they sound like real dickheads.

It's disgusting.

Real gentlemen

I agree with you #1. It takes a real douche bag to make comments like that.

How, precisely, is making fun of people with autism (something they can't help but have, as it's not a choice to have autism) at all funny?

Thats worse than horrible, its disgusting and awful and to me theres no worse thinking than that

Human Sex Trafficking is a much worse thought...

Karma doesn't exist. ****, why don't people understand that?

People are allowed to believe in things you don't! ****! When will people understand that?

Only slightly?? That is extremely disturbing! I'm horrified such jerks exist.

I've seen/heard worse.

#7, you must be the most sheltered person on earth. Ever.

Well, they are from Narnia.

"Slightly"

No matter what his defense, OP should be like, "sorry gramps, that story smells fishy to me."

His wife probably died.

Wow dude have a heart.

They were implying about their looks, not intelligence level.

Calling them "tards" he was referring to them as being retarded (cognitively impaired)

#13 saying "tard" or any form of "retard" does in fact imply they are talking about intelligence.

#16 and 17, the term "tard" is not only politically incorrect, it is extremely insensitive.

I agree completely, #10. I have high-functioning autism myself, and my academic marks speak for themselves about how we on the spectrum actually supersede a lot of people who aren't when it comes to intellect. For example, studies have found that people with autism are more likely to succeed with computer science (which is my college majour with an Associate's Degree, a certification, and two more in the process to show for it with my 3.42 GPA) than most people in society. #22, you should just shut up now. You're digging yourself a deeper hole every time you comment, just to let you know.

#40 I hate any form of that word as I am autistic and have a cousin with down syndrome. I wasn't using it as a negative way exactly I was using it to be clear about what the dad and the grandpa had said in the fml. ( That's why it had the " " around them.) Next time it comes up and I'm replying to someone I'll say "well actually to use that sort of foul language does actually imply you are characterizing them as less intelligent than yourself. Which is a nicer way of putting what I reply back when someone calls me that word. I only used the words to say look this is what they said so yes they actually were saying they were less intelligent because #13 said they only commented on their looks when in fact they weren't.

I have a cousin with autism. He has trouble in social situations, but he's smarter than I am in everything academic, and can solve any new brain teaser in less than a minute. I'm fourteen and he's 8.

#10 I'd just like to say that it's a common misconception that high-functioning autism is the more prevalent type - I know in movies autistic kids are always super-smart albeit socially awkward (My Name is Khan anyone? If you haven't seen it it's a beautiful movie, although I think it might have taken some liberties with realism in its efforts to make the autistic guy so adorable and lovable in his awkwardness) and high-functioning autism DOES exist, but it's the rarer type. Most autistic children are low-functioning and have below-average cognitive abilities. A lot of people get offended with the whole high/low functioning thing... it's actually a new alteration to the DSM. Previously high-functioning autism was called 'Asperger's Syndrome' and low-functioning autism was just autistic disorder. Now they've been reclassified as high and low functioning... personally I don't like it, the label of 'low-functioning' just sounds like a needless self-esteem destroyer to me. *shrug*

SneezyBear; I don't know about numbers but you are wrong about a few things. At least going by the DSM system for it. 1. functioning levels have nothing to do with cognitive abilities, it has to do with how much extra assistance someone needs. 2. the difference between aspergers before DSM5 was that a person did not have a language delay couldn't have an intellectual disability(old term retardation). if a person did develop language normally but had an ID they were automatically PDD-nos(which doesnt always mean an ID, it just means they don't fit any autistic label neatly but they have autism) You can have classic autism and be high functioning though. 3. usually aspergers is high, but mid also exists. there is a lot of misinformation about this since so many people believe what you wrote, that functioning level is based on cognitive ability instead of assistance needed. i agree with you on the terms, though, functioning labels dont just seem like a mean thing to call someone they dont actually give information about what a person may or may not actually need help with anyway, sorry for all this, autism runs in my family, i have autism, my brother and father have aspergers and I have worked with kids and adults with autism for years, there is a LOT of misinformation out there about autism which just seems to make life harder for actual autistic people when they try to get services/help.

#97 It really depends on which expert you speak to. Asperger's syndrome an HFA (high-functioning autism) are very similar; some researchers say there is no real distinction, others say there are some differences such that HFA characterises lower verbal intelligence but higher spatial intelligence etc. (the lack of an obvious distinction between the two is why DSM-V saw it better to just merge them all together into Autism Spectrum Disorder). An IQ test is still often used, however, to distinguish low-functioning from high-functioning autism, and I remember in university when I studied psychology we were taught that cognitive ability was the only real difference between the two.

SneezyBear; what I said I meant from the DSM, not experts. That was the criteria for diagnosis, and how low functioning, mid functioning, and high functioning were meant for level of assistance. I didn't know you were talking about experts sorry. experts have their own way of using functioning, and it can conflict with one another. Most/many use it for cognitive ability, or they can use it other ways, like verbal ability, or a specific skill set. Thats another problem i have with functioning levels actually It is true there isnt much of a difference between autism and aspergers without cognitive problems once speech develops.

#90, no. That's incorrect. Even before autism was diagnosable and recognised, there were more high-functioning autistic people in history. Some of them are well-known figures to us to this day. You have it backwards. Asperger's Syndrome was low-functioning autism, and Asperger's Disorder was high-functioning autism. Now the DSM has been revised and released its fifth edition to combine all of autism into one. Now Asperger's is all Autism Disorder, regardless of our level of functioning.

Just because you have autism and are smart does not mean you have a mental disability. Autism effects the brain in ways and sometimes your ability to solve and retain is not effected, but you still are cognitively impaired.

Just did some research to refresh my memory (you guys all had me second-guessing myself - it has been a couple of years since my Abnormal Psychology unit after all). I don't think DSM-V has any mention of high-functioning or low-functioning autism in particular; they've revamped it entirely to base the severity level of autism on the individual's social communication deficits, and the resulting categories are 'requiring very substantial support', 'requiring substantial support' and 'requiring support'. Autism is often comorbid with intellectual disability, and in these cases usually there are severe social communication deficits (putting them in the 'requiring very substantial support' category). Pulling up my old lecture notes that I used to study for my exam two years ago, 35% of autistics fit the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability, and high-functioning ASD is when the individual's IQ is over 70. I'm fairly sure I can remember the lecturer saying that high-functioning was less common, but it's not in my notes so I could be mistaken on that. But yeah, the DSM doesn't deal with 'high' or 'low' functioning autism, it's more a term used in autism research and some psychiatrists - but when it is used in these settings, an IQ test is the most likely test used to differentiate 'high' and 'low' functioning individuals.

So yeah turns out I was mistaken about 'high functioning' being a DSM thing. That being said I just want to clarify something here before someone gets the wrong idea - whether or not someone is 'high' or 'low' functioning, whether or not they require support or have cognitive deficits or don't have cognitive deficits or whatever shouldn't make a difference on how we treat them. Jokes like the ones OPs' dad/granddad made are rude and inappropriate; whether autistic people are likely to be cognitively impaired or not is irrelevant in *that* regard.

Or the autistic people themselves? Why is it worse for the family to hear that? Autistic people are perfectly sane human beings that can also be offended