Really? So feel the need to explain and then: oh I get that, but I am not this aspergic thing!

[ImAnAspie]

People take these things personally, but don't see the wider effects. Let's say some self-diagnosed person, who isn't Asperger, just wants attention, so they bring a gun to school and it accidentally goes off. (This happens: I was a teacher.) Everyone thinks that this person is Asperger and concludes that Aspergers are dangerous and potentially violent. There's a report on TV news that says just this. He "did it" because he's Asperger. People believe what they hear. The next time those people are told that there's an Asperger child in their kid's class they go crazy and demand that the kid is removed to a different school. The school refuses, but now the kid has been labeled and is treated very badly by both teachers and students.

The myths around Asperger are already crazy - we don't need "fake" Aspergers.

I guess you're in America. Asperger's doesn't have that stigma attached to it here in Australia (thank God!). In fact, hardly anyone here seems to know much about it at all. I've told some people at work and some knew something but most knew nothing apart from the fact that they've heard of it.

 

[Berianireth]

I believe it's good to seek validation of one's own autism in whatever ways you choose for yourself. However I wouldn't expect or assume validation from others whether one is formally diagnosed or not. No matter what, you're always going to run into the same three variables when attempting to explain yourself:

1) Those who either already know, or will try to understand and succeed in doing so.
2) Those who might want to understand but will fail.
3) Those who don't want to bother, defaulting to expecting you to simply conform to the dominant neurology.

Personally I find it a VERY "touchy" issue to discuss with much of anyone outside the autistic community. With a "one in three" chance of making your point to much of anyone whether they're inside or outside your own personal orbit.

I have been diagnosed and re-diagnosed several times since the age of six, and according to psychological measures of severity I have one of the most severe cases of female Asperger's... in other words I've been sniffed out pretty thoroughly. People I work with still try to convince me that I'm a weak-minded baby killer and not an individual on the Autistic Spectrum sometimes because they simply do not believe in the Neurological underpinnings of things like Asperger's. Take heart, I'm a neuroscientist! Haha
But yeah, I agree with Judge. Your status as an Asperger's person does not need validation from other people. When people argue it you need to turn the other cheek.

 

[Effy]

As someone who does have an official diagnosis, family often asks me for -- verbatim -- a piece of paper for proof, as if I was given some sort of freaking certificate congratulating me for being an Aspie.

It's super hurtful, actually. :s

There's always going to be someone who wants proof.

The bad part about growing up as an Aspie/being an adult Aspie is that you get used to seeming "normal", i.e. acting like a neurotypical. >.>

 

[Maelstrom]

"Effy, As someone who does have an official diagnosis, family often asks me for -- verbatim -- a piece of paper for proof, as if I was given some sort of freaking certificate congratulating me for being an Aspie. It's super hurtful.

Aaaw! Effy sorry to hear that, if that's your picture you look like cute little fairy princess. I was very happy to find out who I was a auspie. I guess my mother wasn't quite so thrilled, which is a little funny as the testing was the result of one of her little arm twisting champanes. Now she's lost a fair amount of leverage on the you have to be this or that front. Ha ha! life does have some Karma, she looks like she just swallowed a lemon when I happily tell some one I'm a auspie. I suppose I should feel more sorry for her but she chewed me up pretty good on that stuff for years, maybe a little too much concern about family pride, and not enough effort to understand the suffering and different needs in life. Best wishes to you in life Mael.