: If someone has been diagnosed with Asperger's and agrees with the diagnosis but doesn't consider Asperger's to "qualify" as a form of autism, that person might not "identify" as autistic.

I agree with the diagnosis. I don't consider it to be the defining thing about me. I can't hide the "symptoms" or "impairments." But I'm my own person with or without a label of autism.

My interpretation, then, is that you do identify as being autistic, but you consider there to be far more important characteristics that define who you are. A very healthy perspective that I think we should all try to have.


I don't think you have to consider it to be the most important thing about you for you to "identify" as being autistic.

It usually means a person is asking whether you are open about your autism to the point where you don't hide the fact of your autism from others, or seek to restrain your autism in public.

It could also be somebody asking you whether you identify with autism rights and other political things associated with being autistic.

I couldn't hide my autism in public whether I wanted to or not. That's why I was confused by this question in the first place, as it was asked by a person who knows me in real life.

That’s not what it means. Lots of people indentify as autistic rather than as someone living on the autistic spectrum or to “have” autism. To have autism implies for many the autism is undesirable, makes the person less in some way and needs be cured or eradicated. I identify as autistic, here and to other autistic people I am happy to be called an aspie.

In public?
I've learned not to.

I identify as myself. My AS is simply a feature, like my eyes.

If someone were to ask me that question, in those words, I wouldn't know how to respond either.

I don't deny my recent official diagnosis. So I guess in that sense I "identify" as ASD.

That question is impossible to interpret. I think the only way to understand what they're asking is to ask for clarification.

I don't think an autistic person would ask that question, though. It's too ambiguous.

Yeah. It could be taken so many different ways.

It could be what the first two responses to the OP said.Basic and simple. That it means "do you consider yourself to be autistic as opposed to being NT" possibly with the added meaning of "whether you are officially dxd or not". The latter further implies the opposite: that you could also be someone who IS officially dxd who is denial ( and thus does not id as ASD).

Or it could mean do you publicly identify as autistic? Do you let folks know? As opposed to staying in the closet? The person asking might be going by an analogy to homosexuals which is an imperfect analogy IMHO. In some ways being a closeted gay is like being a closeted autistic, but in some it does not work the same way.

Or it could mean "do you consider autism to be part of your identity?" Who you are?

Or it could be about the "person first" issue. "Do you identify as autistic?" as opposed to "do you identify as 'a person with autism'?".

I have no need to tell people I have "aspergers". If you look at it from a high-level perspective... aspergers is basically people that are "different". So going around telling people I have "aspergers" would be like going around telling people "I'm different", which is socially strange.

There's nothing wrong with having aspergers... It just means you're probably not going to be the neuro-typical man or woman, which is a bit of a blessing... Most people are okay with (or even prefer) "different" people as long as they're not rude or do immature things.