Young schoolgirl commits suicide over mild autism diagnosis

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I just read this article about a beautiful and bright young schoolgirl called Elspeth McKendrick who committed suicide at the tender age of 16 because she failed to come to terms with a diagnosis of mild autism. Makes me so sad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... nosis.html

I don't how this could have been avoided, perhaps follow-up care needs to be highlighted, especially here in the UK where this girl lived...a good therapist to talk about it...?

And this is who my thread was intended to, she obviously was not happy, did NOT want autism and needed great sympathy.

Is there not a single person on this forum who has ever felt like her?

It is very sad to read about Elspeth, the world is cruel against all that don't fit in, and when you are so young you cannot think properly yet, you cannot imagine that things will get better. The pain in the now is so strong and overwhelming.

Sympathy in this case would be pity, or maybe something you would give to someone whose close friend died.

I would be very happy for this positive article on autism if not for the fact that it took the death on an innocent girl to bring it about.

I heard some bad about the CAMHS (some British mental health service). That they were like that.

I think she thought the CAMHS were trying to get her a diagnosis for autism to try and change her. That is probably why she was upset.

Edited to add: IBA, that's empathy, not sympathy. But it's sympathy when you say "Yes, autism is bad, you are right to be upset because of THAT." And that's wrong.

I guess if anything we can blame A$ and society's ridiculous beliefs that having autism means the the end of the world for this.

I don't think this girl commited suicide because there was no one to talk to or something because if thats the case she would've at least gone online to find someone to talk to on a site or somewhere since most people do that when they don't find someone to talk to, there are so many reasons why people choose to live or not or to like life or not or if theres point in life or not or whether they're bored of it or no, I think some of those things are; way of thinking, views, beliefs, strength and all those things. Thats why I guess you find people who have everything but hate life but others who have nothing but love life.

Is this IBeatAutism person or troll going to continually comment about their pity being good intentions in every thread. Please God no. I wish they would use their time to actually do something to help the disabled people they're pitying. Like maybe offer to do grocery shopping once a week for parents who are busy caring for a disabled child. Help illiterate people learn to read. Volunteer to come along on primary school field trips as an extra hand to help the teachers. Brush the stray cats at the animal shelter. Anything!

This is really sad.

It's also scarily similar to my own experience, so I can understand how this could have happened, although I really doubt that this wasn't also compounded by other factors not mentioned, perhaps not known. I was diagnosed when just a little younger than her by CAMHS and I also wanted nothing to do with it.

For me it was a lack of understanding -- nobody ever explained to me what it was. CAMHS did not offer any actual support after the diagnosis. They didn't talk to me about it and explain. People were talking about me and boxing me in behind my back. The diagnosis was at the time not helpful to me, but felt like being isolated and set apart from anyone else when all I wanted to do was try to live normally. Like the reason people were giving me this label was because saying that there was something wrong with me was the only way they could justify my existence or my being the way I was. I don't know if Elspeth's feelings were the same, but it seems they were certainly similar.

Evidently I did not kill myself over it, but there were some months of wishing I were dead, or that I had never been born.

Although I doubt this was the only problem that drove her to suicide...this could have been avoided, I'm sure of it. In her case, mine, and any others. Seriously, if someone giving you a diagnosis is going to offer no actual help whatsoever, there should at least be an explanation. Something almost like a debriefing, where it's made sure that the person diagnosed understands what this means, has the opportunity to ask any questions and express any concerns.

Otherwise -- although it may still help some even without the above, if they happen to be fortunate enough to have people in their lives who can help them work it out or a good source of information or support of some kind -- it really can cause more harm than good. Putting on someone a label which (without adequate understanding, and how many teenage girls really know much about ASD? There isn't enough education/information; rather many of the messages being put out there, say those of autism speaks, or stereotypes passed around between people who don't really know about it) can feel like being labelled as incurably defective and ostrasized.

Then they're let go with little better understanding, and in some cases few or no resources to cope. (With a lot of people on this forum who were diagnosed later in life or are still undiagnosed, I realise, they have the resources already but are seeking diagnosis more for reasons of validation and being able to look into it more by themselves. But when you're diagnosed as a teenager who doesn't actually know much about it, or has been presented before with misinformation about it, it seems so much more likely that you'll be lacking those resources and not coping well to end up there in the first place. Of course this isn't always the case, but clearly it is at least sometimes)

Most manage to get through it, but for a few it's going to be like tying weights to their feet and throwing them alone into deep water. The weights don't have to be so heavy, but that means nothing unless there's more of an effort to correctly inform and to spread understanding.

I think if I had been diagnosed in high school I would have felt the same. But, now I'm in an environment where the people closest to me keep reiterating that my diagnosis doesn't change who they love, they just understand me better now. It makes me feel like my personal journey with Autism is a super power rather than a disorder.