Why do some people deny the existance of AS?

Post Reply New Topic

This sickens me. I hate those ignorant tossers who deny the existance of AS. They've got a lot of nerve to think that we're simply people who complain over nothing.

You know - the world needs more 'justice' served.

nobody completely ignornant enough to say it doesn't exist

MANY people CHOOSE not to believe that there is no hope and saying you have something like AS/AP because there is no current cure or effective treatment

some would rather not believe in it especially someone dealing with it or with family that is because ignorace is Blyss if u dont know what ur dealing with its easier to deal with as tommarow is another day

it just eases peoples mind is all

Anyone who completely denies its existence is an utter fool. I'm afraid that in the minds of many, AS is lumped in the same group of disorders as ADD... sketchy, hard-to-diagnose disorders which are perhaps over-diagnosed. Some seem to think that most aspies are just dorks who need an excuse for their behavior. I'm sure there are a few or maybe even more than a few of those out there, but obviously they are not the majority.

Even some of my friends have at times said something like, "Gee man, it seems like you really want to have this disorder/syndrome/whatever," as if I am faking my belief or seeing all of the symptoms in myself because I want to seem different or because I want an excuse, but they don't understand that it only comes across that way because I feel like I am completely insane and have lived a life full of much more strangeness and chaos than that of your average joe, and it would help me a lot to have some way to make sense of it. I guess in a sense I "want" to have AS, because if I don't have AS, then I am afraid I might have something much worse, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (and yes, I know I could have all of these things - please don't remind me of that! haha). I can't imagine anyone in his/her right mind, no matter how much the person loves feeling eccentric or special, would want to have something which impairs social skills, organizational skills, etc. etc. as much as AS is known to do in many cases... so yeah, I think the whole "AS doesn't exist" thing is founded on some very hazy truths (that it is probably overdiagnosed, etc.), but obviously it's a ridiculous assertion.

As mentioned above, with it being a neurologically based condition it doesn't exist in the same way as say for example a tumour. You either have a tumour, or you don't - its relitavely easy to determine by the doctor, and also somewhat simple to treat.
With the Neurological based conditions, they are all so interlinked and not really understood (for you can't really study the brain once its dead (this is where alot of our understanding of physical ailments comes from, studying dead bodies).
A syndrome is a hodgepodge of symptoms and as such, rarely will they ever all be met. Factored on top is the broadness of definitions across professions. One may say yes, one may say no.

I was recently diagnosed as dyslexic, technically a specific learning difficulty, meaning there is large disparity between varying parts of the intelligence, in the region of 2 standard deviations for me. If you look at the DSMIV I would not qualify under that, possibly disorder of written expression...
I've never thought of myself as dyslexic before, being 21, but it gets accommodations for me. I mentioned AS to him, and his immediate response was no, you make eye contact. Followed by something along the lines of that kind of a diagnosis wouldn't help me.

There is a duality with AS, there are those, who struggle to operate in life, due to there symptoms, and so have a diagnosis for that, there are also those, who I could be said to be one, who show large numbers of the symptoms but to a lesser degree. whilst sharing large numbers of tendencies, understanding and sharing thought processes, and generally feeling on a similiar wavelength to many here would it ever be fair to get a diagnosis, and essentially distract from those who need one.

I think, what I am trying to get at, is a name is just that - it is a way of cataloguing a group of symptoms, or naming a pathology.

and in defence of your naysayers,

Why do you let it bother you?

I have a job coach to help me at work because of my AS and social phobia and I get annoyed because she doesn't seem to understand that my poor ability to multi-task is not something I can just wish away with practice and a positive attitude, it gets very annoying.

Some people also don't believe in it because they don't believe in psychiatry in general and see it as a psychiatric construction.

I don't believe in it as a thing, really. I think there are kinds of people who get called AS, autistic, or both, and that the abstraction of those sorts of people (and specifically, one aspect of the way their brains work) gets called AS, autism, etc.

Because they don't understand.

Ed Almos

Maybe because everyone has the same problems as us but we are more prone to it and we have the symptoms more often.


Lot of people aren't good with small talk
Lot of people are shy
Everyone takes things literal
Everyone misinterputs things
Everyone is annoyed by different sounds
Everyone has different levels of hearing
Lot of children get bullied
Even people don't like change or surprises
Children don't like changes in their family (eg. they might not appreciate having someone in their father's life taking their mother's position because that is how they are interpiting it)
None aspies get obsessed too
Everyone has routines

The list goes on. Hope everyone knows what I mean.

What's the difference between normal people and us, we react differently to changes or surprises while normal people will be disappointed in a plan changing because they were looking forward to it but they are still able to move on and not act like it's the end of the world like we do, when a bad surprise occurs, they just go "Gosh darn s**t happens" and not be all upset about it or panicky inside while we might be more upset and maybe have anxiety about it or not be able to stay clam because of a change in our plan.
I think more misunderstandings happen to us more than normal people and we do take things literal more often, and our routines are rigid, in stone not flexible like normal people are, normal people are able to change their routines or plans with no problem while we do, some of us who have sensitive hearing can hear sounds that are above the normal hearing range while other people can hear sounds that are in the normal hearing range but they might hear some sounds some other people can't bear because of where their hearing is on the normal hearing range.
We are more prone to sensory issues, problems with small talk is common in us, same as shyness. Bullying is very common in aspies, we don't like changes more often than normal people. The list goes on.



So yeah I can see why some people think AS is made up and it's not real.

For the same reason that Bill Maher thinks that restless leg syndrome was made up by the pharmacy companies to sell drugs. There are people who are not comfortable with the expansion of knowledge and the discovery of new diseases and syndromes. They want to go back to the good old days when a lecture on moral strength or a beating was all it took to straighten out lazy malingerers (and if that didn't fix things, it was because the person who got beaten was being stubborn).

I think it's a combination of things.

1) They have never experienced it, in that they've never seen or met someone with it, so they simply don't understand what it is

2) They always read about it linked to murders or naughty kids or whatever and think it's just an excuse for bad behaviour (you can blame the media for that one).

3) Ignorance - they don't want to know because they know better already.

4) They think it's just one of those over-hyped conditions that get over-diagnosed and (similarly to number 2) always used to excuse bad behaviour.

Because NT's fear what they do not understand.

Look at the repression of homosexuals, Japanese Americans during WWII, the common misconceptions toward mexicans (I've been to mexico on a church trip building houses for two mexican families, and I can say from experience that they're the nicest group of people I have ever met), the KKK's lynching of black people during the reconstruction period, and yes, the attempts to "cure" AS...

NT's believe that everything should be like them, and those that aren't should be rejected and suppressed... remember the whole "mob mentality" that NT's possess (which in itself evolved from the "strength in numbers" that ensured species survival before sentience was attained.) Today, in the era of weapons of mass destruction and the concept of "mutually assured destruction", it is now vital that we overcome this. Strength in numbers, while it has served us well in the past, no longer serves our purposes as a sentient species...

Some people have closed minds.

I've heard that some people don't even believe in Santa...

Ask them if they believe in high-functioning autism? Aspies are one small step away.
(not that I believed that until yesterday).