Do males accept their AS more than females do?

Post Reply New Topic

I don't mean everybody, and I don't even know if I'm right. But I've read somewhere that males are more likely to adapt to their condition than females. I got diagnosed at 8 years old, and I'm 21 now and still can't be happy about it. OK, in the last couple of years I've been more open about it to my mum, because I've been trying to compare her (an NT) with me (an Aspie). I accept it a tiny bit, but I'm not happy about it, and if I'm not now, then I never will be. And I was wondering if other females feel the same way about it, even if you've managed to just about accept having it. Because I'm so ashamed of having it, I really find it so difficult to tell employers in interviews, but if I don't tell them then they won't be aware, so when all the stupid mistakes I do and say start kicking in, they're going to notice, and think I'm just being weird or stupid. But I just cannot look someone in the face and say, ''I've got Asperger's''. I don't even like saying the word, because it fills me with shame. Are more males likely to find this easier than females?

I accepted it after 3 days. It wasn't very hard for me to do at all. In fact, I don't even think 'accept' is the right word. 'Discovered' seems to be more accurate. A great writer, artist, physicist, musician, or whatever is discovered. In that same context, I discovered that I'm an aspie. I do not consider myself to have a mental condition. But, I have not told anyone that I probably have AS, mostly because of the misconceptions about it. I don't think gender has anything to do with this.

I'm not necessarily sure I'd classify it as a disability, although I do know that the government does.

I am female and I can tell people I have autism to their face.

People knowing about why I'm different feels better to me. I'm different in ways people usually fail to imagine and it doesn't help me if they try to explain my behaviour through their eyes. Besides, having these disabilities (they're disabilities for me) also serves an explanation of why I can't do something even when I'd love to or why I'm one of the few who is able to do certain things.

I figured it's better not to talk about it all too randomly though, because there are drawbacks about people knowing. They might claim to be fine with me being autistic, but if there ever is a problem they point fingers at me for being disabled.

It's wrong to implicate that I caused a social problem because I'm autistic before even considering that someone else might have started it. That is just happening to me and I didn't do anything (autism specialists agree on that even). I have trouble getting over this, really.

So when I decide to tell or not to tell, I'm usually most concerned with how people will react to this information long-term.

I am male. I do not happily accept my disability, and I do consider the Autism Spectrum as a series of developmental disabilities.
I disagree with people who consider it merely a "difference".
And I think the acceptance of AS has nothing to do with gender.
It really all depends on the severity of your condition, and the circumstances you find yourself in.
Were in a more favorable place in my life, or having an easier time managing things, AS might be easier to accept.

The degree to which I consider my Autism to be a "disability" varies. There are many ways in which I consider it to be practically a "superpower". Other ways....not so much. Ha ha ha!

Diagnosis revolutionized my whole life. It wasn't about "accepting", so much as it was about..."This explains my life". It was about, "I'm NOT crazy, I knew I wasn't crazy!! ! This is something I CAN DO something about!"

that being said, I don't tell many people. Because honestly, it means nothing to 85% of people. they don't understand what "I have autism" means. 10% more will think of children having fits and rocking back and forth in corners. I have had doctors tell me to my face that autistic people "are ret*d and can't do anything", and "people with asperger's syndrome sh** their pants. Do you sh** your pants?"

Telling people I have Autism has resulted mostly in being called a liar or attention seeker. Alternately, it has caused people to drastically lower their expectations of me. None of these is a desirable result for me. I believe a large part of the reason that I have received these reactions is because I am female, can speak, and have basic self-care skills.

What I usually do is wait for someone to get to know me, and THEN tell them. Hopefully I can change perspectives on what it means to be autistic, at least for some people.

To be fair, I moved to an area that has a higher number of autistic people in relation to the general population, and have had SLIGHTLY better results telling people in my new area.

I had some hard time first with the word disability. But then again... disability to waste my time chatting small talk, or disability to describe my intentions and thoughts with words: Yes, I accept it.

I'm a guy who has accepted his Aspe limitations but I am not exactly happy about being an Aspie. However I am a lot happier accepting myself the way I am instead of pretending & trying to change things I really cant. I don't talk about autism or AS with anyone offline because very few have even heard of Aspergers here & even the psychs think autism is like mental retardation. I tell people about my physical disabilities because they limit me more than AS does & I may tell em I'm dyslexic but that's about it. I let em judge me for themselves & think what they will. I'm not sure how to vote in this poll

I accepted it a year after I was told that I have it.

Those results are interesting.

I didn't accept it when I first knew it was true, and then I ... I am not sure it was denial so much as I got distracted by other things and didn't think about it. It was in the background a lot until I was forced to deal with it. At that point, I would say it was probably the best news I'd heard in a long while, simply because I finally had an explanation for everything.

It's part of who I am.

well, i'm also hesitant to call AS a disability.

for accepting; both yes and no...
i do accept i have AS and are therefor different then most others around me, but i do not accept that it is a disability or that i need special treatment becouse of it; even though this has gotten me in trouble quite some times and i would have done better in school if i did accept the offered help

i happily accept the diagnosis.

i firmly disagree with the prognosis. i doubt i would test on the spectrum today. but i've worked my ass off

I found it really hard at first to accept the diagnosis. Three years on I'm starting to accept it more because I'm learning about it and getting over the misunderstandings I had at the time. To be honest when I was first diagnosed I was completely against the diagnosis because I didn't have any idea what Asperger's was, and I just thought that everybody was trying to tell me that I wasn't good enough to be "normal", that every argument and difficulty I'd ever experienced was my fault, and that I'd never be able to do the things I'd aspired to do.

Now I know that of course that's completely not the case and it's helping a lot. I was younger when I was diagnosed and I really wish that somebody had explained things to me in a better way, and a lot of the confusion could have been avoided. Then again it's mostly my fault for refusing to hear about it.

I accept it more now and I hope that someday through learning more about it I'll be able to fully accept it and see how it applies to me more, and be able to use the diagnosis as a positive thing rather than a setback. I'm getting there. I'm talking to somebody at the moment who works in schools and other places with people on the autistic spectrum who's helping me understand things more, and reading books and coming here on WP has helped as well. Before, to be honest, I didn't see how it applied to me at all, but obviously as I learn more about it I am realising that the diagnosis is right and seeing how it applies to me.

I don't think things should be any different for me because of it. I'm getting help for issues other than AS and I don't think they're linked with it in particular, or if they are there are more reasons things are the way they are at the moment.

I completely believe that everybody diagnosed with AS can lead a perfectly normal and happy life, or even an absolutely amazing life, because though we might struggle with some things it doesn't make us worthless in any way. if you're diagnosed, remember that you can do anything you want with hard work.

This is from a female teenager's perspective, by the way

I happily accept it and I am male. In fact it only took me a day or two to accept. I always knew it was there, I just finally had a name for it. I never quite understood why other people would find it hard to accept or would be embarrassed by it.