Should I stop posting here?

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This is all something I have not ventured into much. I really did not know if I should stay or go or if I stay if to pretty much keep my mouth shut or not. I am surprised I have managed to mostly keep calm about it. I am in one of those comfortably numb phases thank goodness.

No, if you want to continue posting.
Yes, if you don't want to continue posting.

No. Please stay.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

No you have just as much right to be here.

NO. No no no.

And Ezra, you misunderstand what happened there on that other thread.

I posted from a personal point of view not necessarily because I thought you were referring personally to me specifically. But because you were referring to a general group of people or a type of person that can be very easily interpreted as including people LIKE me who have had a similar journey as mine regarding ASD and its diagnosis later in life.

There's a distinction there. I can only post about my own personal experience in order to illustrate a general experience that is not in fact unique to me.

You interpreted that as me thinking your post is specifically about me -- that's not where I was coming from. I was posting about my own case to illustrate, actually because I know I'm not the only one who has my kind of case or journey. Not that I'm thinking I represent anyone but just because my own case is the only one I'm most intimately familiar with.

No you shouldn't stop posting, but if you post things that express skepticism against a certain type of person diagnosed on the spectrum, then you can only expect that members in that general "type" of person you seem to be referring to will post that they're unhappy to see that this kind of skepticism exists.

And actually if anyone it's me who feels I shouldn't post here anymore because I am really sick of the skepticism younger diagnosed people express very regularly on here regarding older diagnosed people. I feel like it's me who doesn't belong here and I'm now afraid to post about driving a bloody car or having a job because it means I'm so "high functioning " that eyes will roll and skepticism will fly.

No.

I think everyone has a right to express their opinions - including you, and those who disagree with you.

You have the right to express personal opinions about autism that others on this forum find antagonistic and hurtful. But if you choose to exercise that right, you need to accept that people will take offense. Own it, and don't play the poor innocent teenager being 'suppressed' by the mean adults.

I think what isn't clear from your own perspective is that basically you insulted members of this forum, and we called you out on it. If that hurts your feelings - stop insulting people. Problem solved.

That being said, I completely understand and forgive you, because I think it's due to autism that you simply cannot see how your statements come across as hurtful to others. And I also think that we have misunderstood what you're actually trying to say. From our perspective, it came across as being directed at members of this forum, but you have explained that it truly wasn't intended that way, and I believe you.

Basically, we agree that people shouldn't just go around frivolously deciding to 'celebrate their autism' without a qualified professional diagnosis, in cases where it isn't causing any kind of of impairment in their lives. Also, at this point I think we agree that these (alleged) people generally are not found on WP, so you've cleared up that misunderstanding.

So I think we're really on the same page, and that we've made good progress toward coming to understand each other better. Keep on posting - but again, if you feel the need to rant about autism being over-diagnosed, and you truly don't want to create drama, you need to be clear that you're not talking about anyone on WP.

Stay.

Everybody has a right and need to express an opinion about autism issues because Autism is so important to us. Because Autism is so important to us and because if you have met one Autistic you have met one Autistic good people are going to disagree passionatly about these issues. Occasionanaly even sometimes a lot more then occasionally when you get out into the NT world you are going to find your opinion is the small minority opinion.

What I have found is as posters come and leave what is the "convention wisdom" on a forum changes over time. When I joined in 2013 most posters were about "Aspie pride" it is just a difference etc etc. In the next year most posters seem to be of the opinion that thier autism was curse, that there were many self diagnosed and diagnosed because of massive overdiagnosis ruining things for the truly Autistic, that most people calling themselves Aspies do so because they are elitists who do not want to be associated with the the truly Autistic. There were multiple concurrent threads with these themes going on. At that time I certainly was wondering like you are now if I belonged here. This year is not exactly like 2013 but the majority opinion changed yet again. The future? who knows.

It's your choice, but I don't think you should go. I always liked your posts. You expressed an opinion that some people might disagree with; that doesn't mean your perspective is not valued on the forum.

No Ezra - you should stay and continue to bring your viewpoint to our community.

Over the past few years I've found many of your postings to be very insightful, providing me with a viewpoint I often hadn't considered before.

I would look forward to your continuing active presence here.

Take care.

<--- <SNIFF> <SNIFF> Nobody cares if he stays or goes.

WOO HOO!! !!

I didn't find what you said to be offensive. I did understand the intent behind it.

I think the other poster did indeed intend to mean these things to be directed at those who are on WP, and those that are diagnosed but who she thinks are higher-functioning than she is.

I think she is assuming that the people on here that seem to have no problems (I think it's much easier to seem normal on the internet!) aren't really affected by autism. Especially the older people who've developed coping mechanisms.

I'm not really sure who she thinks is wrongly diagnosed on WP, or who she feels upset by. But her posts are probably going to offend people.