Stereotypes of asperger/hfa

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IF you have any Society Stereotypes of as/hfa
I would like to hear them......

I remember reading somewhere that those few NTs who actually know what AS is usually think of it as "Geek Syndrome". Bill Gates personifies the stereotype..
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"It is dangerous to measure myself or anyone else by 'what I can do' instead of 'what I am'."
-- Amanda Baggs, quoted by Susan Golubock, "Social Skills or Being Oneself?", Women From Another Planet?

I lot of people think that most people with AS or HFA, are passive and timid, like Rain Man. I've ran into a young man who had that attitude, this morning. He said that he was going to look at some food, in a rather Rain Mannish voice. I've called him a Smart Ass, and he left me alone. I was crying for a Taxi, though, because I knew that it wasn't Streetwise to call ignorant people Smart Ass, and I wanted to make my way out of the store, before I got into any trouble.

The ironic thing is that 3 at least possible symptoms of AS, that HAVE been documented are:

1. Interrupts
2. Can sound arogant
3. Can be very talkative about his/her subject.
4. Stubborn

I used to be all of the above.

put that together with some of the typical autistic symptoms:

5. tantrums.<< Almost SEEMED to do this. Not quite, but it kind of seemed that way
6. insists on a given routine. << I used to do this.

How do you really get timid from that?

Granted I was shy. I'm obviously less so now and I'm a pacifist, but still...

Oh well. One woman told me somebody told her she couldn't have AS because she was TOO articulate, and TOO smart. CRAZY!

Steve

I hate how the key criteria of Asperger's is always social awkwardness and a monotone voice. They focus too much on that. I also don't like the way they portray the social awkwardness because I never understood what they meant (maybe this is because I'm an Aspie in the first place?) or if I did those things. I hate when people zero in on one symptom and tote it as the end all, be all criterion of the disorder, and then neglect the rest. Every Aspie is different, so we're not all horribly socially awkward. Yes, I have social awkwardness, but mine is most obvious in my obsessive interests.
-OddDuckNash99-

I'm a geek, and I'm prrrrrrrrroud of it!

I don't speak in Monotone. I have a Cockney accent! There's a big difference!

Yeah, the monotone voice isn't a KEY trait! I don't speak in monotone either, and I don't ever remember doing so. I WILL say that I earlier often lacked any emotion component in my voice. Maybe that is part of the reason I try to emphasize so much even here.

Steve

I DO think that many Aspies have some sort of problem with their speaking traits, whether it be a monotone, a problem with maintaining volume (either speaking too softly or too loudly), or with their prosody, but we never seem to hear anything about these other types! I fall in the category of an Aspie who cannot realize that she's speaking too loudly. It just gets me when we hear about the monotone so much, just like we only hear about handwashers for OCD. I'm not a handwasher and I don't speak in a monotone, but I have both OCD and Asperger's. Is it any wonder that I didn't suspect either until late in adolescence?!
-OddDuckNash99-

Yeah Im one who, while I have no problem modulating my voice and using intonation quite creatively, tends to speak too softly.

Its probably due to my hearing sensitivity and the accoustics of the human skull though. To me I sound like Im speaking much more loudly than they are but from their perspective its barely a whisper (or much to my annoyance they accuse me of muttering and get huffy about it).

OK, YOU WIN! I DO have a problem with the volume of my voice. You probably wouldn't notice usually, but sometimes people DO ask me to speak up, or lower my voice, and it ISN'T because I started out lower, or was in a quiet environment. USUALLY I probably do a decent job though.

Steve

eye contact avoidance is one.

this one is what clued me into AS in the first place.

i've never looked directly at someone (for very long... at best i can periodically look at them) while they are talking to me.

but i grew up thinking that i was just an auditory learner... i was always friends with foreign exchange students (fellow noobs to the social structure?) and so i had to be able to dechipher a myriad of accents... so it just reinforced watching their mouths to hear what they are saying, i guess.

stereo types of AS:


Math savant just like jerry Newport is

Literal in all phrases.

Don't care about other people's feelings and only care about themselves

Can't do anyhting else besdies their own obsession

Can't be flexible

Can't think abstractly

Can't read body lagnuage or facial expressions

Can't have friends

Never get married or hold down a job

Stay single for the rest of their lives

Doesn't have a normal voice

Can't do sports

Can't be mature

Can't understand sarcasm


There is a lot more stereotypes than this. I have met aspies who have all those things I mentioned above but there are people out there who think all aspies are like this and when it does come to someone who can do some of these things, they questions them like 'You can't have aspergers, you have a job." "You can't possibly have it, you have very great eye contact" etc etc etc.