People who don't "believe in" Aspergers?

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I have this friend of mine who I've know for about a year now. Recently I brought up Aspergers in a conversation we were having but he cut me off saying "Hey lets not talk about that. No offense but I honestly don't believe in Aspergers." I wanted to ask why he, for some reason, doesn't "believe in" Aspergers despite there being proof of it being a real thing, but I thought it was better just to not bother bringing it up after he told me not to. Now my friend doesn't believe in other things too, like God (he's an Atheist, and while I may be a Christian I have no problem with that), and I'll admit that I can see why he wouldn't believe in the other stuff, but why would he not believe in something with scientific facts behind it, especially something like Aspergers?

Has anyone else ever run into people, or heard of people, who just "don't believe in" Aspergers?

I have a friend who I think has a little bit of a hard time understanding it, but that's about it.

I honestly don't get how people can think like that. There are some people who I know that think AS is just an excuse for not wanting to be around people. I can maybe see why they would be like that if AS were a new thing, but there is a lot of scientific proof behind it.

I worry that they might be making a "syndrome" out of the natural consequences of a higher intelligence. It is not wrong to be somewhat antisocial. Being "social" causes problems, as does being dumber than a mud fence.

My uncle who is a childhood psychologist doesn't believe in Asperger's; it's all autism to him.

He's probably right.

That type of response is one of the reasons I don't tell people I have AS. I got sick of dealing with it when I would try to explain my depression to people. I'd say something like, "I was dealing with some severe depression for a couple of months, so I had to take a leave of absence from school," and get this response, "Oh, everyone gets depressed. You don't have to take time off from school just because you're feeling unhappy! You know if you were more in touch with your spirituality, you'd be better-equipped to deal with these moods." And then they'd proceed to lecture me.

There are lots of people who think that no psychological or neurological disorders exist, or that we are in complete control of our health, both physical and mental. There are people who think that autism is caused by watching too much television, or not being breast fed. (I have heard individuals make these claims.) I don't want to be forced to choose between arguing and faking agreement so I just don't mention it.

I had this issue for years and years with ADD...

My ex doesn't believe in AS. Especially doesn't believe that my kid has it. He says that I made it all up because I have a sick need for him to have something wrong with him. Idiot. Stupid. Ass. Bastard.

I stopped telling people I had AS when i realized community college students consider urban dictionary a good source of reliable information, making life hell because these as*holes thought I was just trying to be different or special.

Believe it or not, there are people out there who think that Asperger's is a made up disease that kids like to label themselves with to be "cool", and that doctors diagnose just to diagnose (kind of like the ADD fad in the 90s).

Yeah. I feel really cool. My son is just so impressed with being different. It makes puberty so much fun. What a crock of crap.

I really felt the need to be different and it made me extemely cool, too. Stupid. Ass. Bastard.