Ever known someone to fake having Aspergers Syndrome?

[Sparky77]

Dum dee diddle dee dee. Err ee ett eiddle evee. Humm the title of this post said 'Ever known anyone to fake having Aspergers? It is a simple straight forward answer yes or no and if yes the circumstances? I at no stage asked for anyone's opinions on whether someone I knew had it, I can make that judgement myself thank you! Hence there really is no point being a member of this forum and I have seen other one's in my own country so won't be coming back!

 

[IContainMultitudes]

We've had people make rude posts on this forum accusing members here of being "fake" aspies, so let's please keep this thread from going in that direction.

 

[AsheSkyler]

That's kind of the reason I don't tell people outside of here and my family that I think I'm autistic. What if when I am able to go get a proper diagnosis, I'm just simply weird? With unexplained sensory issues, ugh, hate to start looking all over for an explanation about those things again! I do straddle the fence on some symptoms and I have a much easier time with some things than it seems others do. And moreso, what if along the way I somehow made a bad case for the genuinely autistic? One of the women I have the most respect for is autistic, and I'd hate to think in some way my belief of being autistic hurt her in some way. Bleh, headache!

Outside of that and a hypochondriac or two, I don't think I've ever met somebody who was intentionally masquerading as something else because they were that ashamed of what they were. Not even among the transfolk I've known, they were all quite honest, "yeah, I was born that way, but I feel this way is far more accurate of who I am, and I'm okay with it all around". Which is something else entirely different, but still. I have seen a few wrong diagnosis where people would roll their eyes at their current doctor then go find somebody that knew a bit more what they were doing, but that is different too.

 

[Kaylee]

This is something i have not only found happens with Aspergers but with any quality that makes people seem more "marginalized" its a quality i have found in many toxic areas of the internet, and while a self diagnosis can be ok when people start trying to associate and appropriate it then issues start to come into view.

the worst part about this is that is sends out crazy amounts of misinformation about what an illness/disorder/condition is. take for example Bi-polar which in america and many other countries is seen as someone who gets mood swings, when the condition itself is much worse, same thing happens with depression (people using it to mean they are a little sad). the most common example of this is people using the term OCD to mean they are picky, when if you know someone with actual OCD its not a condition that is even close to how people describe it. what this person you know though seems to be more along the lines of what bisexuality became amoung young people in the 90s-2000s which was people who claimed they were bisexual but were clearly not, either because its a fad or because its "cool" to be "oppressed" or different.

now i cannot say for sure that this person does not have an autism spectrum disorder but i do know the idea of a person associating themselves with a quality that is seen as a hindrance by traditional society, is not anything remotely new. although the reasons why someone many do this can be many and complicated, its never good for the person and is very very very toxic to the community and social perception of what ever the quality is.

 

[Cali Cat]

I've not met anyone faking AS that I know of, though I wouldn't be surprised by it. Autism itself seems to have become somewhat "fashionable" and it provides a reasonable excuse for certain behaviors. It's also a convenient "catch all" diagnosis for anything doctors can't (or don't want to) place under another diagnosis for whatever reason. But, that would be a misdiagnosis in that case, rather than outright faking. Most people I know with AS don't even realize they have AS or only suspect they may have it but are not formally diagnosed, so they are not faking anything.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I think that the blogger Penelope Trunk is mistaken in her claim of having Aspergers.
But I've never known anyone in real life who falsely or mistakenly claimed to have it. Instead, I've known people who probably do have AS but don't know it.

In the case of your acquaintance, you've written nothing that proves definitively that she doesn't have Aspergers. It more sort of sounds that the problem is that you dislike her, and therefore you don't want her to be part of the AS community.

 

[GoofKing]

Hypothetically, what if the doctor who made the Autistic diagnosis was wrong or made a mistake in his or her's judgement ?

 

[Axeman52]

I have met a couple of people at college I suspected were either "faking", or simply didn't know the difference between adolescence and aspergers syndrome.

One of them seemed too keen on the idea of using it as an excuse for crappy behaviour for me to believe it. It would always be the first thing he'd mention when he got caught cheating on his girlfriend, telling malicious lies about people etc... He also didn't seem to display any of the traits associated with it, but then again he could've just been very good at hiding it, and if that were the case I would have no way of knowing that anyway.

The other guy actually might've just said he had aspergers syndrome as a throwaway comment that was not meant to be taken seriously, now that I look back on it.

 

[Kaylee]

giving correct information and not dismissing issues are very important. like i said i cannot say for sure that this person does or does not have aspergers. based on how you discribed it though i can see where hesitance may come in to play. personally i found that people with actual issues dont make them super public or try to define themselves by those terms. by this i mean aspies i met dont make themselves or want others to see them only as being a person with aspergers. this person seems to not only join these groups because they want the support network and help from others but they want to make it public, and like its a big thing that everyone else needs to know as well. which in itself can be upsetting and off putting when someone seems to just want to define their life by something which you struggle with and that you dont think (and evidence may suggest) they dont have.

 

[clg114]

Since I've never met anyone who claims to have AS, I haven't met anyone who is faking AS. Even if I had met someone faking AS or anything else, it doesn't concern me. There's lots of fakes out there and the best thing I can do is to just avoid them. I really dislike deceit of any kind.

 

[Ste11aeres]

Don't you think that I may have something in common with this woman if she was really an Aspie?

Believe me, I've known Aspies in real life-one officially diagnosed, the other not diagnosed, but probable AS-who I cannot stand to be around.
And don't misunderstand me, I don't blame you at all if you have a personality conflict with her. Such personality conflicts happen, and are an annoying part of life. And hour long voice messages would be unpleasant for anyone.
HOwever, you know her in real life, so maybe you are correct in your assessment of whether or not she has AS. As I said, your post didn't say anything to prove she didn't have it, but that might have just meant that your post didn't explain your reasons for your assessment.

 

[Ylva]

I really doubt an NT would leave a voice mail that lasted that long. Guess she could have something else, or AS and something else too. Maybe you could specify what learning difficulties you are talking about? She can't have all of them.

In your situation I would likely have let her know that I wanted nothing to do with her, and gone to the group anyway.

 

[Ylva]

Has it occurred to you that you may come off this way to some people some of the time, regardless of whether it is true?

 

[epath13]

Hi, I have recently been diagnosed with Asperger's. Anyhow I have a friend that moved away who's got another friend that lives near me called Nadine. My friend says as this Nadine as joined the group in my area for people with Asperger's despite the fact that she clearly does not have it. I have not seen this woman for a while now thankfully but she's got learning difficulties but you can't mention it in front of her apparently she finds it degrading; when she was trying to claim benefits for a disability she would not say 'learning difficulties'. So anyway now instead she's decided to claim she is an Aspie instead, I cannot join the Asperger's group in my area since she is a member.
I had a lot of trouble with this woman, she is desperate for friends and was sending me hour long voice mail messages like more than once a day and then some days I would have 5 extra long messages and then she decided she fancied my boyfriend and started messaging him and saying bad things about me. She is like a radio, she lies so much she doesn't know what truth is. My friend said she was having a conversation with her about the meaning of words and she only seems to know the social meaning like she thinks 'Average' means bad which is the general view not the definition that you would read in the dictionary for example.

I have seen on her Facebook she's joined several groups for people with Asperger's. Now if anyone tells me that they have Asperger Syndrome I will not believe them not unless I get to know them first do I feel I could trust them. Does anyone else here have experiences of people claiming to have Asperger's when it is obviously not the case?

I wouldn't obsess with it too much. maybe she has it maybe she doesn't. When you look at some people you may never guess that they have it. But, of course, I don't dismiss a chance she might be lying for some reason... even though people don't usually lie like that because they are totally "normal" If she doesn't have AS, she might have something else. In my experience, people rarely lie because they are some evil brings who want to destroy everyone and everything, they do so because they can't help themselves, because they want something that they believe they can't get without lying. There's always something going on underneath it all. If you don't want to be her friend just don't. People usually would make excuses etc until another person "gets the message", or just tell her (if you want to be honest) that you don't want to communicate with her... even though in many cases, it doesn't end well if she doesn't "get the message" than there's definitely something is going on mentally or neurologically, and she might need help.

 

[musclecarman]

not a common thing at my school pretty much almost everyone likes me except one kid who has ADD

 

[AsheSkyler]

Dum dee diddle dee dee. Err ee ett eiddle evee. Humm the title of this post said 'Ever known anyone to fake having Aspergers? It is a simple straight forward answer yes or no and if yes the circumstances? I at no stage asked for anyone's opinions on whether someone I knew had it, I can make that judgement myself thank you! Hence there really is no point being a member of this forum and I have seen other one's in my own country so won't be coming back!

Bye...?