Introducing yourself as an autistic person?

I disclose because I like to be honest and I don't like the NT world of appearances. Being honest about one's self protects self-integrity, but I admit that being open in our closed society can be very difficult, so I understand why for many disclosure is not always the right approach for them. It is true that many NT's respond to disclosure in a negative fashion, but not all of them do, and you will only know what the person is really like once you know their reaction towards disability. A hostile reaction means they cannot be a very nice person, in my view.

I have disclosed to everyone I meet at my voluntary work and none of them  have changed their attidude towards me. Even those who do not know much about AS have not thought any less about me, and they treat me as their equal.

I tend not to say, but over the years I've got better at formal suituations and I tend to avoid close social situations because I know my limits. So I pass as NT until something gets noticed.

So there may be advantages for me keeping quiet. But for someone with more noticeable traits it may be vital to disclose at every opportunity.

What I have observed is that people I see as milder are often the ones who disclose to everybody. People with more obvious traits seem to be the ones trying to pass (however improbably) as NT. That's possibly an illusion, just the way it seems to happen.

I've had bad reactions to disclosing - usually because of people's sensational perceptions of what it means, or just lack of understanding. Or else people think I'm making it up as I don't look like the AS person they saw on a TV programme.

I also hate getting the "does he take sugar reaction" by which I mean they change their entire approach to you as someone deserving overdone sympathy and concern, or even assuming you cannot do anything for yourself.

I think it has to be down to the individual, and the circumstances. I feel I need to disclose if I think someone wants to be "closer", but usually it frightens them off.

Usually I don't bring it up unless I notice the signs that people are getting annoyed/freaked out by my behaviour/personality/appearence in which I then mention the Aspergers, but mostly thats because kids my age (17-18) have never heard of it before and think autism is some kind of creepy zombie strain that they can catch (told a girl once when she tried to insult me for playing with my dog tags when she was talking at me, she actually backed away and kept looking at me like I was going to bite her for the rest of the week.)

So, with most adults, I'd say bring it up first because they're more mature. With younger people? Sometimes its best to leave them in the dark.

I think that is pretty sound advice. I am not at all comfortable with the hello i'm James and I have AS approach as it's just not me but I do acknowledge AS as being a big part of who I am, after all I have struggled all my life to get the answers I now have so it makes no sense to ignore or deny who I really am. I'm not sure many people will agree with me but there is a big part of me that is happy and dare I say proud to be who I am.

I am always honest with people and open about my disability. I feel that to hide my ASD is a bit like keeping a dirty secret, whereas if ASD is celebrated as a unique difference we should not feel afraid about telling people. THere is nothing wrong with having ASD so what is there to hide? I am always telling people about ASD and if they don't accept the condition, well, that's their problem