Consequences of Posting on an Autism/Asperger Board

Post Reply New Topic

I don't give it very much thought but I guess that people that know, know. People that don't need to know don't know. It's that simple really.

Maybe I’m just naive but I don’t see anything wrong with telling about my autism to people I know. Then again I don’t know too many people in real life… I'd likely take it on an individual basis.

I figure my intention is to help NT’s understand autism, so why should I hide my posts from their view? Perhaps they may find something helpful, that they wouldn't if they didn't read. If they don’t like me or find me awkward, they will anyway regardless if they find my posts or not. In fact, chances are (my hope anyway) by reading my posts on the net they get a better understanding of me. I'm not just some weirdo that blunders over my sentences or cries when I get stressed. Now they can find out why I cried in that situation... Perhaps they can even relate to it.

I may be too open about myself, but I'm like that in real life... I lack of understanding what things I should and shouldn't say in a particular situation.

The only thing I can think is if someone offended me or I had something negative to say about one of my shrinks. In a way I don't want them to know, but then in a way I sort of do. That way maybe they can see things they need to change... I don't know...where I am going. Really I should be in bed.

BTW sometimes mentioning my autism to strangers can cause unexpected pleasant surprises (and sometimes bad). Recently I was blocking someone in line. They said nicely about me blocking them. I stated I have autism and am overwhelmed with the crowd. She answered she has an autistic son, so it turned into a pleasant conversation with her. I got to talk about autism with her.

Last edited by MJIthewriter on 20 Mar 2008, 3:58 am, edited 2 times in total.

my gf told me i was obsessing when I started doing it every day. so i have limited the amount of time that I come and post.

I feel safe due to the language barrier. The people in college who'd mock don't know English well enough to understand this (hail to the fscked up German education system!).

I don't really tell anyone I have Aspergers. Sure, there's anonymously posting on a message board, but it's not the same as telling someone face-to-face, or someone you know well.
If no one can pick me out as an Aspie, that's alright with me. If they notice I'm a little odd, they've always chalked it down to eccentricities due to unknown circumstances. If they manage to identify me as an Aspie, I'd probably tell them 'congratulations,' shake their hand, and give them twenty bucks.

Never. I wear my Aspergers proudly wherever I go - no matter what sort of forum. Because I accept it as a part of me. It's who I am. People who don't accept that aren't worth knowing in my book.

Posting here or anywhere else in the AS community makes no difference.

It's a two-way protection for me. No one here really knows any personally identifiable information about me, and no one I know in real life knows I post here. Someone who knew a lot about me could maybe figure it out, but only if they were looking explicitly.

I don't lie and I'm not going to lie on these boards, but I'm sometimes not going to reveal the whole truth, if the truth makes me identifiable.

I'm only really "out" as asperger's to very few people. Some of my high school teachers/counselors, my university disability services office, my parents, some jury duty court clerk, and 3 or 4 people from group counseling sessions (besides my doctor and the psychs that diagnosed, of course) and of those basically only my parents are not legally required to keep it confidential.

Why keep it confidential? Well it's easier to decide to keep it secret now and let it out later than to let it out now and decide to keep it secret later

But also, it does carry a bit of a stigma. As much as it's nice to think of it as a "difference" instead of disability, it's still categorized and thought of as a mental disorder. For now, I think it's better to not do anything that could bring my integrity or trustworthiness or capability into doubt, even if it's only doubted by uninformed people.

You never have to unsay something if you never said it in the first place.

My family knows, a few of my teachers knew, and my Psychology teacher was really good with his field of education.

I really doubt anyone I know would be interested enough to try and track all my postings here.

Although, just to take precautions I modified my usual username to "ford_prefects_kid," as supposed to my usual moniker- which is the same, only without the spaces- so that google wouldn't give me away.

I guess I wouldn't really care about close friends as much as maybe people I just met randomly doing a search on my email address, or if I applied for a job or internship or something.

One of my interests is abnormal phychology, so if anyone I know looks at me while surfing the site, I could just claim to be studying ya'll.

I would not tell anyone I post here.

I have a sign on my front lawn that says, "Yes, I am autistic. Stare if you must - I'm not paying attention to you anyway." My favorite T-shirt has a picture of the world, with a group of stick figures standing around it, and reads, "ASPIES OF THE WORLD, UNITE! Oh, right - like we're gonna hold hands." My daughter often can be found wearing a shirt that says, "Profoundly Autistic - Ridiculously Cute" (which is quite accurate, on both counts).

There wouldn't be any point to trying to "hide" my AS, anyway - anyone who talks to me for more than ten minutes can figure out that there's something going on...

Only 2 friends and 1 family member really know about this place, and I'm fine with that.

I tell basically everyone I know about my AS.

I'm actually in a library right now.

There have been a few times when I spoke to rooms of 100+ people about it, most of whom I did not know. I always get huge complements from everyone about having "courage" to speak up about it but I don't feel like it was that courageous because in my AS I can't understand what would be so socially different about not speaking of it.


I will say here though that it seems most people commenting on this thread either have the extreme of talking to many people about their AS or the extreme of talking to almost no one. Of course there are some who have posted who have talked to between 15-35 or so people about it but it seems most of us are either way below that range or way above it. I guess it is the AS tendency for extremes.

Well I think only my family knows that I use this particular website. However my entire Honors English class knows about my AS, however they are pretty much the most mature and respectful people in the entire school, so they know better then to treat me differently. A few of them have mentioned of my "courage" on revealing it, but I honestly don't find it a big deal, to me AS is just a name someone applied to an unusual personality type. This might not be true for everyone, but it is for me.

I tell anyone who wants to know that I post here- I'm not ashamed of my AS, and I've learned a long time ago to stop caring what others think of me.

My friends love me, my girlfriend loves me, my family...puts up with me, my dad approves of me- why should I care what "guy standing near the condoms in Wal-Mart" thinks? I mean, seriously?