I hate autism awareness

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For me feeling NT has more to do with how healthy I am and who I spend my time with. When I'm with people I enjoy being around I feel NT. When I'm around people who annoy me or autistic people I feel more autistic.

I don't want to be seen as autistic because I don't even think autism is a useful category. It's just a collection of traits and a bunch of disorders that haven't been properly classified. I think it's way better to just be seen as "quirky". When people see you as quirky they don't make up anything that isn't there. They just see me as I am. When I'm seen as autistic people often make up traits that don't exist.

I don't understand why people are so desperate to figure out if someone is autistic. I don't think 99% of the population will have any useful reason for knowing if someone is autistic or not. When I don't tell people about my diagnosis it's for a good reason. I don't need people to go snooping.

I purposefully hide my diagnosis at my new school because I don't have an autistic learning style. I don't want people to assume I like sameness, I'm a visual learner,I'm super detail oriented or have trouble with abstract thinking. I actually thrive on variety, am an auditory learner, learn holistically first and I don't have trouble with abstract thinking. My real learning profile fits way better with ADHD, so that's the disorder I tell people I have.

Last edited by DevilKisses on 22 Feb 2016, 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Just from knowing DevilKissess on WP for a little while, I would not be surprised if she was either on the BAP (shows autistic traits but not enough to qualify for autism) or qualifies as autistic in only one area.

When you take the autism diagnostic tests, they ask you questions about different things. Usually how you relate to other people, physical sensitivities, verbal fluency, and...I feel like there's something else I'm forgetting. Anyway, sometimes people are autistic in only one area and have neurotypical scores in the other areas. I don't know why, but this is how people are. The spectrum of people and all.

Something like this would explain sometimes feeling autistic and other times not. You would usually be able cover for your discomfort in your one, autistic area. To the point where you might not even be aware of it. But sometimes you would be sick, or stressed out, or preoccupied, and your autism traits would come out. Thus you would seem more autistic during these times.

My mom purposefully scheduled my assesment when I was super sick, so I ended up with a diagnosis. She did that because no one would diagnose me when I was healthy. When I'm at my best I think I socialize normally. When I'm feeling crappy and sick I'm hyper aware that I'm interacting like an autistic person. I also literally notice my sensory issues showing up when I'm sick and disappearing when I'm healthy. I could be delusional about my social skills getting better, but I'm definitely not delusional about my sensory issues.

SocOfAutism, it doesn't mean she isn't autistic. Just means she compensates better at some times than others. I can identify. At times I compensate pretty well, but when I am tired, sick, overwhelmed, or sometimes for no apparent reason, I de-compensate and can't handle socializing, noise, chaos, or life in general.

I think of "autism awareness" as the ability to benefit from the latest knowledge of autism from anecdotal and scientific sources

And to be "aware" that people with autism can succeed, despite the autism label, and despite the ingrained notions of autism from the distant past as something which precludes one from success.

At this moment people being aware of autistic traits doesn't benifit me at all. From other people's perspective they may feel it benifits them. Probably because they like to feel superior to me and people want to pathologize every quirk I have.

I'm not a "pathologizer." Not at all. I take people as they are.

It doesn't benefit me to "pathologize" anyone.

I've had people do that to me. Not a nice feeling.

The problem is unlike most conditions there is not one stereotype but several which are often opposite of each other

1. The "ret*d" person who bangs their head against the wall requires 24/7 care is a burden to thier family and society.

2. Rain Man. A basically ret*d person with a savant ability.

3. The cute funny socially ackward genious Aspie ala Sheldon

4. The Aspie who is whiny is using thier condition to get benifits or make excuses and needs to just try harder because everybody has difficulties and everybody is a little bit autistic just like them.

Those are the main ones they can be broken down into subcategories or a combination of these stereotypes.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 22 Feb 2016, 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Indeed, the above is true.

This might surprise you, but most people don't like being thought of as autistic. When even non-autistic people are being asked if they're autistic, yes, that's bad. Personally, I prefer it if nobody knows about my diagnosis unless it's their business to know. Even the so-called "professionals" make me want to slap them sometimes, so the less people know, the better.

Awareness helped me a lot because without I never have been diagnosed and know who I really am. But while it has been good for a subset of older adults I believe it has been bad overall because of the type of awareness and the continuing uncertainty and disagreement as to what Autism is.

If the Awareness was of the acceptence type it would be good and it would be even better if the awareness was of the appreciation type. As it is the awareness has been mostly centered on fears and impairments. While neurodiverse movement has sought to bring more positive awareness and has had some successes in this regard the future success of this movement is in doubt because of resistence from clinicians, parents of the more severely autistic and most importantly in the last couple of years increasing fierce resistance from many autistics themselves who believe the ND movement is elitist and supremacist. These autistics believe that if the ND movement is successful the truth of Autism as a series of impairments will be forgotten about leading to negative repercussions.

Everyone already can tell that I'm weird, so the idea of being thought of as autistic doesn't make that much of a difference to me. I'm either going to be weird, or autistic, or off, or odd, or eccentric, etc. I'm never going to seem normal to people, so why should I even care?

Best answer ever. It really codifies my thoughts. But, I honestly hate having to see other people's words and have to use them to describe my own thoughts. I hope one day to be able to articulate my own thoughts without external reference. Really makes my communications difficult.

I think that you do a pretty good job. Probably just mild alexithymia. I think practicing writing might help eventually. I know that I got better at communicating my thoughts after writing so many essays in college. Although I don't have alexithymia as far as I know.

Not talking about you. I'm talking about the snooping NTs who ask if I'm autistic.

I feel that the media is at least partly to blame, they depict Autism with a set number of parameters, and thus when people IRal meet someone with those parameters, they instantly think: "oh, that's an Autistic!" Even if said parameters are either incorrect or too narrow. E.G. Being Austistic = obsessing over something.