Hate the word 'Aspie'...

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I like it, it sounds gentle and I am gentle so it suits me.

Yes the word aspies sounds like a disease. I also don't like the word asspergers, it reminds me of something.

This is partly why I hesitate to tell ppl what my diagnosis is.

I just get this nasty image everytime I hear that word aspergers.

I think the word aspies reminds me of the word coodies.

A horrible game we used to play of in school. "Get away from him, he's got coodies,"... as in they have something contageous. I really don't know if I spelled that word right, it's been a while since I've used that term.

I've only heard of Cooties in the last couple of years - it must be an Americanism.

Aspie has always sounded like a dog's name to me.

I prefer Aspergian. Sounds like a warrior class. Sounds like we are actually from another planet. (there is actually another website devoted to the aspergian culture which is kinda cool. spoofish but cool.

It annoys me... too cutsie and less likely to be taken seriously. And it sounds like a baby snake. Which I'm not.

What's wrong with Aspergian? Or Aspergic? That'd be the logical contraction...

I really don't care for it, but I can't complain, since it is the most accepted and casual way to refer to someone with AS. I think it's something that will probably grow on me though. I just don't like using slang in my conversations, if you can call "Aspie" slang. :S but it's something that I'm doing more and more lately.

i don't really like the word aspergers, cause to many people make fun off the name, ass b*rgers. and there relate it to a disease or something, i'm perfectally fine just saying i have anxiety and depression.

I see your point. My Career Applications teacher asked me "is that food?"

:S

but I've gotten used to it. Besides, I'm not going to try to take away the joy of saying a word. :D "spoonerism" :) that's one of my favorites. :D

and as for a disease, it certainly isn't an "ease" at times, so I can concede that to people. But I don't feel any different for having AS then I've been before I knew I had it. :) So I don't think it's anything that should be blown out of proportion.

ooo, "Asparagus". :D I'll add that to my list of fun words. :)

and I really would prefer something more formal, but it's not always practical to have to say "someone with Asperger Syndrome" in everyday speak. I avoid saying "Aspie" but I don't mind if other people use it.

We call all those on the spectrum JELLYBEANS and neurotypicals MARSHMALLOWS!

Here is why!

Even though we were all different, we are also the same, and this is what I told my kids. Imagine a sweet shop, you know, one of those really old fashioned ones, the ones with a bell that rings as you open the door, the shopkeeper with his white pinny on, standing behind the counter, guarding the array of jars that line the shelves - the smell, colour and variety of those jars, scores of different types. Standing proudly in the centre are two jars, side by side, one full up to the rim of the lid with jellybeans, and the other full of marshmallows. Both jars are appealing and eye-catching for different reasons.

Jellybeans are a rainbow of colours, different sizes and shades, but more importantly very different flavours (pina colada is a personal fave of mine). Jellybeans are renowned for their brittle outside shell, but with that soft melting chewy bit in the centre. They're unpredictable, you never know quite what you have till the flavour has taken over your taste buds, by which time, it's too late, if you find you don't like it and want to spit it out.

Marshmallows, however, all appear similar, pink and white fluffy neat shapes that don't really taste of very much except a comforting sweetness. Marshmallows are enjoyable and they're squishy, popping back into shape easily. Dip your hand in a bag of marshmallows and you're pretty sure of what you're going to get. You can eat them for ever.

Likening people to jellybeans and marshmallows is easy and fun. It takes a very personal issue and makes it impersonal, therefore eliminating any blame, and any of those confusing labels that these experts pin on us and our children. I felt my Type One children were like little jumping jellybeans, colourful, tasty, and different. They each had their shimmering shells, and there were surprisingly jelly-like and uncertain little hearts and minds inside that bright thin shell.


I figured out that using these characteristics, we could all identify with one or the other Mind Type. It was possible to liken candy characteristics to personality traits. Try it for yourself if you dont believe me, you may be surprised at what you find.

How many of you are now are able to identify that actually, Aunt Pauline has been a jellybean all along? Every family should have a jellybean: it makes for some very interesting family occasions. My family was no exception - 'welcome to the mad house' was a familiar saying. Family traditions that we thought normal, were in fact anything but. I'm fast finding out that indeed our little idiosyncrasies occur in many homes throughout the world. Do they occur in yours?

Because I'm a jellybean, I have to be careful not to repeat myself. I should have a PhD in repetition, also I'm not great at understanding other people's rules, especially when they change all the time. Talking of rules, I'm also pretty fantastic at making up my own, because I know I need them, then finding them too difficult, so I end up breaking them anyway. Even simple rules are breakable to a jellybean - ten items in the basket earns you a place in the short queue, brilliant, as I hate queues, for me stretches to twelve, maybe even fifteen, oops, will she notice, do you care? Look dumb, thats the best trick, or even better, if you happen to have designer hand-luggage in the shape of a red jellybean child, blame him! Ringing bells yet?

As a closet jellybean, life is very difficult, after all what is the point of having a bouncy personality if you can't bounce safely? Trouble is that when jellybeans are confined for any length of time, they tend to jump all over the place at the first opportunity, kind of letting the dog out of the door before putting him on the lead. "Coming out" as a jellybean, for me, has been nothing short of exhilarating. I can only imagine what a free fall parachute jump feels like, and I'm very happy to rely on that. Thank you to all those with a plane who would love nothing more than to throw me out, but the freedom that the jumper must surely experience, together with the rush of all those feel-good brain chemicals, is what I'm feeling, the only difference being that actually I now know I am totally safe being myself, and its a feeling that doesn't end, ever.

To anyone now thinking that they indeed are part of the jellybean tribe, please accept it, just sit back and take a deep breath, as I did, and embrace it. Are you a jellybean too? If so then welcome. If you are a kindly marshmallow who is observing our world and perhaps has a jellybean or two in your life, then welcome too. But please note an important fact -jellybeans will never turn magically into marshmallows, and marshmallows will never turn into jellybeans. Different brain wiring and different brain chemistry is just that. It's different. It remains different. What I've observed, though, in myself and in my kids, is that there are some very negative jellybeans and some very negative marshmallows. We're not going to turn into the other kind of sweet, but we can change ourselves from the negative type, which really tastes bad, into the positive type which always gives everyone pleasure.

I really do believe from my own experiences, that the Jellybean tribe is far bigger than we could ever have expected. I'm so delighted, for I really believe that the world would be a far less colourful place without us. Lets face it, how many of our best-loved celebrity personalities are jellybeans? Television has become a shop-window for jellybeans. I'm sure you won't have to think too hard about our mad lovable soap characters, our pop stars and comedians, presenters, chat show hosts, actors and actresses, the list goes on and on. Look around your office, your home, your local pub, there will always be a jellybean fairly close.

And most of them are pretty special, aren't we?

But of course, I would say that!

he he, unfortunately, I have my PhD in losing attention when reading >.> but I got the gist of it :D

thank you!! :) I'm happy to be a jellybean :D