Asperger's Syndrome: Difference between revisions

* '''It doesn't exist'''. Yes, there are false diagnoses (and many more false self-diagnoses). If every condition which had those didn't actually exist, we wouldn't need doctors.

 

 

* '''Self-inflated [[Insufferable Genius]]/Asperger's as an excuse for bad behaviour'''. There's no real connection whatsoever, and may have just been borne out of [[GIFT|people over the Internet]] using Asperger's Syndrome as an excuse to be a [[Jerkass]] or a [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]]. Part of the reason AS is a popular self-diagnosis is because Asperger's is linked (particularly in pop culture) with [[Idiot Savant]] characters who are brilliant but lack social skills. Such individuals are often the first to latch onto postmortem conjectural psychology calling various famous people like [[Albert Einstein]] autistic. They arrogantly believe that not only should having AS free them from judgement for being socially inept, but also pin them as '''genius-tier masters of their field'''. This is particularly infuriating for people who really do have AS, since as this practice continues they find it harder to explain ''accidentally'' offending somebody without being seen as liars, or worse as trying to make an excuse for bad behaviour. Most genuine Aspies don't see Aspergers as a 'Get Out Of [[Jerkass]] Free' card, just an explanation.<br /><br />If somebody offends you, then tells you they have Asperger Syndrome and that's why they offended you, you can generally tell if this is true by a simple observation - If the admittance is followed (or preceded) by a genuine apology, it may be true. If it's followed by the expectation that ''you'' should now apologise to ''them'' for being offended, they're probably just jerks. If they do neither, simply mentioning it, it's almost (but of course not certainly) always true and simply an observation with no blame or excuse for either side attached. <br /><br />If anything, given that the symptoms of Asperger's syndrome tend to lead other children (and sometimes adults) into bullying them, they usually tend to have a lower self-worth. This tends to be confused as a symptom of Asperger's due to the lack of social empathy and the tendency to dominate conversations.<br /><br />While a case could be made that some who have been consistently bullied may consciously develop or become egocentric and cultivate feelings of a superiority complex as a psychological defense mechanism, ''this does not directly correlate with AS''. What might correlate to it is that since people with Asperger’s tend to be experts in their narrow field of interest, they can think of themselves as superior to those who do not possess such skills. Also, some think of their lack of inhibition and sincerity as an advantage over the rest of the population.