Is Aspergers trendy?

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So am I, obviously. And since our points of view are very different it turns into arguments.

The list can be read and related to by some NT and ASD people, but that is it, some personality traits, habits, and preferences that some people have and relate to.

Some of the traits on that list are open to wide (mis)interpretation, if you are not thinking about them in the context of autism. But they are meant to be considered in the context of autism, not as general traits in the human population.

I don't think many NT women would really see themselves in that list, or would WANT to see themselves in that list, because some of the traits listed are considered very strange or odd, or unflattering. They might check off the more flattering traits, such as having a youthful appearance, but again a trait like that has to be considered in the context of autism, not as a general trait.

It's really nice the way an arguement ended peacefully here!!

While the traits on the list are personality traits common among girls with ASD, autism is a medical condition and so it is defined by symptoms that are considered pathological.

Edit: Oops! I see the argument has ended.

A certain type of autism, a kind of 'acceptable public face' of the condition, is probably considered trendy or at least it can make a character like Sheldon Cooper sell to the audience. Just throw in all the stereotypes, make sure the person is a clown to be laughed at (or sometimes laughed with) and don't show any of the more serious debilitating aspects of being autistic.

Rudy Simon's list could contribute to trendiness, but things like being a youthful looking tomboy who is introverted and likes animals is not evidence of having a disorder.

I never thought Autism was trendy, if it ever was I must have missed it. Try mentioning it on a website that is not about Autism ... I did this recently, I mentioned that I thought a known person had a few traits typical of Aspergers (and I was talking about a person I like and respect), and half the people on that forum (and they are all good people) jumped on me as if it was a total insult to have autistic traits. The only ones who understood my comment are the ones who have kids who have Aspergers/Autism (and they had noticed the same traits I had noticed). It ended up with me getting yelled at, told I was disrespectful, someone told me I was disabled, another said I shouldn't project my disabilities on someone else, etc., with some other people (the ones who were informed about Autism) standing up for me and trying to explain Autism in general, etc, some apologising to me, me apologising for mentioning it, etc, anyway it was a big mess. Thankfully things calmed down and now everything is back to normal, but the whole thing made me realise that a lot of people still have a lot of misconceptions about autism, and I certainly won't ever mention it again there.

And Rudy Simone has written many good books that are endorsed by people like Shana Nichols (PhD specialised in autism spectrum disorders), Temple Grandin, Tony Attwood, etc, and she has helped a lot of people. Even people who may not be impaired enough to get a diagnosis, but still have issues due to Autism that made their life difficult, she helped those people too.

They probably jumped on you because of how over-diagnosed it is. So many people just diagnose people if they're a little strange. You see it on this forum, a girl meets a guy who is shy, "he must have Asperger Syndrome". No one is shy any more, or introverted. People are diagnosing people with a developmental disability over minor personality traits. I'm not surprised people are getting fed up of it.

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I suspect a significant majority of the population have no idea what Asperger Syndrome is.

No, not at all, they jumped on me because they had all these misconceptions about it, they reacted as if it was an insult to have some autistic traits of personality. You should have seen the things they said. The ones who didn't jump on me and agreed with me were the ones who were informed, and had kids who have Autism. And I was not trying to diagnose her, I just said that she had some traits, not that she would be diagnosed with Autism. And this person is not shy, its was not about that at all.

Exactly. They don't know much about it, nor about Autism in general. They just know what they have heard here and there ... and lately about what they have heard about people like Adam Lanza.

Did you even read Shadi2's post? It had nothing to do with it being "over-diagnosed."

That's no excuse for acting like an ignorant fool, IMHO. If people just parrot the drivel they have heared somewhere without curiousity, they ain't worth your time. Dudes who suffer from the dunning krueger effect should better become politicians.

She didn't say anything about their misconceptions until after my post. Except for what she inferred. But yes I didn't read the last line. Anyway, my point still stands.

Many people are annoyed by how people get so easily labelled, I've heard and read such comments. I disagree that they had misconceptions, rather they are just fed up of the over-labelling of personality traits as "autism". I'm fed up of it.

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Either there was nothing said in the post about misconceptions (and it's right there in the post, which is unedited) or you didn't read the post. You can't have it both ways.

I'll take Shadi's inference over yours, since she was there, and apparently reads more closely than you do.