Aspie is short for Asperger's, which is only a very mild form of autism, not that people calling themselves aspies necessarily have Asperger's syndrone, though

Aspie is short for Asperger's, which is only a very mild form of autism, not that people calling themselves aspies necessarily have Asperger's syndrone, though some do. Many aspies have appropriated the term, however, because they know the business sorts calling themselves nerds will be repulsed by the term, and won't want to steal it from real aspies anytime soon.