Everyone's a little Autistic.

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These are just ways for doctors to tip-toe around the word "autism" to help soften the blow for parents who might otherwise resist the dx, it's as simple as that. My autism isn't "more mild" than anyone else's and it's ableist to even suggest that. But, again, I know that's an unpopular opinion (for obvious reasons)

Well, as an individual on the spectrum, you're as autistic as you feel. I don't feel that autistic. The guy down the road who is non-verbal and very obviously different is probably more autistic than me. I have a job, a relationship, and good communication skills.

But I'm not speaking for anyone else here. It's just how I see it.

It seems like I may have upsetted people here. I'm sorry for causing trouble.

Asperger's is literally the meme diagnosis for people who have autism but don't like the word autism. It's autism. We have autism.

I'm a full blown autistic.
I just can pass for Asperger's if it weren't for the lack of speech delay.

And no, I'm not a pretend-to-function-enough-to-pass type for that to happen; because I was too angry, too irritated and too disinterested to bother with the so called hierarchy of superiority to "strive".
Tho my ego do care about that, I don't.

No imposter syndrome here either.
Because even before I knew I'm autistic, I figured I'm not a typical person.

I'm never a "half-NT" for being able to pass without an effort and function.

Nope, I'm a full blown autistic without the dysfunctional crap except the mess up that is hormones since puberty and my childhood in trusting the adults and the system that ended up mishandling me.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

It's never happened to me.
But your answer makes sense.
Among the possibilities, there are some rather do-good ones, let's say.
Trying to reassure parents isn't a bad approach initially.
Imagine people with a child who is diagnosed with a condition they either know nothing about, or who need to avoid panicking.

Sorry, ASPartOfMe, but I just read your post, which I think is perfect.

That's fine by me: when I say it (less and less...), I say I'm autistic.

Even though I have many Asperger's diagnoses and many HFA level 2 diagnoses.

Because the DSM-5 requires a different term.

We're a subcategory.

My problems are still very severe.

The fact that other things work is because I've earned it in what I could.

It's impossible in anything else.


I read about people who "justify" themselves for being the way they are: honest and sincere.

Some who have a diagnosis: honestly, it's not a social stigma.

I care about society, but only to the extent that people respect *our* conditions.

You don't have to justify anything.

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I have sensory issues, I don't have theory of mind, I can't do anything without an anxiolytic, I can't even leave the house, I'm alexithymic, I don't look people in the eye, either too little or too much (but I corrected that), I bump into things everywhere, I'm terrible at moving, the last one in the series was that I almost lost an eye from a bike fall, I have an eye socket problem, and many other problems with my body, the point is that something else will happen to me precisely because of this lack of motor coordination... I have comorbidities with major depression, avoidant personality disorder, ADHD...

What matters in our condition?
Aside from the fact that I think everyone has comorbidities, perhaps different from mine.

The difference between autism and the definition of Asperger's is the particularity we have.

Besides, it's not a social status to be one.

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We have younger siblings who are more messed up than us, to a very serious degree.
Even high-functioning.

A friend of mine's son has immense specialties: music (perfect pitch) and painting (high level).

For the rest, without his mother, he would have nothing.
He doesn't function socially.

He speaks very few words, was born very prematurely, and has a perfect IQ of 102.

Then there are those with very low IQs.

Some who are very special have Savantisms.

Others don't.

Some of my cousins ​​are low-functioning, and the form is truly serious.

We can discuss this by writing here.

They spend their days with enormous problems.

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Anyone who doesn't feel their diagnosis is consistent: they can ask for a review.

Even in this case: it seems there are hypersocial people who don't have the same functioning patterns as many of us.

I read posts from confused people.

I sincerely feel sorry for them.

But since I don't fully understand what they are, the only way is to seek help from qualified doctors.

Sorry for the long post.

In the dozen years I have been here there have always Aspie supremacists who look down on people with more pronounced traits and are ashamed to be associated with them. It is also a harmful stereotype to say that is true of all people that still identify with the old Aspergers diagnosis. My experience on this board is that most people who did or still call themselves Aspies are not ableists to their fellow autistics. When Lorna Wing proposed the Aspergers diagnosis for the purpose creating an Autism diagnosis without calling it Autism she had parents in mind. The Autism rights movement was in its infancy. The notion of Autistics going online, seeing the Aspergers diagnosis and concluding it applied to them was not a thought. The World Wide Web was just becoming well known in 1994 the year the Aspergers diagnosis became official.

Asperger’s was named after Hans Asperger a clinician who worked under the Nazis. For a period of time it was believed he was working surreptitiously to help Autistics. In 2018 two historians published works that concluded that while Hans Asperger was not a die hard Nazi he went along to get along to the point of being complicit in the Nazi eugenics program. These revelations validated those who always felt the Aspergers diagnosis was ableist. Elon Musk saying he had Aspergers further validated this idea. Outside of WP it is not uncommon for Autistics to be hostile to their fellow Autistics who still identify with the old diagnosis. This is ironic because the person who coined the term autism was an influential eugenicist.

Personal Notes:
I was diagnosed the year the current manual that subsumed the Aspergers diagnosis into the Autism Spectrum disorder was published. As we did not know where this was headed I was given both diagnosis. I identified strongly with the Aspie label. I also identified as Autistic as I thought of Aspergers as a variant or sub category of Autism. I looked at it in similar manner as identifying both as a New Yorker and American.

When the revelations about Hans Asperger came out I dropped the Aspie identity. Since the term Autism also has a problematic background I had to decide should I drop the Autistic identity. In my mind there is a difference between identifying with a term a bad guy coined and identifying with a condition named after a bad guy. Naming a condition after people is honoring them. This does not mean I have cancelled Aspergers. The Aspergers diagnosis was a profoundly positive turning point in my life. I have no desire to erase that part of my history nor could I if I wanted to. The difference now is Aspergers is a part of my past, not my present.

The above is my personal choice. I do not judge others who choose differently. My distaste for language policing is directly related to my experiences in comment sections of Autism blogs and youtube videos during the 2010s. Seemingly every time somebody would demand we stop using the word autistic because it is offensive. I resented people who probably had six decades less experience at being Autistic then me telling me what I should find offensive. In addition autistics should be the last people bullying other autistics.

Let me clarify:
1) For me, there are people on the autism spectrum: I am one of them.
2) I am no better than anyone: I can only be better than the person I was years ago.
3) Asperger's is not a disgrace for me, even though I know the story like you do, and you are very good at it, and I congratulate you.
4) I have Asperger's, I fit into that nosography.

Not others.

Diagnostic labels help us disambiguate.

They help us understand.

5) I greatly admire autistic people like me.

I greatly admire low-functioning people and often consider them better than me in many ways.

6) I spent 36 years without a diagnosis: in a Dantesque hellish circle.

Because I was given the *wrong* diagnosis.
7) We are not all the same, not even those with Asperger's: we are all different.

Some of my contacts are exceptional.

I am, too, in some things.

But I don't care about myself.

Hans Asperger.

As an autistic person, I'm fond of that name.

You're right about the stories.

But I couldn't write if they're truly true.

I don't care if he was good or bad or a Nazi as a person.

He was a very important follower after SSucharewa 1926 and Bleuer 1916.

Then there was a woman I adored: Lorna Wing.

Thanks to her, the world treats us differently.

9) I love the way you write and the quality of what you write.

ASPartOfMe.

You are to be commended.

I understood all the implications of your post.

I don't know if it was indirectly directed at mine.

For me, I repeat, it's not a word, Asperger's, but a sense of belonging.

I agree 100%.

It's not a pleasant condition, let's be clear: it's devastating.

But there are people who are even worse off than me.

You know, there are many qualities across the spectrum, as well as immense challenges.

Then some have them much, much, much less.

(Grazie)


Post Scriptum:

I think we should always be humble in life.

Sorry, there's an emoticon I'd never use.

I didn't understand them.

I don't look down on autistic people. In fact I consider most autistic people more intelligent than me. I'm not superior. Some autistics think they're superior to NTs. I would rather be NT though.

But it's not a bad thing to want to be NT.

I know this is Reddit but the first three or four posts here explain what I mean. I didn't read the whole thread so sorry if there might be offending posts further down.

https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/comment ... _autistic/