"Autism is a spectrum"

Post Reply New Topic

You mean those of us who actually have genuine autism?
Instead of those hfa aspies and their pseudo-autism?
Not saying this because offended. Just that it swings both ways.
Am always hearing about "them". Them LFA. Them HFA. Them NT's. Damn them!

I've never seen anyone indicate that they believe this, and certainly not in the threads you mention.

To be fair, social awkwardness is a way that some people are described in relation to their social deficits, so many autistic people are described as such. At least one subgroup of autistic people tends to be analytical. Obsessive is literally in the diagnostic criteria under repetitive ritualistic behavior - specifically, special interests. Introversion is extremely common among autistic people. Spotting these correlations is not inaccurate, although it is inaccurate to assume that most people who have these traits are autistic.

As far as being diagnosed and receiving services in childhood, I was not diagnosed. However, for one year I did receive services, at least school-related, and was placed in a special education class. That happened to be my most successful year in school, and my interests had a lot of influence on some of the things covered in the classroom (disability in general, service dogs, volcanoes, origami, I forget what else). The difference was I was placed in a classroom where I would benefit. I was supposed to be placed in a high school with more services that would be appropriate for me, but that plan was changed basically because my legal father was a psychopath and I think he enjoyed seeing me fail.



I know what it's like to be around students who thought this way about me. It was never pleasant, and it was always crappy. And for some strange reason, I could never summon sympathy for their plight as opposed to sympathy for others who are stuck with someone who views them so poorly.

My sense is that the OP is really about how you don't think you should have been diagnosed.

If you don't like the label, don't use it. If there are some strong signs of something that people misinterpret as ASD but you know is something else, go get another diagnosis.

What is probably going to be totally ineffective is trying to redefine the spectrum to exclude yourself. It is a broad spectrum and there are many high functioning people on it.

You can't fix your problem with your diagnosis by claiming that other people who are autistic are not really autistic because they are too much like you.

Until we get clear diagnostic tests based in physical data (blood tests, FMRI, etc) what we are going to have is diagnosis based on symptoms. If you have the symptoms and the diagnosis, but also other symptoms that indicate another cause for the ones you have, focus on dealing with those specific things.

For most people who share your diagnosis, the problem is not the label but the way that the symptoms complicate life. They usefulness of the label (if it fits) is that information about ASDs can help a person with the symptoms to understand what they experience and lthen live better with those symptoms.

Your misdiagnosis isn't contingent on the diagnoses of other people, so this is not going to be a productive approach to dealing with it.

[sorry for ipad typos!]

Last edited by Adamantium on 11 Mar 2014, 7:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

I think I see what you are saying now.

I was diagnosed with severe ADHD as a kid. Aspergers was not a diagnosis at the time. And yes, diagnosing these types of things is far from exact, present diagnosis included.

Many, most, (possibly all) of the interventions for ADHD I had as a kid were detrimental. Some were traumatic. One teacher put me in a cardboard box all school year. I was isolated from other children until I was 10. I grew up on the strongest allowed dose of Ritalin, and then adderall. I won't make sweeping allegations of what those do to people or children, but I do wonder what physical neurological changes it made in my brain to have taken something so strong during most of the years that my brain was developing.

I remember seeing in a magazine pictures of weighted vests and lap blankets as a kid. I remember simultaneously thinking that it would feel good AND that it would be used to keep me down when I wanted to be up. No adults in my life got those things for me. As an adult, I have a weighted blanket now that I love.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers at age 30. Shortly after that, I had a therapist who would stop me mid-thought and demand that I look in her eyes. The whole time it felt rude and unuseful. If the first time anyone felt to whine about my poor eye contact was 30, that means I got away with it that long. As far as I know poor eye contact doesn't interfere with my life. I can imagine this and other treatment being sanctioned and used on me--inappropriately--as a child.

Anyway, I do agree that it is magical thinking to assume that if one receives a diagnosis earlier, things will be better. There are a lot of factors involved there.

I would rather see a movement towards symptom-based care and a major over-haul in this area in general. (By symptom-based care, I mean less reliant on diagnosis and treating actual problems that individuals have.)

From the adult diagnosis side, I think sometimes it is disenheartening to get diagnosed and then find out and/or be told that there are lots and lots of interventions for children in their local area and zero for adults. I would assume this is one origin of this other thought pattern. And those thoughts and problems are also valid and deserve a solution as well.

Very much so, which leads me to ask the OP: Why do you spend so much energy refuting your diagnosis? The majority of people here search for understanding and answers, they WANT a diagnosis, they want answers to their lifelong mystery, I'm not adversely judging you for it or anything. I'm genuinely curious why you feel so strongly about having this label put on you. It's not as if you're a lesser person for having it, or a better person for not having it.