Hi people
I'm still coming to terms wirh my new diagnosis as a 47-year old dad! What I wanted to ask is how do people with ASD/Aspergers/Austism diagnosis label themselves and to others. I'm a bit confused and not sure which is the best description.
Thanks
Andrew
Already from the comments in this thread, you can see how controversial the identification process is - some people identify as an aspie, others an autistic person, sometimes a person with autism, having ASC and so forth.
My personal preference is along the lines of autism as a dimension of my identity and personality - it is not able to be artificially separated from me but equally, I am not just autism embodied.
I do think that ASC is much friendlier than ASD because the whole language of disorder and deficit is just frustrating and damaging.
Across Europe and the USA now, Asperger's is no longer diagnosed but that does not stop people from identifying as such - the autistic community are not just medical labels. In addition, I don't think the use of the term Aspergers connotes anything bad about the individual who identifies as being an 'aspie' for instance. The set of traits that were associated with Asperger Syndrome have not disappeared now that some rather serious controversy has arose around the man himself. Either way, people like Kanner said some questionable things too (see https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151006-its-time-we-dispelled-these-myths-about-autism) but they did contribute to the knowledge and theories around autism. I tend to leave history to historians and focus on autistic people themselves.
The other thing to consider is that the study of autism exists within societies, against a certain cultural and historical backdrop (clearly seen here in terms of eugenics and the language of deficit and disorder) which influences the areas of knowledge are likely to be studied (e.g. neuroscience and medicine today) and as a result, these areas appear to be of higher importance.
Fundamentally, I think we should look to individuals to see how they would like to be identified! Maybe have a look at some of the alternative ways to identify and think about the implications and choose whichever suits you! 
