I apologise in advance for the rant, but this has been bothering me for a while and I think it might resonate with a number of people in this community
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I assume partly because it's more ambiguous than physical ailments. You can confirm rather "easily" that someone has a broken bone, but you can't xray someone and say that they conclusively have asperger's.
Maybe because it's more trouble for people to diagnose and treat. That doesn't excuse people, though.
Indeed this must be a part of it. But there are other neurological disorders which are similarly not subject to straight-forward diagnosis. Narcolepsy, for one. Tourette's syndrome for another.
And they may well be subject to the same "no you don't" knee-jerk response from all and sundry. It's possible that it's just that I've not been exposed to anecdotes about disbelieving reactions to those conditions that gives me the impression that Asperger's gets an undue amount of it.
I think it's the case for a lot of invisible conditions, from ASD to depression to dyslexia to ADHD and beyond. After all, the science of the mind is far more ambiguous than the science of the body. You can do blood-tests for diabetes, x-rays for a broken ankle, blood pressure monitoring, but you can't do that with ASD - it's more subjective and based on observational tests, which people trust less.
I think that part of the problem is that many people are not aware that Aspergers can actually be an invisible illness.
If I say I have depression, high blood pressure or some other ailment that is well understood to be invisible, people don't have that "But you don't look {condition} to me, so I doubt you really have it." reaction.
When people have learned not to suppress Asperger's behaviour and to emulate Neurotypical behaviour to a level where they "don't look Autistic", people will be more likely to question it.
I still find it odd that these supposedly empathic people don't understand how undermining and, well, rude it is to do that.
Very true. There's also the point that ASD are a sliding scale, which people seem to find difficult to understand. Some people with ASD can appear to be very "normal" whereas others don't because specific difficulties vary so wildly.
As a matter of fact, I'm old enough to remember when, if a woman walked in with listlessness, chest pains, or other such symptoms - especially a middle-aged woman - they would dismiss it as "all in her head." That's because 'everybody knew' the little dears were terrible hypochondriacs and not particularly rational. [For the historically minded: this came to a screeching halt when the Boomers hit middle age. Sigh
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I've been pondering whether the lower rate of AS in women is due to diagnostic exclusion or feminised social conditioning as opposed to being inherent
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I get talked to like I'm 'simple' by my GP's now, I get non-medical folks saying "everyone is a little bit asperger's" or they don't accept that asperger's is a disability...apparently I'm 'making excuses' or 'just shy' (I'm NOT shy) - I get this from fellow aspies too, which really upsets me.
That's why I'm not generally out - I have a horror of losing what credibility I have, and in my opinion (or observation or plain paranoia) there's nothing better for that than having any sort of mental, emotional, or neurological "illness" or "deficiency" or --- yeah. You all get the idea. And the flak, too, I imagine.
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Maybe because it's more trouble for people to diagnose and treat. That doesn't excuse people, though.
Just two cents. I could be wrong.
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And they may well be subject to the same "no you don't" knee-jerk response from all and sundry. It's possible that it's just that I've not been exposed to anecdotes about disbelieving reactions to those conditions that gives me the impression that Asperger's gets an undue amount of it.
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I think that part of the problem is that many people are not aware that Aspergers can actually be an invisible illness.
If I say I have depression, high blood pressure or some other ailment that is well understood to be invisible, people don't have that "But you don't look {condition} to me, so I doubt you really have it." reaction.
When people have learned not to suppress Asperger's behaviour and to emulate Neurotypical behaviour to a level where they "don't look Autistic", people will be more likely to question it.
I still find it odd that these supposedly empathic people don't understand how undermining and, well, rude it is to do that.
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This is idiocy but I think they actually do do it. Which is incomprehensible.
It's like I'd CHOOSE to be treated like shit and never get along with most people?
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I get talked to like I'm 'simple' by my GP's now, I get non-medical folks saying "everyone is a little bit asperger's" or they don't accept that asperger's is a disability...apparently I'm 'making excuses' or 'just shy' (I'm NOT shy) - I get this from fellow aspies too, which really upsets me.
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