Rant about people with "self-diagnosed" AS

Post Reply New Topic

I don't mean this in a patronising way, I just think you are too young and don't know enough about it to make any judgements. Im glad you've accepted you were wrong about some things, although I don't think you quite get it still.
Im only 20, 4 years older than you, undiagnosed, 5 years in the mental health system, lots of self harm, ODs etc.
I know a 7 year old who was diagnosed at 6 and so she gets all the support and help through school when she grows up her family will know that any oddities are due to her AS, they'll be able to support her, explain to her why she finds things hard etc.

For those of us who didn't get diagnosed as children, we struggled at school, some of us found some lessons hard, some might have been really good at some things, we were the ones with no friends but no one knew why, they just thought we were odd. We might have been bullied, stayed in the library all lunch, reading everything, writing. For me, I didn't know how to play games so I copied people, I copied everyone my whole life until I ended up in a psychiatrists office and she said 'This isn't you' and I had a total break down. At 16 I started to become myself again.


If you have aspergers diagnosed as a child it is so very different from growing up not knowing why you are different, finding that light bulb description for you is a huge thing, that is the most important thing, them knowing, finding it. Then its up to them what they want, if they need the words or that piece of paper then go for it, it its going to affect future jobs then don't. If its about money then obviously its up to them, for me its about a new beginning.
Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean everyone should go and get a diagnosis.

Yes there may be some people faking, but there are people out there faking cancer, depression, EDs...all sorts of things. Just feel sorry for them, because obviously they have their own problems if they are so desperate to be diagnosed with something.

However, this formed part of one of your "apologies":

I can't think of a more dismissive attitude. You either have not read, or have not understood, many of the posts in here.

Wow, just joined and this was the first thread i came across.

I'm not diagnosed (though i have been to a doctor who didn't really put any labels on what i may have). I just assumed some sort of mild cronic depression coupled with a bit of social phobia.
Why would I want to be diagnosed? To have a name attached to my uniquenss? What does that do anyway?

I've always thought my view of the world was a little off-just kinda attributed it to my own weirdness. Never thought about anything like AS, but reading about it on wikipedia i was kinda creeped out by how well it described me and my tics and personality traits.

Thought I would look into it more, but now i don't know if i'll come back since i'm not willing to go ask a doctor to put a label on me.

I recently self-diagnosed. For me, AS is a useful model for understanding my personality and for understanding and caring for my toddler, who is on the spectrum.

I wish I would have been diagnosed when I was six, because it would have helped my parents raise me differently. I am 28 now, self-supporting, and on my feet. It would not help me to get a diagnosis at this point in my life. Only my wife knows what I think and I do not share it with others at work, friends, or family. Maybe after a few years of thought, I may find that it is helpful to talk to others about an actual diagnoses.

It feels good to know that places like WrongPlanet exist, and that a formal diagnosis is not a criteria for entry.

I am SO sorry. Please don't judge the entire community here on this thread!

I'm self dx'd, too, and have been really restraining myself here.

Anyway, welcome!

Thank you, after reading some other responses i think i will stick around. A lot of you seem very interesting and intelligent.

Somehow I missed him saying he was 16 when i read it too. That would have made it have less of an impact. Not saying teens don't have anything good to say, but, well everyone's an elitist nowadays.

Why? You didn't take the opinions of anyone but yourself before you "flamed," as you so eloquently put it. I did, in fact, read each and every post in this thread, and I still think that your overall opinion is inherently flawed. You didn't even apologize for most of your accusations, and there are still obviously things left unresolved. If you really think that further discussion is pointless, then you would have done the obvious thing, which is to remove the thread entirely.

I apologize for my abrasive attitude as well; I just dislike people acting superior to others, especially a group. honestly, this is the first time I've disagreed with anyone on Wrong planet. :D

I personally don't want an "official" diagnosis. I have 4 children(one is a foster baby we are adopting soon) and I don't want to be labeled as having a disability that some people think can hamper parenting skills. I have a 10 y/o daughter with an official HFA diagnosis. My psychiatrist basically told me she thinks I'm on the spectrum and that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She's not an expert though and won't officially diagnose me. I'm good with that.

Many of us are adults and there was not a spectrum diagnosis available when we were children. If we functioned, we weren't thought to be autistic. We were labeled as "emotional troubled", "antisocial", and as having personality disorders and other problems. It's more difficult to get a diagnosis as an adult because you're missing the diagnostic criteria required for the early years of life.

I don't see HFA or Asperger's as a disability. Sure, I have some limitations because of it, but I also have great strengths because of it. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people out there who don't see the strengths and won't look at the individual if they have a diagnosis, a label to go off of. They look past the person to the disability.

My therapist seems to agree with me that I have good reason to believe that I am either HFA or have Aspergers, so we plan my treatment accordingly. I can't see spending hundreds of dollars to find out something I already know. Autism runs on both sides of my family. If I had been diagnosed as a child, my parents would likely have institutionalized me. I'm content to leave things the way they are.

Most older aspies, like me, who went through the psychiatric machine in the 1960s, under the DSM-I, were diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia. That was my diagnosis. I was put on Thorazine and numerous other drugs and, while committed to a state hospital, given a battery of electroconvulsive therapies.

My child psychiatrist, who diagnosed me with "schizophrenic reaction, childhood type," in the early-mid 1960s, is still alive, and I chat with him on the phone every decade or two. He told me that, if, today, I walked into his office, he would diagnose me with Asperger's and OCD.

Wow. Thorazine is a strong drug. That can't possibly be good for a child. I'm sorry you went through that. I'm in that age group, too. I'm still haunted by an old Life magazine article lauding a treatment for autistic kids that involved slapping and other types of abuse. This was in the sixties as well, and I have always wondered what became of those poor kids later.

My uncle was diagnosed as ret*d and schizophrenic, and was "put away" for long periods of time. At home he was treated like a lot of people treat their dogs. He is doing alright on his own these days, and is one of the kindest people I know. I don't know how he made it, he doesn't choose to talk about the past.

How do you keep from being bitter, if you don't mind my asking? I still very much resent teachers who hit me, and relatives who called me stupid and isolated me. I don't dwell on it, but the feelings are there. What you went through was much more barbaric.

Because I became professionally successful. I suppose if my life had turned out differently, I would not look back on those experiences in the same way. My "autobiography" is here:

http://narrative.neurelitism.com

Thank you, I will check out the links. It's inspiring to hear of people who didn't give up.

Congratulations on your growing family. I agree with your hesitancy to get a label. Only my wife knows of my self-diagnosis and, in the raising of our child, she only rarely uses my AS against me when arguing about parenting : )

That's not a problem with us because we're both almost certainly AS. The good thing is we work well together and where his weaknesses come into play, I make up for it and vice versa.