Has AS gained too much public notice?

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My concern is that, as the public becomes more generally aware of the "symptoms", the likelihood of being labelled as AS also increases.

It's bad enough to be thought odd. However, AS is largely associated with traits that are not valued in the workplace e.g. inflexibility, disinclination to function as a team member, etc. (need I go on?). Of course not all Aspies are equally deficient in these areas (or compensate well enough that it's not a deal breaker).

Once labelled, it will be assumed one is unsuited for assignments that might have been possible if considered as an individual, but automatically disqualified due to AS, just as tone deafness would automatically disqualify one for employment as an audio engineer.

My experience so far has been that 99.9% of the planet's population have no clue what AS is and don't care to learn. Of those who do know what it is, a large segment believes it isn't real and is just an excuse nerds use for being weird and another segment believes anyone with AS is a dangerous psychopath.

As far as I can tell, the only people who have any notion at all what the actual symptoms and behavior associated with AS really are, are those of us who have the condition and close family members of those who have it.

No. And here's why... the information they have access to is (generally flawed)... so what is in the media is not asperger's but myths about asperger's... any attempt to limit exposure of Autistic Spectrum Disorders will lead the general public to assume we have something to hide, and the statements about us being dangerous are accurate...

The only way to combat this is to make our own noise... to get ourselves in the media and to do it with accurate information...