Is early diagnosis a self-fulfilling prophesy?

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I notice that many of the middle aged posters on WP are married and/or have professional careers. I noticed that many of the twenty somethings on WP complain that they can't get a partner and they can't get more than a minimum wage job.

The middle aged guys, when they were kids diagnosis wasn't available at all. They got confused about why they didn't fit in for a while and they got on with ther lives. They found love, they found success in their careers. Was this because they didn't have some doctor who told them they were disabled?

In recent years, diagnosis has been readily available. But is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? If they think there's something wrong with them, does it make them not try as hard at school? I think it did with me. Does diagnosis make them more shy of the opposite sex? Like if you tell someone they're bad at dating, they'll be bad at dating?

Is there any correlation between late diagnosis and success in love and work?

I don't think the diagnosis creates, inevitably, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's the diagnosee who creates the self-fulfilling prophecy for him/her self.

I was diagnosed very young, at age 3. With autism, then "brain injury/damage."

Wow, I didn't think knew about autism 50 years ago.

I keep repeating this story because it's true: once upon a school day, cberg the sophomore drove accross town with the first non-permit license in his class, went to two classes (using eyes, ears, arms & legs), caught up with friends and then sat through a 2 hour parent-teacher conference on his 'intellectual disability', then realised that the ones who were actually disorderly were his parents and HS principals. Thus he began his frequent truancy and got a GED from some nice ladies at the public library who had actual manners.

Now he builds things and ignores his faulty preconceptions to the best of his abilities.

I recall my van in the school parking lot posessing three pedals, five gears and NO WHEELCHAIR LIFT.

This is one of the most important topics of all. My answer to your question OP is "you bet it can be, and it is affecting huge numbers of young people, as they internalise stigma and then stigmatise themselves, as failures, defectives, no-hopers". This so very tragic, and the issue is not being addressed in the ASD community nor by any other community - neurotypical, professional, not even neurodiversity advocates for the most part.

It's the big silent invisible elephant in the room, and the rare event of discussions about it usually degrade to blaming the victim stuff, especially if these are dominated by NTs, as they commonly are (except on WP).

You've transcended the bullcrap, CBerg, and became a decent person in the process.

The autodidact is the one who really learns most thoroughly, in my opinion.

"Autism," as we know it, really began with Leo Kanner's paper in 1943. By the 1950s, it was fairly well known in psychological circles; the "refrigerator mother theory" took hold then.

I remember at least one public-service advertisement about autism done about 1970.

This "autism," in reality, is what's known as "classical autism" these days.

I hazard a guess that people forgetting how to chill is a more dangerous feedback loop than any diagnosis.

Some people's parents make too big a deal out of childhood autism diagnosis.
If a kid is somewhat intelligent and ok-functioning, I think it is worse to make a big deal of autism and grow up infused with autism-related stuff like social therapies, autism management techniques, special programs, constantly hearing about "your autism", etc.

The autistic kids of today have no idea how tough it was back in the day.

Fit in or face the consequences. No support, no diagnosis, no medications. And the constant, "it's all in your head." It wasn't until I started cutting myself that anyone took notice.

But I know, that's not the point. I suggest that people get over the stereotype that one is flawed if one has mental illness. That one is less of a person. If you've been diagnosed with something consider yourself lucky that help is available. Don't whine because of what you are. Life sucks for everyone, one way or another.

It's doubtful. In the past as well as today, the most severely affected people are the ones who are most likely to get diagnosed early on. It doesn't matter if autism or Asperger's are familiar to doctors or not, if one is severely affected, one will get diagnosed with something, correct or incorrect. If these middle aged members you mentioned had been severe enough when young, they'd likely have ended up in mental institutions, diagnosed with schizophrenia or something. The simpler explanation is that these older members are more mildly affected.

Furthermore, employment and social environments have changed. For example, in the U.S. at least, it's more difficult to get a job today regardless of whether or not one has a diagnosis. Even if the younger and older WP members were equally disabled, or diagnosed at equal rates and at the same ages, the younger members would have more trouble finding jobs. If anything, early diagnosis should make it easier to get a job due to access to Vocational Rehab, early intervention, work/school accommodations, and protection under the ADA. The fact that there is now little hope of earning a livable wage without a college degree suggests that many students are probably trying harder to succeed academically than they would have in previous generations. So the other simpler explanation is that older members benefited from an easier-to-navigate world.

^^that's the biggest load of whiny crap I've heard in a long time, starkid.

I don't know why you think I'm whining, but I'm not going to continue responding to attempted mind-reading. Your unexplained criticism is of no use to me, or anyone else, I dare say.

Here's the long version:


Or you're diagnosed with nothing and told you're fine.

But you are missing a bigger point ... autism can be coped with. It has been for generations before now. The idea that severely affected autistics end up institutionalized is an insult. Obviously some are, but you assume all. You really don't believe that someone can actually deal with having autism prior to your generation.

And your qualifications are?


You have no idea what you are talking about.

The world today is so much more easy to navigate than the one I grew up with. The main thing being the internet and social media, cell phones/texts. You guys have no idea how amazing this stuff is.

No, you only assume that I missed that point. Not mentioning something doesn't imply that I've "missed" it.


No, you assume that I assume all. I never said all and I never implied all.


Never said it, never implied it. Your assumption, again. Try sticking to the actual words I post.


Which qualifications do I need to justify stating that one explanation is simpler than another? Basic reasoning skills? I have those.

What do you mean "you guys"? I'm only 11 years younger than you are, assuming that age under your avatar is correct. Is this why you accused me of whining? You think I'm one of these younger autistics who is trying to justify my difficulties in life? I'm 34 years old, undiagnosed and misdiagnosed.

Also, social media, cell phones and text messages don't necessarily make it easier to get a job or a relationship, and jobs and relationships are the topic of discussion, as per the OP.

Okay .... so you don't think that severely affected autistics will end up institutionalized?


Did somebody say something about assumption?


What explanation?


Yes, I'm 45. And I didn't say you were whining because you are young, I just don't agree that your generation has it harder because you have access to diagnoses and medication and therapy. I just don't agree with you. And I'm not missing the point. Jobs and social relationships. For me these have only been possible with treatments available in the past couple of decades.



Neither does blaming things you have no control over. Just take advantage of what's available. And technology is a useful tool.

And if California is where you live like your location indicates, I'm totally jelous.

Decades ago, when I began university, I look back and think that a fair proportion of people there probably thought that I was "quirky". I had no trouble making friends because people came to me to ask for help when they were stuck on an assignment. So, wanting to keep that option open, they were on the whole careful not to offend me. They didn't have a default label to pin to their experience of me; they accepted me as an individual, quirks and all. "Eccentric" and "radical thinking" were no doubt other things they may have thought and said.

But I didn't have to face the nasty insults that exist now - the 'r' word; "weirdo"; sperg; "an assburger" "oh she must be on the spectrum" (as if that explained the true individuality and gifts of any person - but that's how it is used now, to label and diminish). Once you are saddled with derogatory labels, people expect less of you; and a lot of the labelled people (sadly) then live down to the low expectations. That's the self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you are fortunate to have wise and informed parents, who are true guides to things like life skills, building confidence, setting goals and developing patterns of achievement, with loving support and acceptance and approval in the background, I am happy for you and you are blessed; most young people today do not have parents like this, and targeted support - like life skill courses freely available for young people on the spectrum -are very thin on the ground. That is a pity; perhaps it is more than a pity, maybe it is a disgrace.

Yes, we seniors had our problems too, that were a product of those times and attitudes, when conformity (everyone was supposed to be basically the same) was so imposed. We stood out amongst that as children like sore red toes. We were shunned in the playground, bullied just as much as now (perhaps even more, there was no regard at all to protecting children then) isolated and forced into sports that humiliated us, taunted and socially excluded. We were naive and took people at their word, thinking they meant what they said. We suffered, and young people on the spectrum also suffer now. It's not a competition, is it..

Yet most or many of we oldies developed goals, skills, strategies to navigate our way through the dark and thorny forest somehow. We wanted so much to "fit in" that we tried hard to do that, and many of us learned (more or less) to pass well enough in certain circles. We had to learn, it never came naturally. But notice that we believed that we could learn these things.

Nothing in my early life was easy, as I have written about in other threads previously. Much of it was a completely unnecessary horror story. (I came eventually to look back on it as a master class in surviving and survival). If the things that happened to me then had led to labels slapped on me, (it was a far more victim blaming culture then, believe it or not) plus the label of "handicapped" (a word they loved then) I think my early life would have been even more difficult to overcome. And it is likely that my fairly bright brain would have been drugged into dullness and inactivity by powerful and harmful psychotropic medications they used then, like sledgehammers, to keep everyone in line and no-one stepping out of it.

So here we are - old and young. Neither has or had it easy. It's not a competition. We suffer, because society is as yet unwilling to accord us equal respect and dignity. But we must get in the habit of according that to ourselves and to each other, whenever we can.