My case manager is a guy in his mid-40s. I got him because I needed him, and in order to get him, they had to give me a diagnosis of "depressive disorder-NOS." Everyone agrees that I'm not depressed, though, so that's that.
But the case manager keeps referring to my "mental illness" and "recovery." As far as I know, my only "illness" is autism and related anxiety. But I don't believe that I'm ill, even though autism severely complicates my life and there are days I wish for a cure. I also don't believe that, at 22, I'm going to experience any sort of recovery. How do I convey this to him? The problem is that we always communicate in person and my verbal communication is rather poor, so I can't exactly lay out my beliefs and explain them to him.
The other problem is that he doesn't like that I "identify with my label." He says I seem to like attention for being autistic. I will admit to enjoying attention for being myself, but I definitely don't advertise my autism. If people ask, I may or may not say, "I have autism," but I don't usually offer the information unprovoked. He doesn't seem to understand that there is a sense of community with autism, and that it's comforting. How do I explain to him the difference between autism and, say, depression, which people don't usually like to advertise having? When I admit my autism, it's because I want to raise awareness. I'm type I diabetic, and I do the same with that.
07 Apr 2010, 6:00 pm
