What impression do people around you have of Asperger?

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In my community, I never hear Aspergers being talked about in favorable terms. The only times it comes up are when people describe someone who acts extremely oddly or carelessly ("he has to have Aspergers or something") and the only person who actually has Asperger most people know is a guy who is infamous for texting hundreds of stranger women asking to buy their underwear, or other intimate questions. Every now and then women who have received these creepy messages appear in the media, along with police who repeatedly explain this insane behavior with his Asperger diagnosis.

What is the attitude around where you live towards Aspergers, and those who openly disclose their diagnosis?

I don't think my community has an opinion about Asperger's. Nobody really talks about it, and not a lot of people even recognize the word.

I personally prefer to identify as "autistic" anyway, so I generally have to deal with people's impression of autism instead of their impression of Asperger's.

I only socialize with my immediate family, so I don't know about the attitudes of my community in general. My parents have been very understanding and supportive, but my brother chooses to 'politely' pretend that I don't have a condition he finds embarrassing and shameful. I've learned to simply not care what anyone else thinks of me, and just focus on living my life and finding happiness to the best of my ability.

No one around me ever talks about it so I wouldn't know.

I have not had Aspergers/Autism brought up in any conversations beyond family or Autism specific gatherings.

Conversation with my brother-in-law this weekend found that he thought Aspergers/Autism is a mind set and way of thinking one should strive for.


While I like his thinking, he's a bit off.

My friends have an impression of acceptance, my parents not so much.