This is not a one size fits all diagnosis

Post Reply New Topic

That can be hard to remember when reading other people's posts . It's all too easy to get into a 'that's not my experience ' mindset , and think you might be a 'false positive in terms of diagnosis .

Autism is certainly not “one size fits all.”

It’s not the pre-1994 autism.

The range of how any autistic person presents is humongous.

I really wonder if what we call autism is one 'thing' just manifesting differently from person to person, or if autism is multiple 'things' manifesting similarly from person to person... Maybe both are true to an extent.

I think it is important to remember that everyone is here because they struggle with some aspects of their lives. We could all use some more compassion, and should spend less time worrying about how much our experiences are similar or different.

The confusing part is knowing if you are just awkward and sensitive and if it's just anxiety. That can make you exaggerate your symptoms and see things that are not there. Other disorders can mimic ASD. That is what therapists are for.

I feel it’s more “the autisms” than merely one “autism.”

I was awkward before heavy duty anxiety kicked in .

I find I learn more from lower functioning posters on this forum than the ones who appear to be high functioning, even though I am very high functioning myself. It can be hard to parse out nuggets of wisdom out of walls of text.

A honest "that's not my experience" would be most welcome.
I am fully aware that my experience of masking until burnout is completely different from experience of someone obviously special needs for their whole life. I'm eager to learn and respect experiences of others, relate when I can and just accept when I can't relate.
I find this forum most useful in learning stories of others and sharing my own.

I don't understand what this means. Can you explain it?

Diagnosed as being on the spectrum but you shouldn't be.

False negative = Not diagnosed as being on the spectrum but you should be.

I know I have autism because I have a lot of the different symptoms across the board, was diagnosed and had them well before I developed an anxiety disorder but I do notice that anxiety can make people act more autistic as you no longer have energy to mask as well.

I think the move to a single diagnosis has caused some people to be more reluctant to embrace their diagnosis. Easier to say you have Asperger's (people imagine Sheldon Cooper), than to say you have Autism (people imagine Rain Man).

I can’t stand Sheldon. He’s a representative of many of the negative stereotypes of Aspies.

I like Rain Man much better.

#

I've only seen short clips of that programme with Sheldon. What is so wrong with the character?

Yeah, and that certainly goes for me as well. I was okay with saying that I had Aspergers, which is what I was diagnosed with some time ago.
I am not so fine with saying I have autism (as would never say that to anyone IRL), because of the stereotype which I too thought to be correct until recently. Rainman (or even worse) is what autism means to most people, and that's not a label I am willingly calling myself. I watched Rainman long before I even heard of Apergers and I did not even remotely identify with him. He was annoying and comical for all the wrong reasons. Having Aspergers is nothing like that. think that movie really "helped" to ruin the DSM V for us. They should have just kept the old and more accurate diagnoses.
I'd much rather have Sheldon Cooper syndrome that Rainman, it's also much more accurate, I'm like him in many ways, even though I couldn't pass his physics level lol