You young people are truly lucky in this autistic age

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There are benefits and downsides of early diagnosis.

I tend to think of things in terms of "what if it DID happen back then"? Rather than using today's standards to judge the past situation.

In the case of older aspies, I don't think early diagnosis would have been any help. They would have just been permanently institutionalized (until those hospitals were closed down). Or locked in the house. Whatever their parents felt like.

In the case of myself...I don't think anything GOOD would have come out of it. AS treatments didn't really exist when I was a child, and the ones for classical autism would have been far too insulting. The only thing that could have happened was an increased chance of giving up on myself and my parents giving up on me.

The situation is possibly even worse today. Treatments exist, but the only effective ones aren't for AS itself, but for co-morbid conditions that many people with AS don't have. As a result, several parents now believe that their child needs things like PT, OT and ST; JUST because they have AS. If this isn't covered under insurance, then parents pay for it all, potentially sucking money out of their child's college fund.

But, many parents have been told to not bother with aiming for post-secondary education for their AS children by psychologists and special ed teachers. As a result, these children will have fewer educational opportunities that many undiagnosed AS children had before them.

Many psychologists are also telling parents not to bother with trying to establish independance in their AS children, because "they don't want them to develop unreasonable expectations". As a result, many young adults with AS are going straight from high school to welfare, without even trying to find a job. Even a part-time one; because their parents have drilled it into their head that employment will be too much for them.

AnAutisticMind - thanks for helping us; being Autistic can be hard. I don't usually, but a Wrong Planet friend/inhabitant, nightbender, is having a really tough time right now: http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... &p=2181808

Others have been responding and hopefully he'll be feeling better soon; might you post on his thread? I think just writing, sharing what you told us, would help him recover.

Oh, check out my video clip - URL below! Hope you like......thank you, AnAutisticMind.

I am a friendless freak and refuse to consider myself lucky.

i am almost 50 and notice quite a lot of younger people here and that is good, i relate well to people of all ages..............don't worry young people, by the time you get older a lot of things will fit into better spaces, make more sense......TRUST ME

you guys are so lucky to have the treatment and support you do today as autism is on every tv, magazine, and book cover, lol

i lived in a lonely confused world in the 1960's and 70's...............i had to make my way through the world totally in the dark and not understanding what it was all about, and thinking about things few 8 year olds did(what is life?, why are we here?, what does it all mean?), not too many 8 yrs old think about those things, lol

i just knew i was so damn different than anyone else.................could not believe how immature people really were

by the time i turned 16, i had changed from a confused, awkward, pimply dorked stooge, lol.too a very mature young gentlemen.....girls were chasing me and i just couldn't figure out why they would want me


don't worry you guys, you'll make your way in the world LOUD AND CLEAR, let it evolve as it was suppose to, dont get frustrated...................all my love to you guys

Oh yeah? Well I had to walk in the snow to school, up two hills and back or whatever people say to give some competative snarky claim to having life rougher.

No, not really.
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