My skeptical sister

Post Reply New Topic

My sisters last job was working with emotionally disturbed kids and one of them was AS. She also had another job that worked with kids and teens that had severe disabilities and one or more of them were low functioning Autistic, so her exposure to those are on the spectrum is limited. She refuses to believe that I am AS (I'm self diagnosed). And get this... she was talking about all the books she's been reading lately and when I told her that she should get the book "Pretending to be Normal" from the library and I told her what it was about, she said about the author "She must have a mild case then". So I guess if you're intelligent, have an imagination and can write a book, you cannot have Asperger's LOL

Yawn...

So, what's new?

Won't be the last time you hear stuff like that...

Can you seriously expect someone not to be skeptical when you spout that you´ve self-diagnosed yourself with something? It's not going to happen.

I get my feathers ruffled quick if anyone says "mild autism". My life problems are not mild to me, they are serious.

Your sister and my brother should get together and compare notes. He has actually met two Aspies, and I could not possibly be on the spectrum, I am just trying "to excuse my behavior"

As a sister with brothers and a sister on the spectrum I've seen alot of this and felt some of it myself. In my experiences it all comes down to the NT sibling forgetting how well they know their AS (self-diagnosed or otherwise) brother/sister.

When they meet or hear about others on the spectrum all they are seeing is the Autism side. Or just reading about the concrete Autism things. They are specifically talking about all their issues. But when they think of their own sibling they think about that stuff AS WELL AS all the non-Autistic characteristics, and their history with that person and a million other things that make the opinion a little less objective than that of professional or stranger might be (like because they've known you forever they will usually be able to give you heaps of examples of times and things that have happened that "PROVE" you can't be on the spectrum). Little do they often know is that the people they have interacted with, who do seem more 'on the spectrum' to them, also have brothers and sisters at home questioning the validity of their siblings dx/self dx because of how well they know that person outside of the condition.

Another thing I think factors in is, alot of brothers and sisters primairly see their suspected ASD sibling at HOME! Where alot of people on the spectrum feel the most comfortable, relaxed and able to be themselves. True it is their honest experience of you, but it is situation specific and not the full story.

Now I'm feeling a little less than eloquent today so I'm not sure that came out right. But hoping my point got across somehow!