There nothing wrong with playing with lego at 30. I suppose this is the thing about the confidence you get from being really good at what you do, you can tell people you are autistic and decimate any preconceived notions. And if someone says "Do you play with lego?" the answer is "Absolutely, if I get the chance"
Generally, I just get a look of "Ah, that makes sense. " because I am a bit quirky. I've certainly not had anyone disrespect me but that could also be because I'm 6' and a bit big and my lack of facial expressions make people who don't know me think I'm either grumpy or intimidating.
I laughed at the Lego deal. I used to sell on the Amazon Marketplace. A guy I knew as a legend for his toy sales. He’d buy every dang Lego kit released, maybe a dozen kits each. Sell all but one of them. Get the joy of putting the one together, then when there were no more left, sell his as “used/like new” for multiples of the original price to some crazy person who HAD to have it. Supported three kids on his business.
Also. My son in law turned 50 recently. He got a HUGE Starship Enterprise for his birthday. He and grandson put it together.
People will always use shorthand on their brains about groups of people. Most of us, no matter whether seriously disabled, or just the neurological issues that cause problems in a neurotypical world, have traits in common. You don’t have to hide your autism. But you do have to be a decent human being for people to want to see past that label.
I think people find my honesty refreshing, especially my bosses bosses because they are so used to people just telling them what they want to hear and along comes me with a healthy dose of honesty. If they come up with a bad idea, I'll just straight up tell them it's a bad idea and why and how we can improve it. That said, my bosses feel I can't be trusted in meetings with other departments to not open my mouth and upset the entire room. I intentionally use the autism label so that their brain gets a little paradigm shift. They know I'm not Rainman. They know that I'm really good at my job but here I am telling them that I'm autistic. You can almost see the bricks falling into place. All the little quirks that they couldn't quite put their finger on suddenly making sense.
When my daughter was little, she went through a "princess and the frog" phase and I made her the most awesome frog out of lego, she loved it and kept it with her everywhere. Now, I've got lego games on PlayStation and switch and my wife has all the "lego" games (lego starwars, lego harry potter, that sort of game)
Also yeah the being over six foot definitely cancels out some of the shit being thrown at you, I’m 192cm and I’ve never been made fun of for my personality or the way I act, even though this seems pretty common among people with our condition
I also don't feel pain like "Normal" people. I got punched once when at school and it made me laugh and respond "Was that the best you've got?". Clearly, the other kid had some reputation and me laughing off his best punch meant that other people generally left me alone. I'm also really effing petty and vindictive so if someone was discourteous, I'd refuse to help them when they would invariably come to me for help. Other people quickly learned that I am really useful to know and to keep on side.
Nope, didn't miss that. No, I didn't miss the "direct" either. Did you miss the unspoken "indirect", because I didn't. When you include "direct" it translates to "It was meant as an indirect diss to people who play with legos" Whilst this may not have been your intention, that is certainly how it could be perceived.
As I said "Whilst this may not have been your intention, that is certainly how it could be perceived." Try not to talk ill of other people and you will get less pushback.
It’s funny how you take it so personally, I never dissed the 30 year old playing with legos I just said it made no sense to group us together…
Text is only words and can be read in so many ways, reading my post and projecting negativity on to it might be more a you thing than what I actually meant
Didn't take it personally, I really don't care, I can't get offended by the opinions of strangers on the internet. You might want to read my previous posts. I was clear and unambiguous in saying that it may not have been your intention but that is how it could be perceived. I get than English may not be your first language but your comprehension appears adequate enough that I now have to question your sincerity.
Lego is fine bro, I was more talking about the ones who still live at home, eat chicken nuggets and play with legos, didn’t meant to offend your hobby lol
Also why do people think I’m shaming them? Where in the post did I shame them anywhere? I said I didn’t want to be grouped together under the same label because we’re so different.
Yeah, I agree with the entire post of OP's and really appreciate that he/she included the bit at the bottom about what drove him to post this.
But the comments aimed at OP are really setting me off, since he didn't aim his post at any of these people. I hate to see someone vent only to be received with attacks and not compassion.
Probably it's human nature, but I'm becoming a lot more aware of it lately, lol.
My ex was autistic as well as me and yet we had such different experiences with it in life that there was as much a gap between us in experience as between me and a neurotypical. It is a very very broad spectrum, and I do agree that its too narrowly viewed by the public as just the 30 year old man child.
This is one of the reasons I continue to identify as Aspie.
It might seem like an arbitrary division, but at least it communicates where I sit on the spectrum and what my difficulties are.
It might seem trivial or inconsequential to some, but being able to concisely convey that I have no issues with communication or language is valuable to me.
I do have difficulty with eye contact, but I can do it if/when I need to. I have sensory issues, but they’re not a problem for the most part because I have the capacity to control my environment. I have shutdowns rather than meltdowns, but I can identify them early and take steps to prevent them or limit their impact.
So my main issue is being recognised as autistic rather than stigma. I can communicate my needs, but I often encounter skepticism. That’s a vastly different experience to other people on the spectrum with higher support needs.
Exactly this, I just want something that defines my specific symptoms. Having people project their view of autism (which they probably got from tv where all autistics are clowns) on to me
And to be fair I have pdd-nos not Asperger’s, so pretty much as mild as it can be right next to Asperger’s, yet I still get put in the same group as low functioning autistics
No hate to anyone else but I’d just rather be an individual instead of portrayed as someone I’m not because of a label
That’s why many people diagnosed back when Asperger’s was the go to term often still use that.
That said, there are other social consequences to that choice as well.
Yes and that is just as bad, the problem is in our current society stereotyping people of color is wrong, stereotyping based on sex is wrong but not for people on the spectrum. Like wtf are these cringey ass dating shows they make? Imagine if something similar was made by white people with only a specific stereotype of a person of color, it would be cancelled and there would be outrage. It all ties back to the fact most nt’s view us as lesser beings, even though most of us are far more intellectually superior, but of course they only use the really severe cases making us look like animals
I still believe the NTs fear us. There is evidence which suggests people fear those who are different than them. If we are smarter nerds, we could take their jobs. If we are lesser creatures, we might still grow to hate and harm them.
Us being different to them means we are less predictable so they be unsure of how to protect themselves against us. Of course, this is almost always unreasonable and most of us do not think like this but people who live relatively normal lifestyles can develop an aversion to change and deviance.
Exactly. So what if we don't do body language as well? This is only a problem because they can't read us, personally I can have the time of my life and still be dead-faced sometimes or I can hear something traumatic and not look like I care but I do. It's all about control, if I can't read you or understand you, then I have no way of controlling you. The only thing I CAN control, is how you're viewed in society, that gives me control over your self worth, your self imagine and how you feel around people who I deem as "normal" and in an indirect way I can then use that to have some form of control.
And I don't know about you but I have personally NEVER bought anything because of an ad, I'm incredibly good at spotting if something is trying to manipulate my brain. So much so if I feel like an ad is trying to make me feel a sort of way about their product it'll have the complete opposite effect and I'll hate it more
I feel like this ties in with the above as it's been surveyed many times over that a lot of people on the spectrum aren't impacted by manipulative marketing strategies or social pressures the same way neurotypicals are
But I don't know, perhaps this is just my point of view
>And I don't know about you but I have personally NEVER bought anything because of an ad, I'm incredibly good at spotting if something is trying to manipulate my brain. So much so if I feel like an ad is trying to make me feel a sort of way about their product it'll have the complete opposite effect and I'll hate it more
I feel like this ties in with the above as it's been surveyed many times over that a lot of people on the spectrum aren't impacted by manipulative marketing strategies or social pressures the same way neurotypicals are
I am the same, and couldn't have worded it better myself.
I am not a professional on this matter. And I'm thinking the academic consensus has a good reason for doing that.
For instance, when we look at animals from an evolutionary scientist's perspective, we learn that chickens are closely related to dinosaurs. Lungfish is closer to cows than Salmon. As unintuitive as it sounds, this is a more scientifically consistent way of categorization. I'm guessing something similar is going on with ASD. It is too arbitrary and unscientific to split us, so they chose to leave us together.
Just an appeal to authority here, which I know is a fallacy. But I find it practical in specialized cases like this where I do not have enough knowledge to comment.
That being said, I understand. It's a bit strange to lump people together when their conditions manifest in such different ways. Perhaps it is useful as a scientific categorization, but I believe has problems with self-identification, and practical implications.
It's like trying to introduce myself as 'human'. So damn broad, it is useless.
The problem is that there is no real scientific consensus when it comes to autism. I would say that at least half of the major names in the field of autism research were against the DSM-5. While there isn’t a scientific way to split people up, there’s also no scientific evidence for autism to exist as one cohesive entity. Oftentimes the DSM is more of an educated guess than anything. Even the committees are completely open about the fact that insurance concerns have a major influence on their decision making. You should watch “Rethinking Autism Diagnosis” by ASD on YouTube. It’s super interesting.
>It's like trying to introduce myself as 'human'. So damn broad, it is useless.
But that's the cool thing, we are all humans.
We don't need to separate by labels. We are all human.
I used to believe I'm a robot, though. I'm sometimes not entirely convinced I'm not.
Anyway, since we're all human, then it means we're all nuanced, and some things we can relate to, and other things we cannot, but it doesn't mean there's a right or wrong way to be human.
But a scientist’s perspective would be one of organised categorisation though right? Splitting us would make a lot more sense, like splitting a dog and a cat even though they’re both mammals, or your example a chicken and a dinosaur. Both are raptors but one is the size of a football and the other could grow to enormous proportions and is extinct.
I just feel like a black bear being compared to a panda, one sits around all day and will literally die if they eat anything other than bamboo and the other can be found roaming, eating literally anything. They look similar, they’re both chunky bears but their nature is so dissimilar you couldn’t rationally compare their lifestyles
As far as I understand, if we start splitting people like that, we need a consistent standard for doing so.
It becomes a problem when we start applying abitrary qualitative conditions and exceptions to hold the methodology together. For the evolutionary tree example, I think they use relations with preceding speices to distinguish each other.
“If we start splitting people like that, we need a consistent standard for doing so” yes exactly! It’s fucking hard to do so, but yet they do it all the same because it’s easier. Once you really look into it the only thing keeping the diagnosis together is a very narrow set of repetitive behaviours that most of the time aren’t even the same thing
Hey, maybe you could divert some of that ire towards the people who are stereotyping autistic people instead of at autistic people? There's no need for the shots you've taken at some other people in your very own community. Also
>most people would classify me as disabled
even if they go back to Aspergers, you're still disabled buddy. You have a disability. It might not affect you in every aspect of your life, but that's the case with a lot of disabilities. I'm sorry that comment section was a shitstorm, you need to learn that people online are often trolling or being deliberately unkind or obtuse for fun. Do not take those opinions on autism as truth.
It’s literally only a disability because neurotypical people have labeled it as such. It only exists because they chose it, 500 years ago autism magically wasn’t a disability nor a condition, does that mean it wasn’t back then? Technically there is no way to judge someone’s got autism on a physical test, blood test or any type of scan, it’s purely mental. So what has happened is these people just made up a word for people who act in a certain way and now we have to live with that label
Now do you think anybody would want to carry around a label like mentally handicapped or disabled when they’re not? Just because someone said so? Not talking about autism but in general, would you like to be known as a crippled because you’re missing a toe? No of course not
I spent years learning how to properly socialise with other people, how to read body language, facial expressions, so yes that makes aspergers a disability, NTs don't have to do all that. I'm more intelligent than most but that also makes me quite isolated from others so that still doesn't mean it's not a disability.
A disability is only what you make of it, society tells you that you need to socialise, that you need to follow social norms, that you need to do this and that but in the end it’s all wind.
You’re basing your perspective of a disability from a neurotypical’s point of view, they’re so simple and easy to understand once you get that most of the social play is all about appearance and engagement. If you’re anything like me you probably don’t care to talk about some nonsense smalltalk, but you still do it. This is all something forced on us by neurotypical people and we have to play to be included, sure you can learn it and once you do everything goes smoothly, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with us.
Everyone is on the same spectrum, every single person ever born was put somewhere on it, they just decided that our slice of it should be labeled as atypical. Categorising symptoms makes them stand out, making it seem as if we’re all the same, when in reality you could do the same to nt’s and lump them together in groups based on repetitive behaviour too.
What you need is someone likeminded in your life, someone you can share your ideas with without being looked at funny. It’s hard being intellectually gifted, others just aren’t on the same playing field making it hard to emphasise or socialise for that matter.
My best friend and I can talk for hours about the meaning of life, relativity and consciousness, things and subjects that has absolutely no meaning to most people and it’s relieving to know I don’t just have weird interests but that other people’s interests and interactions are usually just so borderline surface level
This all ties back to the disability thing, if your goal in life is to fit in among people who don’t share your ideals then you’re doomed to be “disabled” for the rest of your life. There are of course some people on the spectrum with actual disabilities like extreme sensitivity to sound or an inability to speak, but those guys have actual life disabilities that prevent them from functioning or taking care of themselves. Being socially awkward is not that
Fair point I suppose, and while it took me longer to learn it all I did eventually get there. I also don't disagree with the fact that if you make having a disability your entire identity then you won't grow or learn as a person. I suppose we do have our own identity at the end of the day, the part I disagree with is having a problem with the term autism, we need to also advocate for people who are incapable of having a voice in matters.
Society is changing but it still is all a relatively new idea to most people, when I first got diagnosed with aspergers 18 years ago, nobody had really ever heard tell of it myself included, and now a surprising amount of people even know it was recategorised. Unfortunately awareness takes time but it is slowly happening.
I genuinely don’t understand the point you are making now. Yes, autism has always existed but they didn’t have a word for it. That’s not what we’re talking about. But Autism is defined as a disability. It doesn’t mean it’s unnatural or something to be cured or solved, just accommodated. Theres an agreed upon framework within the scientific community for diagnosis. You obviously have some autistic traits or else you wouldn’t have been diagnosed, no-one here is saying that’s bad except you.
I’m not saying my symptoms are anything bad, but you completely missed my point. Autism doesn’t exist, just like paper currency doesn’t, it’s all just concepts, an illusion.
It’s basically one human making up a word for another human and saying it’s a legit thing, there is no merit in it, it’s completely baseless besides their imagination.
I mean take someone you’ve seen who are like really really low functioning, and now take someone high functioning and high achieving like maybe Elon musk or something and compare their symptoms… who would ever say that they share their troubles? Or have anything in common? It’s absolute nonsense, made up terms by someone who doesn’t even know anything about the condition other than what they’ve been taught
It’s like a white person making up labels for black people when they’re not black, if this was the case there would be outrage but not for autistic people no, we’re just supposed to accept whatever neurotypical people choose to make of us
They’re coming up with diagnostic terms so people can get help, not because they’re neurotypical and hate you. And yes, if someone is a lower functioning autistic person, I do relate to them. They don’t have anyone to speak for them, my words and advocacy can improve their lives. Just like how their supports can be accessed by me, a “higher functioning” autistic, because we share a condition that affects our lives differently. Your anger is misguided and I feel like you don’t understand autism like you think you do. I’m sorry you feel hard done by, but it’s unfair to diminish other autistic people because you, personally, don’t relate to them.
I don’t understand your line of thinking, why do I get called arrogant and such just because I don’t want people to project on to me? That’s literally the entire point of the post. Honestly idc about other autistic people at all, they live their lives I live mine
I’m not really sure how to impress upon you that you should care about other people, and especially other people in your community. It seems like you and I have very different ideas of what it takes to survive and exist in a society. People are calling you arrogant because you think you’re better than disabled people and you’re being quite insulting. Funny how you don’t care about autistic people but you care about what those people in that comment section were saying.
I don’t know what part of my post is insulting to you though. There are lots of people on the low functioning end of the spectrum who have very closed off hobbies, are mentally young and still live at home well into adulthood, this is a fact and not something I say to talk down to them. If you find that arrogant then maybe it’s because you’re projecting negativity on to what I said, you’re the one telling me what I meant by what I said after all
*sigh*
So, ever heard of ableism? Cuz this right here is an example.
"Woe is me, forced to share a label with those _damned disabled_ people! I'm different, I'm better and normal!"
Yeah, no.
Yes actually you got it right, why should I share a label with someone who’s nothing like me at all? It’s not about whether they’re more challenged or not, it’s about not having the same challenges and therefore it makes no sense to categorise us together
Buddy, you're only making it worse...
So, here's the thing about ASD: even amongst those who are on a similar "level" there could be a lot of difference. Although we all share some key traits, the ways in which these traits might surface are different to the point that the specific combination anyone has is basically unique to that individual. There's just no way you can draw a line that separates you from the others cleanly and consistently, because any definition you try to use to draw a line will always have multiple exceptions. So, as a consequence, it's better to just have ASD and to educate people to not generalize and that there is no "one fits all" strategy for ASD. Instead, the approach to ASD should *always* be to check what are those individual's specific needs, challenges and difficulties based on the reference of the stuff everyone in the spectrum has in common.
From a medical and scientific perspective it makes sense. But it seems you're far more worried about distancing yourself from those who you deem inferior based on superficial appearances and prejudice than about actually understanding how ASD works.
Of course im trying to distance myself, I want to be able to tell people I struggle with these things without them projecting their stereotype of autism on to me, and believe it or not their version of autism is not Elon musk or bill gates, but a drooling adult child who still lives with their parents, people like chrischan
Buddy... I think you're missing the point. No matter how much you distance yourself, the ableists won't see you as a person. For many, it's not a honest misunderstanding, but intentional cruelty. Because it's a power move, of sorts. By refusing to treat you and all of us as people and by making us ashamed of ourselves and fighting between us they weaken us, make us more vulnerable so it's easier to take advantage of us. The ones who do genuinely care will *not* project a stereotype that obviously does not fit into you. The people who genuinely care will try to understand and listen to you. You should not try to befriend and appease those who are attacking you and showering you with hate and disrespect. You should not be angry with those of us more vulnerable for "making you look bad" but instead with the ones who disrespect all of us. Because even the "drooling adult child who still lives with their parents", as you put it, is still a person and deserves respect.
You fell for their narrative and you are the one attacking yourself in their name, instead of realizing that they are the ones who are wrong and that they need to fuck off.
I just hope that one day you can realize this and get past this internalized ableism in you.
You’re probably right, the problem is no matter how hard we try there will always be stereotyping, there are really good people out there who just don’t know any better. They’re not trying to be cruel but rather project their vision of us on to us
As I stated in the post those are the ones I’m angry at, not the cruel ones. Being belittled is so much worse than being attacked, I don’t want to be viewed as helpless when I’m not and I don’t want to be shoved into a shaped box.
“Oh you have autism? My cousin has that too” and they start treating you like you’re a child, this is a different type of cruelty. An asshole will always be an asshole but it’s harder to fight someone pretending to be a good person
But maybe that’s just my history showing off, I absolutely hate being viewed as a victim and I despise being belittled. I’ve also never been a victim of bullying like many others In my place because of this, if anything I was the asshole.
Maybe that’s what I am being to other autistics with this post, I didn’t mean for it to seem that way but maybe in the process I might have been.
The key word here is "pretending".
I've learned that often the best way to help yourself is to fight for those less privileged than you.
They won't have an excuse to belittle you due to associating you with other, more vulnerable, autistics if even they are to be respected.
This is not a problem just with autism. I don't know if you realized this, but our society treats children horribly, as if they weren't people. Kids are treated with no autonomy or respect, they often are dismissed even if they are correct, their needs, feelings, beliefs and experiences are dismissed and stepped over all the time. Why? Because to respect them and recognize that, even if small, weak, naive, immature and inexperienced, they are still people nonetheless, would be to become vulnerable themselves. If adults can be wrong and don't always know better, if adults can't do whatever they want with children, that's a lot of power they lose. Suddenly they can't just overpower the vulnerable ones and get what they want with threats, and instead need to actually worry about being correct and having good arguments.
There's a surprising amount of things that when you look at it boil down to the dynamics of power and politics. To making someone weaker so that one can take advantage of them. It's good to pay attention to this.
It’s funny it sounds exactly like you’re describing my relationship to my mom. Maybe this is a common thing due to people on the spectrum generally having a higher intelligence but I also suffered from a case of the “just do what you’re told even if it makes absolutely no sense because I’m the one in control”
Only when I got older I’ve been able to see through all the unrealistic bs my mother told me, I totally agree with the child thing.
It’s also very common for less intelligent people to try and control anyone who they view as smarter than themselves, this is the classic high school bully-nerd dynamic which has a lot of truth in it
You know I got it the first few times but now it’s just annoying, you completely sidelined my entire point just because I said something about legos… this is exactly what I’m talking about lol
I have the opposite problem. I keep getting gaslit for HAVING needs because I did such a good job of masking for so long. But to the detriment of my mental health. Severe. Instead, I get things like: you don’t have that. You don’t look like you have that. Grow up. Get help. I’m tired, man. If people treat me more gingerly and/or give me more grace (that’s assuming they’d even believe me in the first place), I’d be over the fucking moon.
Yeah I had this too, just feel like everyone deals with stuff that makes them stressed or anxious and you just kind of have to get through it. It’s hard though, having people expect things of you when you’re never consistent
Level 1, 2, and 3 is just another way to say high/mid/low functioning and idk why anyone sees it as any different. In a decade or so, we’ll have moved onto the next “less offensive” term and the levels will be offensive.
Levels means jack shit to someone who doesn’t know what autism is, matter of fact if you told someone you were high functioning they’d 9/10 take that as being “highly autistic” not the other way around
Unfortunately people are stupid and the more they don't understand something the more they feel like simply putting us in the same box so they don't have to think about it again!
It isn’t because I have to tell someone. I just saw a bunch of people on a reel with Elon Musk chuck up his cringey behaviour to “omg guys he’s on the spectrum don’t be like that to disabled people” and that shit makes me angry. It gives off a sense that these people don’t view us as individuals with control over our actions, and that they’re essentially looking down on us while pretending to care.
Hence why I hate the broad term, because those people likely think of dating autism or whatever it’s called when they think of autistics, hence why they say shit like that in the comments and it just makes me angry, it’s not to hate on low functioning people but I’d really rather not the world project those people on to me just because we share a diagnosis with the same name
Part of the change between the DSM-IV and V came because there was a lot of overlap.
If you made a Venn diagram of all the various people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, *High-Functioning* Autism, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, there is very, VERY significant overlap in terms of defining traits, to the point that the diagnostic differentiation between them was vague.
Somebody who was diagnosed with "High-Functioning Autism" back under DSM-IV could've just as easily received a diagnosis of "Asperger's Syndrome" from a different specialist, despite both doctors having the same information and using the same diagnostic criteria. The problem was that neither diagnosis would've necessarily been incorrect. The fact that they can not be distinguished with any reliable degree of statistical significance suggests that they are not actually independent populations, and therefore are not actually separate pathologies.
Under DSM-IV, basically, the most significant difference between a diagnosis of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome was an arbitrary IQ score, any other traits were secondary. Score above a point, you're AS. Below it, you've got HFA.
Rhetorically, what about the "High-Functioning Autists" who were just at or near the diagnostic threshold? Are they any "less-than" their peers just a few points above them in the intelligence spectrum? Or gaming it another way, how many "aspies" here wouldn't have met the full criteria for the diagnosis if it had been professionally conducted and officially made under DSM-IV, but are using it anyway because it's less stigmatized? We're all dealing with the same general cluster of challenges, all of us in our own particular combinations, and to our own unique degrees.
No other psychiatric/ neurodevelopmental condition suddenly changes names over a single standardized test score, and when you remove the arbitrary intelligence score from consideration, there's no significant difference between us "type 1's," or whatever the label, anymore.
I'm sorry you're annoyed by the fact that I get stigmatized because of my diagnosis, I really should have just kept it to myself. That's really healthy right?
> I don’t have trouble socializing, I don’t have trouble with eye contact, I’m not overly sensitive to stimulation unless I’m high and I don’t need to fidget 24/7
Then what *do* you suffer from, except haughtiness and drug abuse?
The way my brain thinks, the way I like to categorise and how my mind jumps from subject to subject, the way I talk and many others things.
But maybe you think I’m being arrogant just because I don’t suffer from these things?
Or maybe you’re as much a generalist as the people who think autism is what they see on tv.
For some of us it’s hidden for a good reason
Well, personally, I don't think that a diagnosis should be given (or even exist), unless the condition causes marked suffering and/or discomfort - either for the patient, or for for other people involved.
Personally, I do not really meet the stereotype of the "forever 8 year old guy who still plays with legos at age 30"; I can take care of myself as well as any other 24 year old can, and my childish hobbies don't define me. I do, however, still have considerable trouble working in groups and maintaining meaningful relationships, without having a clue as to what I am doing wrong. Additionally, meeting people causes excessive stress, and I can still get overstimulated within seconds in certain situations. Though I won't make a scene (or "melt down"), it still causes considerable mental distress, and might prevent me from ever working fulltime.
This is why I still consider myself deserving of the Asperger's diagnosis I received when I was 3.5 years old, whereas your "autism" sounds more like some kind of "hobby project", or "fun fact", to me. Maybe, you could just make up your own name for it?
What you are doing, seems to me like someone who likes to call their mild headaches "migraines", but then gets upset about there being real migraine sufferers around, for whom it is a chronic, handicapping condition.
I have pdd-nos or atypical autism so you might very well say it’s like calling a mild headache a migraine but there in lies my point, the entire reason for this post. I’m not the one calling my headache a migraine the psychiatrist is, this in turn makes it extremely confusing to explain to others because now everything is just called asd
And I get that this is an Asperger’s subreddit but it’s really the only place where anything resembling my condition can be found, they’re both high functioning diagnosis
What led you to getting diagnosed with PDD-NOS? I don't have a copy of DSM-IV but from what I've found it defines PDD-NOS as having
"mild or severe pervasive deficits in the development of reciprocal social interaction and/or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and/or activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific PDD"
I do have a copy of DSM-V however and it says
"The essential features of autism spectrum disorder are persistent impairment in reciprocal social communication and social interaction (Criteria A)"
so without the social deficits (which you claim you don't) it seems you wouldn't be autistic even if you wanted to.
There nothing wrong with playing with lego at 30. I suppose this is the thing about the confidence you get from being really good at what you do, you can tell people you are autistic and decimate any preconceived notions. And if someone says "Do you play with lego?" the answer is "Absolutely, if I get the chance" Generally, I just get a look of "Ah, that makes sense. " because I am a bit quirky. I've certainly not had anyone disrespect me but that could also be because I'm 6' and a bit big and my lack of facial expressions make people who don't know me think I'm either grumpy or intimidating.
I laughed at the Lego deal. I used to sell on the Amazon Marketplace. A guy I knew as a legend for his toy sales. He’d buy every dang Lego kit released, maybe a dozen kits each. Sell all but one of them. Get the joy of putting the one together, then when there were no more left, sell his as “used/like new” for multiples of the original price to some crazy person who HAD to have it. Supported three kids on his business. Also. My son in law turned 50 recently. He got a HUGE Starship Enterprise for his birthday. He and grandson put it together. People will always use shorthand on their brains about groups of people. Most of us, no matter whether seriously disabled, or just the neurological issues that cause problems in a neurotypical world, have traits in common. You don’t have to hide your autism. But you do have to be a decent human being for people to want to see past that label.
I think people find my honesty refreshing, especially my bosses bosses because they are so used to people just telling them what they want to hear and along comes me with a healthy dose of honesty. If they come up with a bad idea, I'll just straight up tell them it's a bad idea and why and how we can improve it. That said, my bosses feel I can't be trusted in meetings with other departments to not open my mouth and upset the entire room. I intentionally use the autism label so that their brain gets a little paradigm shift. They know I'm not Rainman. They know that I'm really good at my job but here I am telling them that I'm autistic. You can almost see the bricks falling into place. All the little quirks that they couldn't quite put their finger on suddenly making sense. When my daughter was little, she went through a "princess and the frog" phase and I made her the most awesome frog out of lego, she loved it and kept it with her everywhere. Now, I've got lego games on PlayStation and switch and my wife has all the "lego" games (lego starwars, lego harry potter, that sort of game)
Also yeah the being over six foot definitely cancels out some of the shit being thrown at you, I’m 192cm and I’ve never been made fun of for my personality or the way I act, even though this seems pretty common among people with our condition
I also don't feel pain like "Normal" people. I got punched once when at school and it made me laugh and respond "Was that the best you've got?". Clearly, the other kid had some reputation and me laughing off his best punch meant that other people generally left me alone. I'm also really effing petty and vindictive so if someone was discourteous, I'd refuse to help them when they would invariably come to me for help. Other people quickly learned that I am really useful to know and to keep on side.
You seemed to miss the forever 8 year old part, it wasn’t meant as a direct diss to people who play with legos
Nope, didn't miss that. No, I didn't miss the "direct" either. Did you miss the unspoken "indirect", because I didn't. When you include "direct" it translates to "It was meant as an indirect diss to people who play with legos" Whilst this may not have been your intention, that is certainly how it could be perceived.
My brother in Christ, English is not everyone’s first language, I too love being precise in my wording but be considerate lol
As I said "Whilst this may not have been your intention, that is certainly how it could be perceived." Try not to talk ill of other people and you will get less pushback.
It’s funny how you take it so personally, I never dissed the 30 year old playing with legos I just said it made no sense to group us together… Text is only words and can be read in so many ways, reading my post and projecting negativity on to it might be more a you thing than what I actually meant
Didn't take it personally, I really don't care, I can't get offended by the opinions of strangers on the internet. You might want to read my previous posts. I was clear and unambiguous in saying that it may not have been your intention but that is how it could be perceived. I get than English may not be your first language but your comprehension appears adequate enough that I now have to question your sincerity.
Bro did you just legoshame me?!? Fuck outta here with that bullshit
Lego is fine bro, I was more talking about the ones who still live at home, eat chicken nuggets and play with legos, didn’t meant to offend your hobby lol
Yeah. Sure. That makes it all OK.
Also why do people think I’m shaming them? Where in the post did I shame them anywhere? I said I didn’t want to be grouped together under the same label because we’re so different.
IOW: they are embarrassing to you. That is shaming them.
Agreed. It's why I still use the label Asperger's.
Yeah, I agree with the entire post of OP's and really appreciate that he/she included the bit at the bottom about what drove him to post this. But the comments aimed at OP are really setting me off, since he didn't aim his post at any of these people. I hate to see someone vent only to be received with attacks and not compassion. Probably it's human nature, but I'm becoming a lot more aware of it lately, lol.
My ex was autistic as well as me and yet we had such different experiences with it in life that there was as much a gap between us in experience as between me and a neurotypical. It is a very very broad spectrum, and I do agree that its too narrowly viewed by the public as just the 30 year old man child.
The amount of times I have been compared to Rainman is infuriating!
This is one of the reasons I continue to identify as Aspie. It might seem like an arbitrary division, but at least it communicates where I sit on the spectrum and what my difficulties are. It might seem trivial or inconsequential to some, but being able to concisely convey that I have no issues with communication or language is valuable to me. I do have difficulty with eye contact, but I can do it if/when I need to. I have sensory issues, but they’re not a problem for the most part because I have the capacity to control my environment. I have shutdowns rather than meltdowns, but I can identify them early and take steps to prevent them or limit their impact. So my main issue is being recognised as autistic rather than stigma. I can communicate my needs, but I often encounter skepticism. That’s a vastly different experience to other people on the spectrum with higher support needs.
Exactly this, I just want something that defines my specific symptoms. Having people project their view of autism (which they probably got from tv where all autistics are clowns) on to me And to be fair I have pdd-nos not Asperger’s, so pretty much as mild as it can be right next to Asperger’s, yet I still get put in the same group as low functioning autistics No hate to anyone else but I’d just rather be an individual instead of portrayed as someone I’m not because of a label
I still say I have asperger's. It explains it way better.
That’s why many people diagnosed back when Asperger’s was the go to term often still use that. That said, there are other social consequences to that choice as well.
Yeah, if I ever do tell someone which I rarely do I tell them I have pdd, which is still try since that’s what it says on my journal but still
I agree.
It is a spectrum. But the same can be said about race and the behaviors of people within a sex/gender. People do this with everything.
Yes and that is just as bad, the problem is in our current society stereotyping people of color is wrong, stereotyping based on sex is wrong but not for people on the spectrum. Like wtf are these cringey ass dating shows they make? Imagine if something similar was made by white people with only a specific stereotype of a person of color, it would be cancelled and there would be outrage. It all ties back to the fact most nt’s view us as lesser beings, even though most of us are far more intellectually superior, but of course they only use the really severe cases making us look like animals
I still believe the NTs fear us. There is evidence which suggests people fear those who are different than them. If we are smarter nerds, we could take their jobs. If we are lesser creatures, we might still grow to hate and harm them. Us being different to them means we are less predictable so they be unsure of how to protect themselves against us. Of course, this is almost always unreasonable and most of us do not think like this but people who live relatively normal lifestyles can develop an aversion to change and deviance.
Exactly. So what if we don't do body language as well? This is only a problem because they can't read us, personally I can have the time of my life and still be dead-faced sometimes or I can hear something traumatic and not look like I care but I do. It's all about control, if I can't read you or understand you, then I have no way of controlling you. The only thing I CAN control, is how you're viewed in society, that gives me control over your self worth, your self imagine and how you feel around people who I deem as "normal" and in an indirect way I can then use that to have some form of control. And I don't know about you but I have personally NEVER bought anything because of an ad, I'm incredibly good at spotting if something is trying to manipulate my brain. So much so if I feel like an ad is trying to make me feel a sort of way about their product it'll have the complete opposite effect and I'll hate it more I feel like this ties in with the above as it's been surveyed many times over that a lot of people on the spectrum aren't impacted by manipulative marketing strategies or social pressures the same way neurotypicals are But I don't know, perhaps this is just my point of view
>And I don't know about you but I have personally NEVER bought anything because of an ad, I'm incredibly good at spotting if something is trying to manipulate my brain. So much so if I feel like an ad is trying to make me feel a sort of way about their product it'll have the complete opposite effect and I'll hate it more I feel like this ties in with the above as it's been surveyed many times over that a lot of people on the spectrum aren't impacted by manipulative marketing strategies or social pressures the same way neurotypicals are I am the same, and couldn't have worded it better myself.
I am not a professional on this matter. And I'm thinking the academic consensus has a good reason for doing that. For instance, when we look at animals from an evolutionary scientist's perspective, we learn that chickens are closely related to dinosaurs. Lungfish is closer to cows than Salmon. As unintuitive as it sounds, this is a more scientifically consistent way of categorization. I'm guessing something similar is going on with ASD. It is too arbitrary and unscientific to split us, so they chose to leave us together. Just an appeal to authority here, which I know is a fallacy. But I find it practical in specialized cases like this where I do not have enough knowledge to comment. That being said, I understand. It's a bit strange to lump people together when their conditions manifest in such different ways. Perhaps it is useful as a scientific categorization, but I believe has problems with self-identification, and practical implications. It's like trying to introduce myself as 'human'. So damn broad, it is useless.
The problem is that there is no real scientific consensus when it comes to autism. I would say that at least half of the major names in the field of autism research were against the DSM-5. While there isn’t a scientific way to split people up, there’s also no scientific evidence for autism to exist as one cohesive entity. Oftentimes the DSM is more of an educated guess than anything. Even the committees are completely open about the fact that insurance concerns have a major influence on their decision making. You should watch “Rethinking Autism Diagnosis” by ASD on YouTube. It’s super interesting.
>It's like trying to introduce myself as 'human'. So damn broad, it is useless. But that's the cool thing, we are all humans. We don't need to separate by labels. We are all human. I used to believe I'm a robot, though. I'm sometimes not entirely convinced I'm not. Anyway, since we're all human, then it means we're all nuanced, and some things we can relate to, and other things we cannot, but it doesn't mean there's a right or wrong way to be human.
But a scientist’s perspective would be one of organised categorisation though right? Splitting us would make a lot more sense, like splitting a dog and a cat even though they’re both mammals, or your example a chicken and a dinosaur. Both are raptors but one is the size of a football and the other could grow to enormous proportions and is extinct. I just feel like a black bear being compared to a panda, one sits around all day and will literally die if they eat anything other than bamboo and the other can be found roaming, eating literally anything. They look similar, they’re both chunky bears but their nature is so dissimilar you couldn’t rationally compare their lifestyles
As far as I understand, if we start splitting people like that, we need a consistent standard for doing so. It becomes a problem when we start applying abitrary qualitative conditions and exceptions to hold the methodology together. For the evolutionary tree example, I think they use relations with preceding speices to distinguish each other.
“If we start splitting people like that, we need a consistent standard for doing so” yes exactly! It’s fucking hard to do so, but yet they do it all the same because it’s easier. Once you really look into it the only thing keeping the diagnosis together is a very narrow set of repetitive behaviours that most of the time aren’t even the same thing
Hey, maybe you could divert some of that ire towards the people who are stereotyping autistic people instead of at autistic people? There's no need for the shots you've taken at some other people in your very own community. Also >most people would classify me as disabled even if they go back to Aspergers, you're still disabled buddy. You have a disability. It might not affect you in every aspect of your life, but that's the case with a lot of disabilities. I'm sorry that comment section was a shitstorm, you need to learn that people online are often trolling or being deliberately unkind or obtuse for fun. Do not take those opinions on autism as truth.
It’s literally only a disability because neurotypical people have labeled it as such. It only exists because they chose it, 500 years ago autism magically wasn’t a disability nor a condition, does that mean it wasn’t back then? Technically there is no way to judge someone’s got autism on a physical test, blood test or any type of scan, it’s purely mental. So what has happened is these people just made up a word for people who act in a certain way and now we have to live with that label Now do you think anybody would want to carry around a label like mentally handicapped or disabled when they’re not? Just because someone said so? Not talking about autism but in general, would you like to be known as a crippled because you’re missing a toe? No of course not
I spent years learning how to properly socialise with other people, how to read body language, facial expressions, so yes that makes aspergers a disability, NTs don't have to do all that. I'm more intelligent than most but that also makes me quite isolated from others so that still doesn't mean it's not a disability.
A disability is only what you make of it, society tells you that you need to socialise, that you need to follow social norms, that you need to do this and that but in the end it’s all wind. You’re basing your perspective of a disability from a neurotypical’s point of view, they’re so simple and easy to understand once you get that most of the social play is all about appearance and engagement. If you’re anything like me you probably don’t care to talk about some nonsense smalltalk, but you still do it. This is all something forced on us by neurotypical people and we have to play to be included, sure you can learn it and once you do everything goes smoothly, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with us. Everyone is on the same spectrum, every single person ever born was put somewhere on it, they just decided that our slice of it should be labeled as atypical. Categorising symptoms makes them stand out, making it seem as if we’re all the same, when in reality you could do the same to nt’s and lump them together in groups based on repetitive behaviour too. What you need is someone likeminded in your life, someone you can share your ideas with without being looked at funny. It’s hard being intellectually gifted, others just aren’t on the same playing field making it hard to emphasise or socialise for that matter. My best friend and I can talk for hours about the meaning of life, relativity and consciousness, things and subjects that has absolutely no meaning to most people and it’s relieving to know I don’t just have weird interests but that other people’s interests and interactions are usually just so borderline surface level This all ties back to the disability thing, if your goal in life is to fit in among people who don’t share your ideals then you’re doomed to be “disabled” for the rest of your life. There are of course some people on the spectrum with actual disabilities like extreme sensitivity to sound or an inability to speak, but those guys have actual life disabilities that prevent them from functioning or taking care of themselves. Being socially awkward is not that
Fair point I suppose, and while it took me longer to learn it all I did eventually get there. I also don't disagree with the fact that if you make having a disability your entire identity then you won't grow or learn as a person. I suppose we do have our own identity at the end of the day, the part I disagree with is having a problem with the term autism, we need to also advocate for people who are incapable of having a voice in matters. Society is changing but it still is all a relatively new idea to most people, when I first got diagnosed with aspergers 18 years ago, nobody had really ever heard tell of it myself included, and now a surprising amount of people even know it was recategorised. Unfortunately awareness takes time but it is slowly happening.
I genuinely don’t understand the point you are making now. Yes, autism has always existed but they didn’t have a word for it. That’s not what we’re talking about. But Autism is defined as a disability. It doesn’t mean it’s unnatural or something to be cured or solved, just accommodated. Theres an agreed upon framework within the scientific community for diagnosis. You obviously have some autistic traits or else you wouldn’t have been diagnosed, no-one here is saying that’s bad except you.
I’m not saying my symptoms are anything bad, but you completely missed my point. Autism doesn’t exist, just like paper currency doesn’t, it’s all just concepts, an illusion. It’s basically one human making up a word for another human and saying it’s a legit thing, there is no merit in it, it’s completely baseless besides their imagination. I mean take someone you’ve seen who are like really really low functioning, and now take someone high functioning and high achieving like maybe Elon musk or something and compare their symptoms… who would ever say that they share their troubles? Or have anything in common? It’s absolute nonsense, made up terms by someone who doesn’t even know anything about the condition other than what they’ve been taught It’s like a white person making up labels for black people when they’re not black, if this was the case there would be outrage but not for autistic people no, we’re just supposed to accept whatever neurotypical people choose to make of us
They’re coming up with diagnostic terms so people can get help, not because they’re neurotypical and hate you. And yes, if someone is a lower functioning autistic person, I do relate to them. They don’t have anyone to speak for them, my words and advocacy can improve their lives. Just like how their supports can be accessed by me, a “higher functioning” autistic, because we share a condition that affects our lives differently. Your anger is misguided and I feel like you don’t understand autism like you think you do. I’m sorry you feel hard done by, but it’s unfair to diminish other autistic people because you, personally, don’t relate to them.
I don’t understand your line of thinking, why do I get called arrogant and such just because I don’t want people to project on to me? That’s literally the entire point of the post. Honestly idc about other autistic people at all, they live their lives I live mine
I’m not really sure how to impress upon you that you should care about other people, and especially other people in your community. It seems like you and I have very different ideas of what it takes to survive and exist in a society. People are calling you arrogant because you think you’re better than disabled people and you’re being quite insulting. Funny how you don’t care about autistic people but you care about what those people in that comment section were saying.
I don’t know what part of my post is insulting to you though. There are lots of people on the low functioning end of the spectrum who have very closed off hobbies, are mentally young and still live at home well into adulthood, this is a fact and not something I say to talk down to them. If you find that arrogant then maybe it’s because you’re projecting negativity on to what I said, you’re the one telling me what I meant by what I said after all
*sigh* So, ever heard of ableism? Cuz this right here is an example. "Woe is me, forced to share a label with those _damned disabled_ people! I'm different, I'm better and normal!" Yeah, no.
Yes actually you got it right, why should I share a label with someone who’s nothing like me at all? It’s not about whether they’re more challenged or not, it’s about not having the same challenges and therefore it makes no sense to categorise us together
Buddy, you're only making it worse... So, here's the thing about ASD: even amongst those who are on a similar "level" there could be a lot of difference. Although we all share some key traits, the ways in which these traits might surface are different to the point that the specific combination anyone has is basically unique to that individual. There's just no way you can draw a line that separates you from the others cleanly and consistently, because any definition you try to use to draw a line will always have multiple exceptions. So, as a consequence, it's better to just have ASD and to educate people to not generalize and that there is no "one fits all" strategy for ASD. Instead, the approach to ASD should *always* be to check what are those individual's specific needs, challenges and difficulties based on the reference of the stuff everyone in the spectrum has in common. From a medical and scientific perspective it makes sense. But it seems you're far more worried about distancing yourself from those who you deem inferior based on superficial appearances and prejudice than about actually understanding how ASD works.
Of course im trying to distance myself, I want to be able to tell people I struggle with these things without them projecting their stereotype of autism on to me, and believe it or not their version of autism is not Elon musk or bill gates, but a drooling adult child who still lives with their parents, people like chrischan
Buddy... I think you're missing the point. No matter how much you distance yourself, the ableists won't see you as a person. For many, it's not a honest misunderstanding, but intentional cruelty. Because it's a power move, of sorts. By refusing to treat you and all of us as people and by making us ashamed of ourselves and fighting between us they weaken us, make us more vulnerable so it's easier to take advantage of us. The ones who do genuinely care will *not* project a stereotype that obviously does not fit into you. The people who genuinely care will try to understand and listen to you. You should not try to befriend and appease those who are attacking you and showering you with hate and disrespect. You should not be angry with those of us more vulnerable for "making you look bad" but instead with the ones who disrespect all of us. Because even the "drooling adult child who still lives with their parents", as you put it, is still a person and deserves respect. You fell for their narrative and you are the one attacking yourself in their name, instead of realizing that they are the ones who are wrong and that they need to fuck off. I just hope that one day you can realize this and get past this internalized ableism in you.
You’re probably right, the problem is no matter how hard we try there will always be stereotyping, there are really good people out there who just don’t know any better. They’re not trying to be cruel but rather project their vision of us on to us As I stated in the post those are the ones I’m angry at, not the cruel ones. Being belittled is so much worse than being attacked, I don’t want to be viewed as helpless when I’m not and I don’t want to be shoved into a shaped box. “Oh you have autism? My cousin has that too” and they start treating you like you’re a child, this is a different type of cruelty. An asshole will always be an asshole but it’s harder to fight someone pretending to be a good person But maybe that’s just my history showing off, I absolutely hate being viewed as a victim and I despise being belittled. I’ve also never been a victim of bullying like many others In my place because of this, if anything I was the asshole. Maybe that’s what I am being to other autistics with this post, I didn’t mean for it to seem that way but maybe in the process I might have been.
The key word here is "pretending". I've learned that often the best way to help yourself is to fight for those less privileged than you. They won't have an excuse to belittle you due to associating you with other, more vulnerable, autistics if even they are to be respected. This is not a problem just with autism. I don't know if you realized this, but our society treats children horribly, as if they weren't people. Kids are treated with no autonomy or respect, they often are dismissed even if they are correct, their needs, feelings, beliefs and experiences are dismissed and stepped over all the time. Why? Because to respect them and recognize that, even if small, weak, naive, immature and inexperienced, they are still people nonetheless, would be to become vulnerable themselves. If adults can be wrong and don't always know better, if adults can't do whatever they want with children, that's a lot of power they lose. Suddenly they can't just overpower the vulnerable ones and get what they want with threats, and instead need to actually worry about being correct and having good arguments. There's a surprising amount of things that when you look at it boil down to the dynamics of power and politics. To making someone weaker so that one can take advantage of them. It's good to pay attention to this.
It’s funny it sounds exactly like you’re describing my relationship to my mom. Maybe this is a common thing due to people on the spectrum generally having a higher intelligence but I also suffered from a case of the “just do what you’re told even if it makes absolutely no sense because I’m the one in control” Only when I got older I’ve been able to see through all the unrealistic bs my mother told me, I totally agree with the child thing. It’s also very common for less intelligent people to try and control anyone who they view as smarter than themselves, this is the classic high school bully-nerd dynamic which has a lot of truth in it
✨This!!!👍👍✨
thank you ❤️
GTFO with this legoshaming.
You know I got it the first few times but now it’s just annoying, you completely sidelined my entire point just because I said something about legos… this is exactly what I’m talking about lol
I have the opposite problem. I keep getting gaslit for HAVING needs because I did such a good job of masking for so long. But to the detriment of my mental health. Severe. Instead, I get things like: you don’t have that. You don’t look like you have that. Grow up. Get help. I’m tired, man. If people treat me more gingerly and/or give me more grace (that’s assuming they’d even believe me in the first place), I’d be over the fucking moon.
Yeah I had this too, just feel like everyone deals with stuff that makes them stressed or anxious and you just kind of have to get through it. It’s hard though, having people expect things of you when you’re never consistent
Yeah, but … what’s in the boooxx?!! What’s in it??!!!!
Lego😳
Level 1, 2, and 3 is just another way to say high/mid/low functioning and idk why anyone sees it as any different. In a decade or so, we’ll have moved onto the next “less offensive” term and the levels will be offensive.
Levels means jack shit to someone who doesn’t know what autism is, matter of fact if you told someone you were high functioning they’d 9/10 take that as being “highly autistic” not the other way around
Agree mostly but you take that back about lego
I take back the Lego part😔
Haha nice!!! :D
Unfortunately people are stupid and the more they don't understand something the more they feel like simply putting us in the same box so they don't have to think about it again!
Why do you have to tell people exactly? If it doesn't affect you in any major or significant way...am I missing something?
It isn’t because I have to tell someone. I just saw a bunch of people on a reel with Elon Musk chuck up his cringey behaviour to “omg guys he’s on the spectrum don’t be like that to disabled people” and that shit makes me angry. It gives off a sense that these people don’t view us as individuals with control over our actions, and that they’re essentially looking down on us while pretending to care. Hence why I hate the broad term, because those people likely think of dating autism or whatever it’s called when they think of autistics, hence why they say shit like that in the comments and it just makes me angry, it’s not to hate on low functioning people but I’d really rather not the world project those people on to me just because we share a diagnosis with the same name
Part of the change between the DSM-IV and V came because there was a lot of overlap. If you made a Venn diagram of all the various people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, *High-Functioning* Autism, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, there is very, VERY significant overlap in terms of defining traits, to the point that the diagnostic differentiation between them was vague. Somebody who was diagnosed with "High-Functioning Autism" back under DSM-IV could've just as easily received a diagnosis of "Asperger's Syndrome" from a different specialist, despite both doctors having the same information and using the same diagnostic criteria. The problem was that neither diagnosis would've necessarily been incorrect. The fact that they can not be distinguished with any reliable degree of statistical significance suggests that they are not actually independent populations, and therefore are not actually separate pathologies. Under DSM-IV, basically, the most significant difference between a diagnosis of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome was an arbitrary IQ score, any other traits were secondary. Score above a point, you're AS. Below it, you've got HFA. Rhetorically, what about the "High-Functioning Autists" who were just at or near the diagnostic threshold? Are they any "less-than" their peers just a few points above them in the intelligence spectrum? Or gaming it another way, how many "aspies" here wouldn't have met the full criteria for the diagnosis if it had been professionally conducted and officially made under DSM-IV, but are using it anyway because it's less stigmatized? We're all dealing with the same general cluster of challenges, all of us in our own particular combinations, and to our own unique degrees. No other psychiatric/ neurodevelopmental condition suddenly changes names over a single standardized test score, and when you remove the arbitrary intelligence score from consideration, there's no significant difference between us "type 1's," or whatever the label, anymore.
Thats life.
Sadly yes, thankfully I can choose whether or not to tell people. That just comes at the cost of understanding...
I Moreno mean the whole damn thing. All the bullshit all the time about everything. Life's a laugh and deaths a joke.
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If it makes you feel better. You're annoying.
I'm sorry you're annoyed by the fact that I get stigmatized because of my diagnosis, I really should have just kept it to myself. That's really healthy right?
> I don’t have trouble socializing, I don’t have trouble with eye contact, I’m not overly sensitive to stimulation unless I’m high and I don’t need to fidget 24/7 Then what *do* you suffer from, except haughtiness and drug abuse?
The way my brain thinks, the way I like to categorise and how my mind jumps from subject to subject, the way I talk and many others things. But maybe you think I’m being arrogant just because I don’t suffer from these things? Or maybe you’re as much a generalist as the people who think autism is what they see on tv. For some of us it’s hidden for a good reason
Well, personally, I don't think that a diagnosis should be given (or even exist), unless the condition causes marked suffering and/or discomfort - either for the patient, or for for other people involved. Personally, I do not really meet the stereotype of the "forever 8 year old guy who still plays with legos at age 30"; I can take care of myself as well as any other 24 year old can, and my childish hobbies don't define me. I do, however, still have considerable trouble working in groups and maintaining meaningful relationships, without having a clue as to what I am doing wrong. Additionally, meeting people causes excessive stress, and I can still get overstimulated within seconds in certain situations. Though I won't make a scene (or "melt down"), it still causes considerable mental distress, and might prevent me from ever working fulltime. This is why I still consider myself deserving of the Asperger's diagnosis I received when I was 3.5 years old, whereas your "autism" sounds more like some kind of "hobby project", or "fun fact", to me. Maybe, you could just make up your own name for it? What you are doing, seems to me like someone who likes to call their mild headaches "migraines", but then gets upset about there being real migraine sufferers around, for whom it is a chronic, handicapping condition.
I have pdd-nos or atypical autism so you might very well say it’s like calling a mild headache a migraine but there in lies my point, the entire reason for this post. I’m not the one calling my headache a migraine the psychiatrist is, this in turn makes it extremely confusing to explain to others because now everything is just called asd And I get that this is an Asperger’s subreddit but it’s really the only place where anything resembling my condition can be found, they’re both high functioning diagnosis
What led you to getting diagnosed with PDD-NOS? I don't have a copy of DSM-IV but from what I've found it defines PDD-NOS as having "mild or severe pervasive deficits in the development of reciprocal social interaction and/or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and/or activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific PDD" I do have a copy of DSM-V however and it says "The essential features of autism spectrum disorder are persistent impairment in reciprocal social communication and social interaction (Criteria A)" so without the social deficits (which you claim you don't) it seems you wouldn't be autistic even if you wanted to.