Reaction when people talk about autism around you

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I've had a couple of instances where I've had friends or people in the community talk about autism in front of me. I've only been made fun of because of autism once in my life (person throwing autism in my face). Anyways, these instances that are happening now, people don't know I have autism. The people think I don't have it, I've even had pills for autism and people think I have ADHD, test anxiety, etc.

For the record, I have PDD, so it might not be as obvious that I have it. People notice I'm a little awkward though I can be social enough to where people just think I'm quiet rather than have a disorder. It does annoy me when people talk down about autism around me. I have a friend who has a more severe form of autism, and it sucks to hear the things said about him, and what people might be saying about me (I've learned not to really give a s**t about what people think, but still).

So I'm guessing I'm not the only one, so how do you guys deal with situations like these? Have you said something like I have autism so stop, or just go with it?

One time, in homeroom, this person said "autistic" instead of "artistic" on accident, so they began to discuss that. One person questioned another about what autism is, and one person said, "autism is a disability to learn, or something, I don't know."

My body temperature rises.

I used to get nervous and try to stay out of it, but in a situation where I do have enough leverage and where we all respect one another, I try to use it as a teaching moment and talk about my experiences of it. Its really awkward to do it, I think most people think I have ADHD and bipolar / schizoaffective which are seen as more normal.

am always around the word autism due to having spent over four years in severe and profound autism specific residential services and hear it often said due to staff having to explain difficulties and behaviors of mine to others;such as members of public or newer staff, its like hearing any word to self,dont react to it any differently.
am not arsed what people think of self.

I get a little nervous and or skeptical but also intrigued and fascinated I always love to hear how nts interpret autism but then I end up either impressed or a bit discouraged but I always interested in conversations about developmental disabilities. I also wonder how my camp counselors and program directors have to say about it. Idk why. Maybe I'm optimistic. Or maybe developmental disabilities are another special interest.

Whenever I hear it being brought up it's never anything positive and I just thank my lucky stars that these people haven't identified me and locked on target.

I roll my eyes because they usually talk about this unusual ability to memorise facts. People, I'm right here. Talk to me and you can experience my freakish ability to memorise in detail facts about certain subjects so you can go wooow. <- That was for my friends. They know I'm autistic.

I tell them that I'm autistic, I'm happy to be alive and I like to celebrate my differences.

Nothing yet. Just found out a month or two ago that I'm autistic (ASD), so I'm really just quiet. It's difficult because I desperately want to claim my newfound community, but I don't want to be stigmatized for it (because I know I will be in wonderfully judgmental LA).

I guess I also feel like I don't know enough about Autism yet to be a source of information for people asking questions. Seems like the times I have brought it up, people expect me to be some knowledge base for Autism (or they just tell me how I "don't seem Autistic", or they deny it outright... ) . I still don't know how I feel about being expected to be an Autism encyclopedia.

I have become very comfortable talking about my anxiety, depression, and ADHD, over the years (it's been 12 years since I was diagnosed with all three), so I don't see why I wouldn't eventually be okay with saying something if someone brought it up around me... just not yet.

If it's people I know, and they're talking about, I will say, "Hey I have HFA."

But usually if they're people I know, they already know I have it, just because I'm really upfront and open about it. I function exceptionally well socially so I don't feel anxious or anything about anyone knowing.
I like to tell people because my ability to distinguish sarcasm is horrid, so I tell them, "Hey if you make a joke and I stare at you blankly, it means I don't get that you're kidding and I'm taking it literally, so make sure you let me know you're joking."

I'm just the one to overhear them talking about me when they are talking about autism.
My attitude tries to be, "forgive them for they know not of what they speak".
My friends (really the friends of my one friend) tease me about it sometimes,
but I understand (as a rule of thumb, not conceptually) that they are not doing
it to me mean. I think they are uncomfortable with it and it's their way of making
light of it.

Last edited by EzraS on 06 Mar 2014, 6:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Same here. I've had some pretty serious bullying because of my autism--where I live, neurodiversity is not a very welcome thing, apparently --so I tend to get pretty nervous about people finding out that I'm on the spectrum.

So whenever someone brings up autism around me (especially at school), I'll usually just get really nervous and make up some sort of excuse to leave.

I'd need to have people talking around me to know how I'd feel.

Well, no, I wouldn't, as I wouldn't care.

I just act natural, like they're talking about something I haven't got, like Epilepsy. I don't really consider myself Autistic as such anyway, so I don't worry too much if somebody brings up Autism in a conversation, whether the people in the group know I'm the spectrum or not.

However, when people bring up Asperger's, I do get more upset, although I don't show it. Inwardly I just feel all ''oh God, please don't say that word!'', and hope that the people who do know I have it don't make it a point to the people that don't know I have it. That will be showing me up, and I prefer my disorder to be kept to myself in most situations where my Asperger's doesn't need to be known.

Nobody here seem to talk about it. One of my sons has a friend who's also on the spectrum. We live on the same street, they go to the same school, same activities and share car rides all the time. His parents and us never talked about autism. I don't even know what type he has.

If I hear any blatant mistakes I'd probably correct people. I can't help it. I'm a bossy mom. If everything sounds normal and fine I probably won't be very interested.