Do you feel comfortable disclosing your Asperger's/autism?

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Lots of people do not know what AS is. Some people actually think it's some kind of mental disorder that means suffers are unstable,crazy & are dangerous. Or they think AS is something like mental retardation where the person can not think for themselves

it depends on the person

I have no problem with letting people I trust know I have AS. I'm actually proud to be an aspie, plus once my friends know, I don't feel like I'm being fake about who I am.

Those who mind, don't matter; those who matter, don't mind.

There's no hiding it with me So I really don't have a choice.

Some of us are caught in a bit of a trap. No formal DX, so we need to keep it to ourselves. Without a formal DX you have none of the benifits of disclosing and all the disadvantages of disclosing.

Even if I had a formal DX I think that I would tell very few people.

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Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Call it Aspie pride, but I have no problem telling someone else about it.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I feel really uncomfortable disclosing my autism to people. I've maybe told a couple of my friends and the special ed person at my college. Talking to the special ed person at my college was one of the hardest things I ever did. I really don't like to admit my autism. Most times, especially around older/middle aged people, I can get away with hiding it. Socially, it mainly shows up with people my age. I guess you could call me a "closet autistic".

It depends. If someone were to randomly ask me if I had it then I'd say yes. It's not uncomfortable for me to share, but it's not something I like to do unless it would benefit me in some way. As an example, I have posted personals ads before and have disclosed my asperger's in those occasionally. It would be important for the person on the other end to know that fact about me.

I only disclose to those closest to me. Very close friends, boyfriend, and my mother. Not even the rest of my family knows..
I'm worried they'll think I'm just a hypochondriac
I tried telling one of my ex boyfriends, and he said I was worrying too much, and I'm "too nice a girl" to be autistic, and "you just have some difficulties, you're not ret*d." I yelled at him for a while for basically insulting the autistic community lol.
Not enough people know what Asperger's actually entails, so because I'm not super low functioning, I'm worried no one will believe me.

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I have no problem if it comes up in conversation.

ruveyn

So far only my wife and I know. I've known for about six years that I 'had some kind of autism when I was growing up', and just thought that others' occasional odd response to my behaviour was a legacy anomaly. It is only about two months since I've been (self) DX'd - which has cleared up an awful lot of unanswered questions.

I have a fairly successful career in the Middle East construction industry. There's no way I would jeopardize this by 'coming out' here. OK - I might, with time, tell one or two close friends, but first I want to be more certain of how I would respond to their inevitable questions ... and as I don't know the answers yet I do not plan on inviting the question soon.

My current dilemma is whether I should tell my parents or not: although I had speech therapy and some other educational assistance when I was young (I am unaware of any details as I have zero recollection and haven't asked for details), in the 70s all kids were regarded as 'special' so I am certainly not angry that I didn't get a formal DX at a younger age. But as my parents are in their 70s (although still very healthy both mentally and physically), will this information add to their life in any way, or will it just make them worry? Now ... if only I could put myself in their position - but that is something which I can't do

Learning about Asperger's has clarified a lot of things for me, and it may clarify some things for them. Or it will be a source of worry and/or regret. And as I only see them face-to-face fairly briefly once a year, it is not likely to be a topic which manifests itself in idle conversation. And it is difficult to drop subtle hints in emails!

When I first discovered that there might be a reason for all the problems I've had all my life, I was really excited and told a few people outside my family. Bad idea, as it turns out. Now, I keep it in-house as much as possible.

People treat me better when they know, so I tend to tell people if they have a reason to know or if they're not treating me right. People say I'm "weird" a lot, and I'd rather people think I'm autistic than a weirdo.

I'm not even happy talking about it to my family - they knew for thirty plus years and never told me, and to this day my Dad says the diagnosis was a mistake, and there's "nothing wrong with me," and I should just "pull myself together."

If that's how those who love me react, I'm not going to risk telling anyone else. People do know that I'm different, but can't put their finger on it. If I say the word "autistic" to people they immediately think Rainman, if I say the word Aspergers they look at me blankly and say, "what?"

So other than explaining in certain limited situations, (like telling my son's school) I try to keep it away from anyone I know socially. I feel bad about this, since my son is AS as well, but I honestly don't think the majority of NTs even know what AS is, so what's the point in telling them?

My husband knows. I want to tell my parents, but I know them - they'll look at me like I'm some sort of freak, or everytime I talk to them they'll speak slowly or something. It's not worth the aggravation. I will probably tell my mother-in-law at some point, and I'm sure my sister-in-law too. But since I'm newly diagnosed, I keep moving between two extremes: wanting to shout it from the rooftops to wanting to keep it a secret forever.