Aspie As The New Cool Term

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Every socially awkward person appears to seek this term for themselves it seems to me.

You have a cadre of people calling themselves "aspies".....this is a lot like the ADD craze.

Where?

Online.

In the 2000's and maybe the first few years of this decade. No way now

Now the word is associated with excuse making for bad behavior, special snowflakes, geniues social ret*ds, people claiming they are autistic who are not autistic or do not have "real autism", supremacist/elitist Autistics who do not understand or deliberately disaasociate themselves from more severe autistics.

In this "politically correct" era stereotyping of people who call themselves "aspie" is widespread and one of the dwindling number of groups it is still acceptable to be publically prejudiced against both amoung autistics and NT's.

I've never actually heard the term used outside of WrongPlanet.

Autism is such a distant thing, and a source of fear; there are people who still have a vague notion that autism is caused by vaccines.

Yup. I just see and hear so many people doing as you said. I still think it's thought of as a cool trend. Those that are truly affected by autism aren't too interested by much of the "aspie" craze.

It appears to be an attention seeking device and excuse for bad behavior as you suggested. Perhaps they are NTs that just didn't make the popular crowd or sociopaths. I also hear women self dxing their husbands as "aspie" merely because they are more introverted or controlling.

Yes there are people that want an ASD label. Why?

I work with some kooky people LOL.

None of them want to be autistic--trust me.

It's not a badge of shame, really. It's just inconceivable that anybody who works would have autism.

Autism, in their minds, is the old-fashioned version of it. Low-functioning Classical autism. Nonverbal. Spinning objects. Constantly stimming. No awareness of the world around them. Rain Man being "high-functioning."

A lot of us struggle just to get the job and than being able to keep it .

Yeah those dreary stereotypes do none of us any favors.

I said those were stereotypes. Stereotyping is assuming without evidence most or all members of a group have certain characteristics. In bieng on this site since 2013 and reading numourous comment sections since that time while I have seen Aspie supremacists and excuse makers most use the label as an explanation, or to for the first time in thier life to find out there are others like them and to find out they are not inherantly charactor flawed. That the was the original intent of the people who coined and publicized the term. That the bad characteristics of some self identifying aspies have been used to successfully tarnish an entire group of people not with one but with numourous sometimes contradictory stereotypes has been a very harmful thing.

Arguments that Aspergers was never real, just Autism, or that in the wake of revelations in the book "In a Different Key" Hans Asperger was not a person a condition should be named after, never mind identified with are valid. Stereotyping a group of people is never right.

When you have so many people seeking a DX and cutely referring to themselves as "aspies", what is one to think?

The autistics I encounter don't do this. They are truly just trying to get through life and often just through the day.

I guess that if Asperger's is the next socially cool thing. Then we should enjoy this moment, while it last. Because, just like any fad/trend, it won't last forever. On the contrary, I really don't like it when these things happen. It's like all of a sudden, a new trend come along that make it cool to get around using wheel chairs instead of walking and everybody buys a wheel chair, because it now the cool thing to do. How do you think that all the paraplegics out there, who really need a wheel chair. Would think about this?

I don't know of anyone who thinks of it as a cool trend...who are these people who think this exactly?

And I don't know anyone that wants the label because they think it's cool...mostly when I see people looking into it it's more out of concern as to what is wrong with them, why they don't seem to get interaction and such.

What is wrong with seeking a DX for a condition you're concerned you have?

When I was seeking my DX over a year ago, I was told that I was just doing it in order to get benefits that others deserve and somehow I don't because I am older. I was literally told that I was trying to take benefits and resources away from younger Autistic people who need them and deserve them and that someone of my age should have no reason to want a DX. Never mind the fact that I had been struggling just to survive day to day for a half a century without an explanation for the issues that I have or any kind of help to deal with them.

I think that anyone who is struggling and wants to seek a DX should have the right to. Now if some just want to call themselves Aspie because they think it's cool or because they need an excuse to explain inappropriate behaviour, than shame on them. I don't personally know people who do that but that does not mean they are none. But if people do really do that than it really hurts those of us who truly are Autistic no matter where we fall on the Spectrum.

Last edited by skibum on 26 Apr 2016, 1:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I just don't see people going around wearing tee-shirts saying that Being Aspie is Great! or saying Hug an Autist, or whatever. It's just not that hip.

I've noticed that most people here actively dislike having the label. Almost all the others are resigned to the label.

Hiya Skibum! Have you been up to the Delaware Water Gap?

I have actually seen a few people with such tshirts. I just ignore them.