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annathedog
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21 Oct 2024, 4:02 pm

Hey guys. I'm having kind of a hard time right now. I just moved away from home and changed my entire routine and life, and all of this change has been making me think a lot about myself and my problems.
I've thought for a long, long time that I'm autistic but my parents would never entertain that possibility. I started seeing a therapist in high school after a mental breakdown, but she doesn't believe in labels and diagnosis unless its serious cases so I don't know what she thinks of me.
A lot of my schools thought I was autistic and recommended my parent to get me checked out, but they never agreed to it. I eventually learned how to cope with al of my problems (with help from my phycologist) but I never felt very comfortable. Always like I was masking myself.
Now that I'm away from home, my problems have resurfaced, probably because the stress is so much higher. It just feels a lot more obvious to me now that I'm autistic, especially now that I'm remembering memories that I've repressed from my childhood.
The problem is, I'm getting drafted soon, and its very important for me to get drafted into a combat unit. Obviously, autistic people can't get drafted into combat. So I'm in a dilemma here, thinking if I should get a diagnosis or not.
What do you guys think? And thanks for reading so far and caring, just writing about this already feels better.



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21 Oct 2024, 5:33 pm

I'll note you can get an unofficial diagnosis from things like AQ. An unofficial diagnosis might give you useful information about yourself but is unofficial.

What country are you in? I am unaware of a draft in the U.S.

I don't know enough about life in a combat unit.

I was in a technical field. And being in the military was one of the best things I ever did for myself. It looks great on a resume and gets you lifetime veteran's benefits...assuming you don't screw up...for instance because your Autism wasn't sufficiently high-functioning.


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21 Oct 2024, 6:26 pm

annathedog wrote:
Hey guys. I'm having kind of a hard time right now. I just moved away from home and changed my entire routine and life, and all of this change has been making me think a lot about myself and my problems.
I've thought for a long, long time that I'm autistic but my parents would never entertain that possibility. I started seeing a therapist in high school after a mental breakdown, but she doesn't believe in labels and diagnosis unless its serious cases so I don't know what she thinks of me.
A lot of my schools thought I was autistic and recommended my parent to get me checked out, but they never agreed to it. I eventually learned how to cope with al of my problems (with help from my phycologist) but I never felt very comfortable. Always like I was masking myself.
Now that I'm away from home, my problems have resurfaced, probably because the stress is so much higher. It just feels a lot more obvious to me now that I'm autistic, especially now that I'm remembering memories that I've repressed from my childhood.
The problem is, I'm getting drafted soon, and its very important for me to get drafted into a combat unit. Obviously, autistic people can't get drafted into combat. So I'm in a dilemma here, thinking if I should get a diagnosis or not.
What do you guys think? And thanks for reading so far and caring, just writing about this already feels better.


There are at least two nations I know of at war, but somehow, I feel like you are in Israel. I think with autism certainly it is not immediately obvious to outsiders, so you can get drafted if you really want to. You say it is very important to you.

I think that you might want to talk to someone that you trust in your family about the situation though. If not parents, then grandparents, or aunt or uncle.

It is so far out of my experience that I do not really know what to tell you. I do know that I felt like military life was not for me, but you may like it, it does provide order and stability, as well as friendships from your comrades in arms.

It does seem plausible to me that some people with high functioning autism could make very good soldiers actually. Neurotypicals have a lot of emotional difficulty with processing war.


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