So, my husband had a question about interaction which I thought I would pose here.
He has been telling quite a few peeps at work about his AS diagnosis, and does it with a smile. He has received a few comments, like "do not let that word define your life" and "you can't be, you are social." (They of course have no idea how much of an acting job he has to have to be social while he is there and how much it takes out of him)
But he is very puzzled and annoyed by the fact that it seems like such a BIG DEAL to talk about being on the Autistic Spectrum, and how everyone looks like they are going to fall over when he talks about it, and they get all uncomfortable. At the same time, people in his office discuss colonoscopies in detail, hysterectomies, fungus infected fingers, and all of these things with no issue.
What is the difference? I have told him that (IMO) because of the stigma associated with Autism and the general lack of understanding of the whole Spectrum (people hear Autistic and think of only LFA and nothing else) that the conveyance of this information, due to the INCORRECT views of so many people, would be considered telling people that you are essentially mentally deficient or weak and that is not common, while physical issues are not a big deal as they are not mental problems or issues.
(Again I am not saying that anyone on the spectrum is mentally deficient or weak, I am just using the stereotype many people hold.)
Opinions please...
Yes, I've done some work in the past with mental health service users, delivering training to local authority staff in mental health awareness - one of the biggest issues we addressed, though with no real conclusions, was stigma. People can have all manner of unpleasant physical conditions, and while people might not choose to get particularly intimate with them, they aren't treated in quite the same way as someone whose problem is in the mind...
I don't mean 'made up', though I think that's part of the problem - that physical symptoms can be seen and measured, mental ill health (or spectrum conditions or similar) meanwhile is more subjective. Most people have a very limited understanding of such issues too, tending to lump everything under one heading ('mad') - a heading which, to them, means you can't be relied on to be rational, to follow social cues - that you might embarras them (there isn't a pill for that, either...) or create a situation that makes them feel less than confident, or that threatens their safety in an unpredictable way.
They know how to stave off viruses, how to avoid physical injury in most common circumstances, how to not catch whatever you have, what foods to eat or avoid to maintain their physical health - but mental health issues (and broader mind-based conditions) are different...and make people very uncomfortable.
Thank you jiggeryqua for your response. I hope we can get more on here too, and I will share them with him tonight!
I'm not an NT, I play one 9 to 5?
It does seem that Autism Speaks does so very loudly in America. Perhaps your husband is getting this type of reaction because they find it difficult to equate him, their friend/colleague with the stereotype of the poor afflicted individual who has been robbed by autism of any chance of meaningful life?
Understanding of the reality of autism and the diversity of those on the spectrum seems to be seriously skewed to the extremely negative in the popular imagination.
In any case, I think that the topic will become boring at work and soon enough they will move on to whomever has the next colonoscopy... ;O)
That was what he said, "why is it bad for me to discuss why I need the lights off above my desk but it is ok for you to tell me you had a camera shoved up your a#$"
Lol! 
My two cents--most people don't know what Asperger's is, so they can't talk intelligibly about it. And...they may be worried about being offensive or perceived as being offensive if they try and get their curiosity satisfied by asking questions. so...they pretend they didn't hear it or something.
But....something may have sunk in and he'll find out later what did.
(I got a no comment reaction when I came out at work...but one guy did come talk with me because his brother had recently been diagnosed.)
I remember 5. Ellen Peck & Judith Senderowitz, editors
Pronatalism: The Myth of Mom & Apple Pie
(New York: Crowell, 1974) 333 pages
A comprehensive collection of articles on the pressures
for child-bearing, the best one-volume source. One article
explicitly addresses the notion of the 'maternal instinct':
"Motherhood: Need or Myth" by Betty Rollin (p. 147-158).
--------------------------------------------------
Someone said immortality by reproduction. Well, let's just say that is the only option for a completely stupid or non-creative person like Homer Simpson.
---------------------
Other things that can achieve immortality:
1. art
2. music
3. books
4. ideas
5. what you've done with your life, if it has been written down in encyclopedia or otherwise celebrated in writing
Or if you a teacher, not even a parent (owner of children), you can affect them for a long period of time.
Ya, Thomas Stone had
a. its hoodlums, who couldn't match an Aspie, so they tried to tear them down
b. friends of Aspies, usually other good students
c. and good teachers
It was B and C that won out over A, that, and knowing that I was a. going to West Virginia probably before high school graduation and b. that college was practically guaranteed. No sir, I wasn't going to bring a BB gun to school, no way.
Chris, did you perhaps mean those last two posts to go into the "parents regretting children" thread?
I got peculiar reactions from some people I told (one, who had been speaking perfectly normally up till then, started addressing me as she would a four-year-old!
)
Mostly, it is because of the stereotypes in people's minds, I think. So I tell them not to believe what they have read about Autism in papers and magazines, the reality is nothing like it.
Just as not everyone with vision differences is blind and most get away with spectacles, not everyone with autism is severely affected; and most of those who are would be better if treated differently. After all, years ago parents of people with Down Syndrome were told to abandon their children to institutions, as they would never amount to anything. It became a self-fulfilling prophesy. Parents who refused to believe the doom and gloom produced offspring who went to college and earn a living.
Fear for themselves may play a part, too. They might be wondering "If this perfectly normal guy, who we thought of as a bit of an eccentric, can get a diagnosis of something awful, could it happen to me?"
In any case, I think that the topic will become boring at work and soon enough they will move on to whomever has the next colonoscopy... ;O)
That was what he said, "why is it bad for me to discuss why I need the lights off above my desk but it is ok for you to tell me you had a camera shoved up your a#$"
ROFLMFAO!
So, my husband had a question about interaction which I thought I would pose here.
He has been telling quite a few peeps at work about his AS diagnosis, and does it with a smile. He has received a few comments, like "do not let that word define your life" and "you can't be, you are social." (They of course have no idea how much of an acting job he has to have to be social while he is there and how much it takes out of him)
But he is very puzzled and annoyed by the fact that it seems like such a BIG DEAL to talk about being on the Autistic Spectrum, and how everyone looks like they are going to fall over when he talks about it, and they get all uncomfortable. At the same time, people in his office discuss colonoscopies in detail, hysterectomies, fungus infected fingers, and all of these things with no issue.
What is the difference? I have told him that (IMO) because of the stigma associated with Autism and the general lack of understanding of the whole Spectrum (people hear Autistic and think of only LFA and nothing else) that the conveyance of this information, due to the INCORRECT views of so many people, would be considered telling people that you are essentially mentally deficient or weak and that is not common, while physical issues are not a big deal as they are not mental problems or issues.
(Again I am not saying that anyone on the spectrum is mentally deficient or weak, I am just using the stereotype many people hold.)
Opinions please...
I got the "but you can't have that" from people who were aware of autism and even Asperger's in children. They just think that we are all the same.
I think maybe people get afraid if they are asked to help someone. They would be afraid of someone in a wheelchair if they needed help to use the toilet. I don't know why they would be afraid of someone with autism.
Maybe the issue of having kids belongs there. You're right.
... At the same time, people in his office discuss colonoscopies in detail, hysterectomies, fungus infected fingers, and all of these things with no issue.
...
We almost (!) got treated to a power point presentation about benign prostatic hyperplasia and the treatment with surgery that removes the prostate (transurethral resection of the prostate) by our boss but fortunately our oldest (female) co-worker put her foot down immediately.
I don't think I will mention Asperger's there for quite some time ...
Today at an office function I gave my name and office function and four things that make me unique
1. I have a Master's degree in social research even though I am working in Web design, databases and computer programming
2. I have Asperger and only 5% of us usually get the kind of full employment we deserve
3. My dad planned his retirement in WV 20 years in advance even though I grew up in Kensington, Rockville, Waldorf MD
4. My great-grandparents and my grandfather (on my mother's side) are immigrants from Finland
I could have also said that I live less than 5,000 feet from headquarters, but it is common knowledge we are surrounded by several apartment complexes (the Berkeley Apartments one cannot fail to miss next door) and any highly motivated person could relocate to this area and eliminate the commute here. I count at least three co-workers in Alexandria not counting others in Arlington County.