Published on 12, July, 2020
I keep seeing posts here, that say that it is hard to "come out" because there are people who think that aspergers is not real.
Someone has just posted that people think aspergers "did not exist in my day". Someone else said that it was thought to be almost trendy to claim you have it, so formal diagnosis is vital. Misconceptions abound.
I am no good at sharp responses to this kind of dismissive remark. We do not think on our feet. Perhaps we should pool our ideas of what to say, when those around us are dismissive.
Sadly, the only thing I can think of sounds a little rude.
We used to be labeled geeks and wierdos. Now we are recognised as being on the autism specrum.
Can any one else do better please?
I never try to describe autism via the triad of impairments because I think it works both ways. Those who go down this route invariably cannot put themselves in my shoes.
I prefer to go down the route of sensory issues, but even this has pitfalls because everyone has knows somebody who has some kind of (isolated) sensory issue but who is not autistic.
So I end up pointing out the severity of the sensory issues and the effects of a combination of sensory issues. I believe it is the severity and the combination that distinguishes autism from not autism. This usually has some effect.
Sometimes I give a graphic description of what busy trains or airports are like for me. This is the perception not the effects. I use the analalogy of multiple coloured snowballs to depict the emotions that people send out. I try to get across how this with lots of unpredicable movement, and the general noise level can produce overload - especially when you are trying to navigate your way through it.
People can get a better handle on personal experience than they can on theory.