This or That? Definitely That.

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Am I the only one who thinks this?

This seems to be true though: "Autistic" is a much much much better social term than "Aspergers"

Aspergers carries with it, the connotation of "idiot".

Autistic still carries a bit of a mystic quality. like, "that person might be a genius"

If you meet someone, say you're Autistic rather than Aspie. I really think it will make a difference if anyone is having a problem with people treating you like an idiot.

And before anyone starts in.....I am not the one calling Aspies idiots. The general public is.

I have noticed that Asperger's= socially awkward. Asperger's=jerk. Asperger's=nerd/geek/genius/very smart


There are still some bad stigmas to these labels. People still think autism=no connection to people, no smiling, not wanting to sit on Santa's lap, no communication.
Some people are still stuck on the old definition of autism.

Agreed. Asperger's to me means someone who is "a little off", while my knee jerk reaction to autism still equates to "Rainman". Now, I know that autism does not necessarily mean that, but that would be my knee jerk reaction to it, and I suspect most people still equate the two.

Whatever though. Now that I have become educated about it, I would find either label acceptable should I ever get a formal diagnosis. I would then use the opportunity to educate others about it and raise awareness through my life.

I thought it was exactly the other way around in popular culture. Autistic = low-functioning, intellectually disabled, completely uninterested in other people. Aspergers = nerd. I myself described AS as "the clinical diagnosis of being a nerd" when I first started researching it.

This is my experience as well, although I don't remember coming across the name Asperger's very often compared to autism.

This.

Also I doubt most of the population has ANY view of aspergers: accurate, inaccurate, positive, or negative, because most people have never heard of it at all.

"Austistic" in contrast, is a commonly used term.

I totally agree with this.

I don't like saying that I'm Autistic. Although I think more people have heard of Autism than AS. Then again, people would then be trying to view me through their own known stereotypes. Like if somebody has heard of 2 Autistic stereotypes, like being a maths genius and not liking to be touched, and I don't have those 2 stereotypes at all, they'll probably think I am faking it just for an explanation for my stupidness.

I neither like the term "Asperger" nor the term "autistic", because they sound like labels to me. And however, people I met didn't thought that "autistic"="that person might be a genius".

I do not like either term because people jump to ideas about what that means. There are times when I have to explain it because my son will do things (post on facebook etc) socially inappropriate things, or things not appropriate for a 13 year old. Also the parents of other kids don't want their child to hang out with him because he looks like an 18 year old who will be in Juvi real soon. He is tall, thin, has lots of hair and facial hair, wears a lot of black clothes and just looks like he would be a bad boy. He is the most darling, sweet loving boy ever. Other than they "normal" teen mouth at times on the inside he is more like the nerdy kid than the bad boy. So there are times I have to explain his traits. Since being here I have learned the term Aspie and I love it. It seems cute and to me is more like "quirky" which is accurate. I have been tempted to smile and shrug and say.. oh, you know... he is just Aspie. And let them go google it. lol

I'm really having trouble understanding why labels are bad. Aren't they just words that mean something? Almost every noun is a label. If someone called you a genius would you say "I don't want a label". I think it's nothing bad to have a label. Because its meaningless really.

It depends. "Genious" is a label with a positive meaning. "Autistic", "aspie", etc. haven't got a positive meaning. And that's why I don't like them.

Labels are only bad when that label is used to judge someone in a negative way. If it is used to describe a group it should be ok, the issue I have is that in some cases not everyone knows what a label really means. When my son first got the Autistic label it was great for me. I could read about the label and understand more of his behaviors. But when I first started telling people I often got the oh itmust be hard to have a ret*d child. It was frustrating. I just wish there was a more accurate label. Not one linked to something less accurate

Aspie and autistic have had good, bad, awful, and amazing connotations.

"Community" is a really popular tv show with a severe asd case in a lead role. He's regarded as the only sane person and a hugely popular character.

Gary numan? Bob Dylan?

Like I said, it has bad associations as well, but the good ones can't be ignored.

Well, I think he's one of the persons that are furthest away from having ASD.

What makes you say that? I know it is strongly rumored. Having watched him my entire life, I would bet yes. But I could be wrong.