Perceptions of Autistic people ‘out there’ vs on MN

[FellowFallow]

I find that the perceptions of Autistic people on MN tend to skew negatively, with some even going so far as showing outright disdain. What are your experiences of how people view Autistic people in the ‘real world’ vs here? I am recently diagnosed but have thus far kept it to myself, with the exception of my husband and my sister (my sister has completely ignored it).

Since my very late Autism diagnosis I have talked about it with my adult son. As usual he has been really supportive, and interested.
The only other person I've shared the diagnosis with I really regret: About a year ago I wanted to join an age appropriate fitness class and enquired about it. It took them virtually a year to call me in for an assessment for the class so it was just after my diagnosis. The classes were geared towards people with physical limitations so I had to explain my main reason for originally wanting to join a class was for my mental health - I live a very socially isolated life. So I mentioned the fact I'd been recently diagnosed with Autism. I don't know whether it was the Autism in particular or the fact I told him about suffering from extreme social anxiety, or even because of my age, but he treated me as though I was stupid. He just made me feel like a total freak. He actually told me his daughter is autistic but he sees Autism as " not liking people".
It was a horrible experience and I've not bothered going along to the Fitness classes because he made me feel like such a freak.

I don’t know but I’m interested to find out. I’m diagnosed ASD and ADHD but not many people in real life know this. I’m planning on telling some of my friends soon and will see what there reactions are, although some have brought it up many times during the years so it may not be a surprise.

I have 3 DS who are 9, 8 & 3. The older two are diagnosed ADHD and Autism and the baby is following suit. I was diagnosed with ADHD nearly 2 years ago at 34 years old and I'm pretty sure I have autism too but not diagnosed. I find with autism, people think everyone who has it are profoundly disabled, cannot cope with anything at all, have no insight etc when actually the spectrum is vast and you can have autism with or without a learning disability.
I find with ADHD people assume you are weird, lazy, flaky, violent and a literal criminal 😂