WTF, if you know nothing about ASD, then say nothing.

[totallyfreaky]

At the shop today, (am a regular there) the shopkeeper commented that ds was shy, but noticed he sqeals alot, so I replied that he has ASD,and was shocked when he said, 'oh really I did'nt know, you can normally tell by thier face

This is the same shopkeeper that asked me witch one of my twins I prefere

Please anyone reaidng this- if you can ever offer supprt re ds1's ASd it's always welcome. - unfortuante thread title imo.

BUT the uneducated comments hurt, it does gete asier after a while (i've turned from omouse to tough bitch sadly) but deep down they sting. Chin up lass, its their ignornace, not yours!

agree with Peachy and Bullet. Sorry that the thread title etc has upset you 2shoes. I guess sometimes it's well-intentioned but mistaken comments can be hurtful, whereas other times there's just no excuse.

bullet123 thank you. you said what I would have liked to say but didn't know how to put it.
dd has cp and omg the comments we have had over the years.

I dont think the op meant to exclude other disabilities- I just read it as a title describing the situation that the op had person faced.

If it had said "anyone ever get fed up of the comments we asd parents get"...

Well regardless of people's ignorance, i have stopped getting angry and now look at each of these "instances" as an opportunity to inform and educate.

Autism is coming to families this very day and you never know if the person who makes the insensitive remarks might in the future have a child with an ASD.

People are equally ignorant about a lot of things. When you consider many people believe all they read in the newspaper, dont read books and dont "talk" much anymore, its not their fault really.

Yeah, its annoying, but i always quote the numbers. One instance in particular, was an older woman in town who when i was talking about autism in autism in mixed company in a restaurant, actually butted in and said she thought autism was a CROCK! Yeah, i know, strangle the idiot. But i gently turned round and told her that "autism is now 1 in 58 children and its coming to a family near you, possibly your own future grandchildren. She huffed and turned round.

I thought after, why did i bother, but i didnt need to vent on her, i wouldnt waste my energy. If we want society to change, its our duty for our children to inform cause no one else will do it the way we can. Why should we suffer silently the looks and the comments about our precious children? turn anger around and educate.

whoops speaking rubish now coz Im tired.
Meant to read that the op had personally faced.

Err, I was'nt excluding other disibilities at all, just highlighting my personal experience, I see many many thread titles with specific special needs in the title, I have sat here for ten minutes trying to think why it might be offensive, and I honestly cant see any reason, if I had written in the heading 'only parents of children with ASD need reply' then I would understand, but I did'nt and it was'nt my intention, infact I always expect anybody to reply, no matter what thier experiences are. I am not happy about being called insensitive, I am many things, but have never considered ymself insensitive.

Sorry.

totallyfeaky- dont worry I dont understand why it would be offensive either. I think there is just a general sensitivity and feeling that ASD parents dominate the SN board or something.

Why is the title offensive? It wasn't directed at people on MN - but at RL people who come out with useless gems of wisdom like that shopkeeper.

Perhaps there are a large nmuber of people who post about ASD becuase it is such a broad spectrum, and therefore affects a huge number of people....

i am sorry if i caused any upset by my post. I was speaking from a personal point of view. not the best place. I have a dd with cp and don't know anything about asd. but felt excluded from the topic. as yes I am one of the "WTF, if you know nothing about ASD, then say nothing." people you proberly mean
If the thread title had been diferent I would have joined in as I have had allsorts said to me over the last 12 years.
sorry if I offended.

totallyfreaky the comments you have had were called insensitive not you.

But 2shoes OP was talking about people who make ignorant and stupid comments about ASD not people who just dont know anything. I think you completely misunderstood her meaning.

what ever I am not argueing the toss with. you. I apologised for upsetting anyone. So why go on?

Not wishing to add fuel to the fire here, but I can see why 2shoes read the title the way she did - as if a poster doesn't know very much about ASD, on a board with lots of posters whose kids have ASD, I can see that the poster might take the title a bit perosnally and think - well actually I don't know anything about ASD, so I should I just shut up.

exactly