Do you see yourself as having AS or as being autistic

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I'd like to know whether you see/call/refer to yourself in private as autistic or as being an 'Aspie'/having AS.
Of course this question goes for the folks with Asperger's-Syndrome only.

I find that it comes natural to me that I refer to myself as autistic. Mostly because it isn't clear whether I have AS or HFA.
I'm curious as to how people with a certain AS diagnosis handle this in their everyday lives though.


Edit: I can edit this, all right. So, when posting this question I thought more along the lines of what you see yourself as, either as someone with Asperger's or as someone who is autistic/has autism.

I use autistic and then sub divide it into AS if someone asks me . . .

If I have to explain (and I don't do this too often) then I say that I have Asperberger's Syndrome which is a type of autism. Having said that, I don't walk around in a t-shirt proclaiming 'Proud to be an Aspy', it's just part of the whole package which is Edward D Almos.

Ed Almos

The problem is that there are two different audiences - the psychomedical world and the general public. To describe Asperger's as autism or a form of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder is technically correct, but it only confuses the general public.

English is considered a Germanic language. Do you tell people that you speak a Germanic language? I don't, because they won't understand. I tell them that I speak English. The fact that English is related to German and other Germanic languages is true but usually not relevant.

I'm an aspie.

autistic with good verbal skills. although i really dont think about it much

I tend to say I have Asperger's Syndrom which is a form of autism, or just that I'm on the autistic spectrum. Either way I'm telling the truth

What I say depends on who I'm talking to
I might say HFA (what I have) or "similar-to-Aspergers"
Other times, I just say that I have difficulty with faces and such, so that I appear relatively "normal" in the NT sense.

I just say I am on the spectrum. I have PDD-NOS or borderline AS.

For me, it depends on if I think the person will understand what Asperger's Syndrome is... if not I usually just use autistic instead.

I perceive myself as an aspie. When the common question arrises when people ask me what aspergers syndrome is, I just say it's on the autistic spectrum. They tend to understand then.

I often say I asperger's, and if they are not shore what that is I explain that I is much like classic autism but usually people with as don’t have some of the learning disabilities that are associated with autism.

i see myself as an aspie more than any thing else

I see myself as having Asperger Syndrome.

If I need to tell someone that I have AS such as if I am enrolling into a new course I will say I am on the Autistic Spectrum as that term is more commonly used I think than AS. And more known.

But then if they want to clarify where I am on the spectrum I will say that I have AS which is at the higher functioning end of the spectrum.

For me, AS, with SOME autistic tencencies (which most huiman beings have, some a little more than others due to experience or genetics or whatever) but not autism.

Yet to discuss this outside of my own family and of course, here on WP, with regard to my AS traits, but in my daughter's case we tend to refer to her as having a form of Autism, to the general public (which of course prompts the whole, "but she does not appear to have...") and then we have to explain further that she has an Autism Spectrum Disorder called Asperger's blah, blah, blah...either way I would have to spell it out, so I figure we may as well take the opportunity to spell it out and educate....

and well, the school/medical professionals know full well what I am referring to when I sat Asperger's.

But that said, we say both at home.

I see myself as having AS. I WISH I could be as open as you guys, but all it would do is mean that I would probably be less able to make a mistake, and reinforce some peoples beliefs about how my life is. As for mistakes, I get credit even for some other peoples mistakes as it is.

Still, I have a kind of odd morality in such things. I might not reveal any beliefs I have along these lines, but I WOULD if I saw someone taunted or ridiculed for no reason other than having AS, or being autistic.

And HECK, I LIKE my personal space, lack of loud noises, and avoidance of certain frequencies. If I met someone else with the same feelings, we would likely not see one anothers problems because we would shield one another.