Faking autism and Faking aspergers

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autism0's last 2 posts show that in order to write such they are not well-informed about autism spectrum disorder and related and unrelated to that, equally uninformed about regression.

On a quick note: Regression means losing skills.

Fact is that even toddlers can regress into low-functioning autism. If one has to be autistic at one point, then all toddlers who regressed from perfectly neurotypical development into low-functioning autism just faked it?

I can understand that, but I don't think it's a good idea. Because this person will keep bullying if the topic's left to be discussed. (Okay. Not like anybody discussed what this person said before, because nobody was interested in what this person had to say, haha.) But to leave it open for discussion is kind of insulting for the victim of this bullying.

O, I agree entirely, especially if the individual in question with the comorbids has no idea of their PDD; anxiety and depressive disorders usually start the whole PDD revelation in adults, or so this pamphlet says that I picked up at an autism clinic. I meant that it's easy to diagnose in people who go out of their way to research the disorder, think that they most likely have it, and then seek out professional help with insight and knowledge (this is how it went with me); of note however, "disorders" must affect one's life negatively in some way for professionals to acknowledge it.

I had a figure that states fifty percent of children with AS are missed, usually due to lacking negative behavioural manifestations.

As an aside: It's blatantly obvious who the OP has been referring to the whole time, since the beginning, but I hate to assume out in the open. With popularity comes these things.

There are plenty of such cowards lurking this site. Impersonating others, cyber-bullying, logging on under different usernames etc.

Who is this person, autism0 and what is your relationship with him/her? Your view on things seems to be somewhat limited and ill informed.

Has this person been diagnosed? Under what circumstances? Have you considered other possibilities to why this person is regressing that doesn't have to do with autism? You're saying that he/she is doing this because he/she wants a creative approach to not wanting to interact with the world? Why do you think so?

If an NT has a depressive episode, is that a creative approach or are they really feeling depressed? Don't they regress when depressed?

Your logic is flawed and you come off as someone ignorant, autism0. If you want to attack someone, do it openly, and not hiding behind another account. It's cowardly.

No doubt this autism0 is trying to offend someone, but I don't understand why Alex didn't realize he was a sock puppet earlier? Perhaps he's not.

Though he/she might have to comprehend that we haven't had a problem with 'this' person lurking here and trying to fit in. I don't see a problem with that.

So this thread which was "obviously" concocted for the purpose of harassing, humilliating and slandering someone by expounding at length on her person and whatever problems she might have had - real or imagined by the OP - was allowed to go on for 14 pages and several days - apparently with no one even reporting it - becaaaause. . .

Sorry, if I'm asking an obvious question!

mainly because it makes autism0 look like an idiot. autism0 made this thread with the intent of discrediting someone but it backfired. He didn't get what he wanted, everyone on Wrong Planet basically told him to shove it, and it brought to light the types of problem we all face when people doubt our diagnoses. I'm proud of our community's response and handling of the issue.

This type of trolling will not be tolerated any longer, however, and autism0 has been banned. Any further sock puppets he attempts to register will also be banned.

wow! my first thought was 'I wonder if it is me!' it would be just like that if it were, because I would NEVER know it (how Aspie is THAT?)

Merle

I did not know this thread was set up to bully another Member. Had I known that, I would not have participated.

I didn't know at first either, but my participation helped distract and, I think, disprove a "point", and distracted 2 from autism0s posts. So I don't think my "participation" hurt.

If the topic had been closed then the OP would have 'won' in a sense and having found a new tool with which to disrupt threads, could have been allowed to wreak havoc. So yes its good to continue posting around the theory but not good to make it personal.

It is going to be and maybe already is a very relevant topic now AS is emerging as a seemingly fashionable disorder.

I was wondering where AS was considered fashionable? It is practically unheard of in my geographical area. I worked with LCSW and a psychologist and they had had no experience nor exposure to the condition. I did find a group of older Aspies in another town that scuttled in and out to the bi monthly meetings like they were coming in the back door of the dirty book store. I did read about "The Geek Syndrome" in Wired, but other than that, until I came to WP it was virtually unknown. So I wondered where AS was considered 'fashionable.'
thanks


Merle

Yeah, I told some people on another online board that I thought I had Aspergers and at least 2 of them posted, saying that it was "fashionable" or something and that lots of people were obtaining the diagnosis, lots of people seem to have diagnosed children these days... etc etc.

I dont think I really understand them though, sort of like I am seeking a life of glitz and glamour through Public Aspergers. I dont know... ?

Look out Hollywood, Im coming! Eye Contact is like, so yesterday!

I reported this thread five days ago.

The topic in general is interesting and timely, but the OP made so many comments specific to one person that his personal beefs were obvious. I've enjoyed the discussion in this thread about the general topic. But that personal beef business is tiresome and immoral and I'm glad the OP was banned.

As far as 'fashionable' goes... I've seen a phenomenon on the net that might explain it, mainly in watching people I knew get really trashed by others this way.

It goes like this:

1. An autistic person makes a social blunder online.

2. They get really nasty flames in reply, sometimes making fun of them for being 'stupid' and sometimes angry at them for being a 'jerk'.

3. The autistic person explains that they are autistic (often using the word Asperger, if that's their particular autism label), and therefore don't always understand certain social situations, and that this was why they were doing things that the other people found annoying, stupid, inappropriate, mean, etc.

4. The other people go "Oh, you're just making excuses for your behavior."

After this happened often enough, it changed to "There's all these people who act like jerks online and then claim to have Asperger's as a way of getting out of it." I know there are autistic people who really think this is happening everywhere, but I haven't seen it, the only version of it I've seen is people who really were making social blunders because they were autistic, and then saying they were autistic to explain why they hadn't grasped it at first, or why they took something literally, etc. And then some autistic people end up thinking they have to say "quit making excuses" etc. in order to be legitimate themselves, and not "the ones who are just making excuses" (even if few to no people are "just making excuses").

And that's when it started to be considered a "fad" or "trendy".

My guess at the motivations of some of the non-autistic people who started this stereotype, is something like this:

It is, generally, considered mostly okay and socially acceptable to pick on, demean, bully, be nasty to, and generally dehumanize people who are not socially "with it", or who make certain social mistakes.

It is not, generally, considered mostly okay and socially acceptable to pick on, demean, bully, be nasty to, and generally dehumanize people who have a condition perceived as medical, for having that condition. It happens, but it's considered "low" by a lot of people who would otherwise have no problem with it, and they'd probably stick up for someone in that situation -- there are degrees of social acceptability in bullying, and bullying people for a medical condition or who "can't help it" is considered "lower" than bullying people for a number of other reasons, so if it's done it's done much more covertly.

Additionally, the same applies to reacting in anger, even when it's not bullying. There are social taboos against getting mad at someone for "being sick". (And although Asperger's isn't a disease, it's still in the category that people are talking about here.)

Because of this, an attempt to say something like "I am doing this because I have a medical condition," can be perceived as an attempt to gain social status and lower the social status of the person who is either bullying someone, or mad at them for something.

For someone who is just mad at someone in passing, they can then become even more angry, because their anger no longer would be seen as quite so legitimate if the person "couldn't help it" or "didn't know better", and generally when people are mad at someone they don't want to have a reason not to be. So, the person can then get out of having to think about this, by going "That person doesn't really have Asperger's, they're just using it as an excuse for pissing me off," or else, "They do have Asperger's but that's no excuse to piss me off." (They don't get the difference between an explanation and an excuse, nor the fact that autistic people often want to communicate what was precisely going on at times when other people would be trying to maneuver socially in various ways. Not that autistic people can't do social maneuvering at all, but you know what I mean I hope.)

For someone who actually routinely bullies people for being different in these ways, the problem is even worse.

They know that they will lose social status majorly (at least in some circles) if that person they bullied for being "stupid" or "crazy" or "socially inept" or whatever actually has a reason for it.

They also might, if they have much of a sense of ethics, start feeling bad about what they'd done, if there's actually a reason the other person was acting that way beyond being "stupid," "crazy", etc.

And people don't want to lose social status, and they don't want to feel bad about what they've done, generally, since those things tend to feel bad to people. Some people will respond to all this with an apology. Some people will become defensive, sometimes in the extreme. (I've watched people do both.)

And that extreme defensiveness can take the form of either making sure the person is seen as "just a jerk" or "just some stupid person" or "just crazy" or something (so that bullying and stuff can be more justified), or else they will do the "They might have that condition, but they're just using it as an excuse."

The "using it as an excuse" thing in itself reflects a whole bunch of other attitudes towards disability, in which there are right and wrong ways to be a disabled person, and among the "wrong" ways are "using it as an excuse" or "only pretending to have it".

And some of the resentment people have towards disabled people is they don't really want to be required to do anything out of their ordinary way of doing things (and their ordinary way of doing things accommodates only non-disabled people and then only some disabled people). They regard disabled people as getting special favors instead of rights, and they resent this. They also often have some very weird views of disability (for instance, a common stereotype is that wheelchair users are lazy, when in fact any manual wheelchair user can tell you that wheelchairs are harder to do than walking, but most people perceive it as "resting" since it's sitting down, so they think other people "get to rest" -- I have a friend who even got that as a comment when she was so out of breath from struggling to operate her wheelchair that she couldn't even reply to correct the person), which then cause them to think disabled people are getting special advantages.

And that's part of what gives rise to the idea that lots of people want to be disabled just to get a free ride in some way (even though what disabled people get is hardly a free ride in any sense), or that real disabled people are lazy and manipulative and like using their disability as an excuse all the time so they don't have to do things (even though most disabled people are in fact so frequently accused of that that they overextend themselves on a regular basis to avoid being seen that way, which is one of the destructive effects of that stereotype).

So if someone really has a need to trash a disabled person, those are some of the angles they'll go for, and wanting to not seem or feel like a jerk for bullying a disabled person, is one of the reasons people will want to figure out some way to feel better by making the person bully-worthy after all.

...and all that is probably part of why Asperger's is seen as a "fad" or "trendy" in a really pejorative way -- because for many people, if people had to accept autistic people as we are because we're just like this, literalism and bluntness and all, then they'd feel bad about getting mad at us for these things, or about bullying us for having various traits, etc. And so it's far, far easier to just deny the reality of the situation. And then autistic people become desperate not to be seen as "one of the ones using it as an excuse," and therefore instead of challenging the stereotype head-on, they tend to go along with it to a point but then complain about "the ones who do that and give the rest of us a bad reputation", in order to say "But I'm not like that, I'm not lazy and manipulative, I'm not fake, etc." So it seems to be perpetuated by, on the one hand (the non-autistic people who generally started the stereotype), a fear of having to deal with having done something wrong (or that's usually considered wrong, anyway), and then on the other hand (the autistic people who sometimes perpetuate it), fear of being stereotyped as lazy/manipulative/fake.

There is another way in which Aspergers and the Autistic Spectrum are "popular." Just look at all of the books that are being published on the subject and that are selling very well. AS and ASD are becoming a significant topic of public interest and thus can be called "popular" or "fashionable."

Other evidence of this - do a search for Aspergers or Autism on National Public Radio and see how many shows there have been in the last year. Google the term Aspergers Syndrome and see how many hits you get.

Z