Does media coverage of ASDs make you uncomfortable?

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Oh I understand this.
My family want to be left alone and want to get on with their own lives.
They don't like drawing attention to themselves.

In fact my AS assessment and interventions actually exacerbated my issues because they weren't dealt with in a highly explained, non-evasive way.

Thankfully, my parents never rammed my supposed condition down anyone's throats as they actually didn't agree with it at the time and didn't honestly see the need to meet up with any parent support group. But then again, their denial and other things going on in the background at school without me knowing did make me feel paranoid.

I think that a balance has to struck between giving a legitimate, unambiguous scientific explanation to the child; and making an overt song and dance about the issue in public. Being singled out and having excess attention, can alienate the child. A kid is still a kid.

A non-invasive, but informative approach where the whole school is scientifically informed about all differences is a good one. Education about different kinds of human perception and how different people have different frames of reference would also be valuable.

Perhaps even a non-labeling approach where John is just known as "John" to his classmates rather than "the infamous kids with the Aspergers". John's difficulties shouldn't be ignored and neither should his strengths. John shouldn't be solely defined on the help he receives, but seen as a whole, complex human being.

In the future, I'd like to be able to discuss the issue of AS by dropping it into casual conversation and have other people just accept this without stigmatising/not believing me. However, given the current media climate, ignorance and attitudes, I know that this kind of casual talk isn't possible.

I guess that some people don't share their experiences openly, because quite rightly, they fear the repercussions.

ScrewyWabbit posted: Seems to me like there's Autism or related stories in the mainstream media almost once a week these days. I am petrified that one day there's going to be a story on the news with some sensational headline like "Hidden Aliens Among Us! How to spot someone with AS!" and we'll all be 'outed', or the net effect of all these stories will be such a hightened public awareness of AS and its symptoms, that people will just be able to pick us out from a crowd with ease. As akward as I sometimes feel now, I can't even imagine what that would be like. On the other hand, I guess all the coverage might be good thing, in the sense that maybe increased attention might lead to more research money, which might one day lead to better treatments or a cure (though I'm not entirely convinced that better treatments or a cure would necessarily be good things for me personally).
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Some of the media coverage does make me feel uncomfortable as it is can be cranked out by the news media on a daily basis. So much of it is along the lines of like: Flash - scientists discover for the first time something called Asperger's / autism and have developed a brain scan to detect it all the time and at extremely low cost. This new discovery including a brain scan will be available by driving through your local fast food drive-through lane while you wait for the hamburger/luncheon order to heat up. For your convenience, another sensational update on this scientific breakthrough will be available tomorrow as it is the news media's job to toy with readers' emotions as a proven way to boost sales.

The mainstream media annoys me in general. It focuses on reducing information to a least common denominator sound bite. Whether autism or Wall Street, things are stripped down to whatever will attract the most viewers.

I'm not too concerned that people will ever know enough about autism to pick me out of a crowd. In part, many people just don't care. They don't not care either. They are entirely apathetic. People don't voluntarily learn about things they don't care about. Also, any depiction of autism by the media is so stereotypical that most autistics will not fit that particular mold. A case in point - I was watching Law & Order SVU last night with my wife. There was scene where a witness was being questioned. Before a word was spoken by any of the actors, I said "he's autistic", solely based on my seeing the stereotypical movements of the actor playing the witness. I few moments into the scene, the witness's brother said he was autistic. He was a portrayed as a Rain Man, with prodigious memory for details of events even several years old, but mostly lost in his world.

Autistics are all idiot savants in the media stereotypes. Will anyone be able to pick THAT out of a crowd?

If I may say the following, I've never been fond of how often thje media tends to portray autistic people as being intensely unable to carry out various things in daily life or simply life a near normal life.Yes, this portrayal is not a constant one but, sometimes the media has shown programs as such with that theme though. This tends to make me feel less human for even if I can replicate the actions or reactions of normal people in daily life be it social or occupational should not be grounds for making me appear to be sub-human..

Yes, I'm always scared others will figure me out based on some random dateline episode. Also, when I talk to people who have kids that have been diagnosed, I always get this feeling they're talking about the kid's symptoms just to see if I'll admit how much I'm like them.

On the flip side if people are able to tell you have it and it is not a mystery to them you may find them to be more tolerant towards you. It really all depends, but the overwhelming majority of people these days would consider playing pranks on someone who happens to be blind to be extremely cruel and will not tolerate it. A long time ago that kind of behavior wouldn't be as shunned as it is now.

I think blind, deaf, and people in wheelchairs have an advantage in the fact that people can see there is something different. It can be readily understood and quirks in personality is more easily accepted than someone who looks normal if a bit clumsy with odd quirks.

It's those without it that need a cure, not those with it.

I don't mind if people would find out that I have Asperger's. I'm very happy with the way I am, despite that it has made me a very lonely person. However, in the media, if it'd be with incorrect information, or with generalizing things, it'd naturally bother me. It seems that there is some sort of severely bad view of Aspies in the US, especially... I have seen that mentioning of Dateline, more than once... seems that people in the US think that Aspies are more likely to be pedophiles? I suppose I should be real glad that I live in Sweden, and not in a country such as the US, where you easily may be seen as a pedophile if your girlfriend is seventeen.

The one thing that does make me kind of sad is that many people think that everyone with autism is TRAPPED inside of themselves and very SAD because they can't reach och out to or express themselves properly. I've even heard Aspies described this way on other forums that have nothing to do with AS, I told them that maybe all Aspies aren't as miserable as people think they are and I was nearly berated lol.

IDK, I can't say that I truly know what it's like to have the disorder but I have an idea and I see a lot of aspies here who seem to be happy with their lives and are comfortable with the amount of socializiation that they do have,

I have always felt trapped inside myself. But to generalize that to all on the spectrum would be false.

I sort of do, too, but only sometimes. I generally don't crave that much socialization and can be easily overwhelmed by it but other times I do get a little sad that I can't just reach out to people without overanalyzing the hell out of it.

I'm just saying that I think even some people with AS who feel this way sometimes may still be generally satisfied with their lives, some can even be very extroverted. I just don't like to look at people with AS as screaming on the inside, I guess. IDK about anyone else but when I go through phases of craving complete solitude I'm generally focused on other things and not really thinking about people. I start to feel strange about it after awhile and then I start socializing again but it's not like it's something I always NEED that I can't have.