Asd vs neurodiversity in general ?

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My thoughts do fluctuate on it,but at present I'm very much convinced that the forthcoming assessment will show me not to have ASD. I have some autistic traits but strongly believe NVLD is a better fit.

This raises an issue of being on the spectrum vs being neurodiverse . I believe the latter to be more true in my case than the former.
My fear is that a negative for ASD will shut down talk of neurodiversity. I already know that the assessment centre doesn't deal with NVLD.

It is obvious to me there is something going on that isn't neurotypical even if it is not accounted for by ASD - the social interaction/social skills deficits ,below average motor skills, much higher verbal than non-verbal intelligence all point away from being neurotypical, ASD dx or not.

I would be interested in hearing other people's thoughts and experiences on this matter .

It seems I've f*cked up again . I thought that there was a question within my post,or at least a request for input,but obviously not .

It could of course be that no one has anything to offer up on this subject.

Do you feel that neurodiversity strictly excludes everything that is not ASD? I don't think that was ever the intention behind the concept.

There does seem to be confusion about what neurodiversity even is. So that's why I put together this reading list (all papers are downloadable):

https://neurodiversethoughts.wordpress. ... diversity/

The paper by Jessica Hughes "Increasing Neurodiversity in Disability and Social Justice Advocacy Groups" might answer some of your concerns.

Can I ask firemonkey, what makes you think it's not ASD? I was originally diagnosed with just NVLD but I felt my autistic traits were being dismissed. I went to someone that specializes in Autism and I have now been diagnosed with both ASD and NVLD. I would like to hear from someone with a sort of opposite perspective. As you have said NVLD isn't widely diagnosed and not in either of the main manuals. If you were just diagnosed with NVLD you probably wouldn't get any services, would you be ok with that?

Re not getting any services if just dxed with NVLD: Of course I wouldn't be ok with that.

Re doubting the ASD. That centres round doubts about restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities. Also sensory issues.

Re the first set of things. I spend 90% of my time on the computer online. I have rss feeds which I check regularly for things to post to forums/facebook/twitter. These are mainly mental health or politics related. I collect articles on both,though more mental health . Before being online I would make umpteen tapes based on an artist/genre/year etc and spent great amounts of my time doing that. I would also make lists of songs by genre/year etc.

One of my other interests is dna as relates to genealogy. I also collect posts and articles on that. For me most days are virtually a carbon copy of the previous day. I don't do much else than that other than watch a bit of tv.


As for sensory issues: There's not much. Certain fabrics irritate me. I remember a football shirt at prep school that I hated having to wear because it irritated me.Tags can also be a source of irritation. I don't like repetitive noises. What sounds like random ,intermittent banging with a hammer or drilling can really stress me out . Food wise I'm fairly ok but have a thing about the mouth feel of bananas,though I like banana flavour. Sounds - Being in a crowded restaurant or other place with lots of babble going on can be quite anxiety provoking/overwhelming .

As you can see the repetitive interest etc and sensory issues are very limited and I very much doubt qualify.