6 ms·

Another shitty development is how "mild" autism has become a trendy status symbol. Psychiatrists are now inundated with so many diagnosis requests from neurotyp

Another shitty development is how "mild" autism has become a trendy status symbol. Psychiatrists are now inundated with so many diagnosis requests from neurotypicals that actually autistic people such as my wife and I cannot get the official diagnoses we need for government programs, NGO memberships, school and workplace accommodations, etc. There are now literally years-long waits to even get an appointment! Autistic people now have to add the preface "actually autistic" to hopefully get some understanding.

globular-toast 5y ago
This happened with gluten intolerance although seems to have had the positive effect of raising the profile of actual gluten intolerance (like coeliac disease) and vastly increased the availability of gluten free products. I wonder if there could be a similar upside for people with "actual autism".
- thathndude 5y ago
  I think we are seeing that effect with regards to mental health and autism. It seems to me that there is at least a greater understanding. Growing up, I was likely right on the bubble of being diagnosed. Unfortunately, instead I was just labeled a bad kid. Now I have a child with an official diagnosis, and I see a lot of the traits from my childhood, and things that I struggled with and her, just magnified. I think if I were to go through the school system now, someone probably would have at least suggested that I get tested. Rather than berating me day after day and labeling me a bad kid
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  Yeah, I used to laugh at the gluten intolerance epidemic. Then as an experiment I cut it from my diet. I was not at all intolerant, I just wanted to try it. I could not believe the difference. For example, I never realized that some foods made me tired. Now when I eat breads or pastas, I notice i am tired afterwards (not immediately but after a time). Very strange.
  - leephillips 5y ago
    Why do you think this has anything to do with gluten? Is there perhaps another substance in bread and pasta that is known to contribute to sleepiness after eating?
    - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
      Good point. I don’t really know if it is gluten. I hadn’t thought of that!
  - zepto 5y ago
    There are different kinds of intolerance. Some people have mild allergies to gluten, which is very different from celiac disease.
  - mementomorti 5y ago
    Supposedly carbohydrates are a precursor to serotonin, so getting sleepy from carbs could be expected. The neuroscientist Andrew Huberman talks about this in his podcast, eating low carb during the day can maintain alertness, while eating carbs at night are useful to prepare for sleep.
  - 88913527 5y ago
    A heavy portion of carbohydrates will raise and lower your blood sugar levels. The crash is the tiredness. I would nearly fall asleep at my desk after lunch if I had pasta, and it took some time to make the connection.
    - watwut 5y ago
      It does not do that for me. As in, I don't get tired after eating them. So I think, it is quite likely that it does affect other people differently. And it makes sense for them to cut that stuff out while I don't have to.
- 0xcde4c3db 5y ago
  The gluten intolerance thing is complicated by FODMAPs (certain carbs that tend to ferment in the gut and to which some people are especially sensitive for reasons that are poorly understood). In practice, a gluten-free diet is often also a low-FODMAP diet, but companies don't label their food as "low-FODMAP", so people might make the switch, get actual relief from actual symptoms, and assume that gluten was the issue because they've never even heard of FODMAP sensitivity. In my experience, the biggest issue with autism isn't so much raw awareness or availability, but that almost none of the "autism industry" caters to autistic people themselves. I sometimes end up excluding phrases like "your child", "the child", "the student", "my son", "my daughter" etc. from searches for information about autism because there's just so much stuff that's laser-focused on the concerns of presumed-neurotypical people around an autistic person.
- jl2718 5y ago
  Interesting, but I think it has gone the other direction. It seems to me that the autism diagnosis has been unilaterally bad for rational people, and something like a green light for exploitation by emotional people. I hear people calling others autistic all the time to diminish their rational points in an argument.
  - watwut 5y ago
    Autistic people are not more "rational" in the sense of having better arguments.
    - jl2718 5y ago
      That wasn’t my implication. I was saying that the term is being abused rather than just over-used as in celiac. I don’t claim to know what ‘autistic’ is, and I’ve never heard a clear definition.
smoldesu 5y ago
I really feel for you. My ex-boyfriend had Asperger's and was similarly had issues applying for programs and getting regular specialized medical/therapy visits because of how sensationalized "neuroatypicality" had become. My heart sinks whenever I read another article about how TikTok users decided that nervous tics are not only popular, but deserve to be imitated and even diagnosed to feel legitimacy. I know "social media bad" is a played-out theme these days, but it really makes my blood boil imagining all the personal development these people are missing out on by trying to roleplay as a less-fortunate individual and record it for online clout.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  As individuals, they're probably not intentionally doing this. Autism has just expanded to being so vague that people think it may actually be the reason they're not happy, or the reason they're secretly special. Walking into an autistic identity by imitating people whom you know as autistic could subjectively feel like dropping the pretenses of being normal and expressing your true autistic self.
  - kstenerud 5y ago
    An autism diagnosis is actually not vague; it's only the public perception of autism that is vague. And I really would be quite happy with that if it weren't for the fact that it's become popular and draws a ton of unwanted attention now.
mc32 5y ago
People crave attention. Some people and kids do what they need to do to get attention. Look at the kids of Hollywood actors and how their afflictions affect their behavior. That’s not to dismiss people who actually suffer from actual differences, but some of it is the same old “rebellion” in different clothing.
- nerdponx 5y ago
  It's more than just "attention", it's about feeling individually special.
  - jl2718 5y ago
    Perhaps that is a bigger need that ought to be addressed separately instead of mixing it in with the mental health industry. This may be the domain of the matchmaking industry, which basically exists to keep people feeling alienated.
- thathndude 5y ago
  This is sadly all too common in the disabled community in general. I am not ignorant. I understand that many, perhaps the majority, of disabilities that exist in the United States are of the “invisible“ kind. However, the number of individuals who want to elevate their very common, and human, difficulties in life, to a “disability“ is ridiculous. If I had to diagnose most of these people, I would call them narcissists.
  - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
    Funny because narcissism can be debilitating. Narcissistic personality disorder completely ruins a persons ability to have even just one healthy human interaction or relationship.
    - jl2718 5y ago
      Actually that’s interesting because logically it implies that anybody seeking diagnosis is in fact impaired.
whalesalad 5y ago
The notion that a neurotypical person exists is kinda silly. What does that even mean? That’s like saying this snowflake here doesn’t look like all the rest.
- falcolas 5y ago
  If NT is a snowflake, someone with an actual disorder is a piece of hail, or a speck of dust. NT is the large part of the bell curve. It’s called typical because they share mental ability traits with over 80% of the rest of humanity.
- alvarlagerlof 5y ago
  Of course there are differences, but in terms of large traits and behaviors over the majority of the population there are a lot of similarities. Saying no one is NT hurts those who absolutely aren't.
  - jl2718 5y ago
    “No one is neurotypical” “I’m not neurotypical. That statement hurts me” “It seems that we are in agreement on your first statement. Please help me understand how the second statement can be true.”
- jeswin 5y ago
  > The notion that a neurotypical person exists is kinda silly. It's not at all silly. Not more than what's a good car. For some, a Toyota model is a good car. For some, a Mercedes model is a good car. A Dodge is a good car too perhaps. But a boat is not a good car. A Formula 1 engine is also not a good car.
  - whalesalad 5y ago
    Your statements are inexplicably linked to your own biases. They are true for you, but only you. An F1 car wouldn’t work for a family with kids but I’d love to daily one of those. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is typical. An “NT” person in Japan is not the same as one in the US. Where do you draw the line? I posit you don’t. There isn’t a line. There isn’t a typical case. We are all so vastly different, often in ways we cannot see or understand.
mam4 5y ago
Im pretty sure all the other ones you talk about refer to them selves as "actually autistic people".
- kstenerud 5y ago
  No. They don't. That's the whole purpose of this "actually autistic" movement. And the infuriating thing is that it shouldn't even be necessary.
Khelavaster 5y ago
It's the government's fault for refusing to expand licensing enough that there's a reasonable supply of doctors for even intake apointments.
dragonwriter 5y ago
> actually autistic people such as my wife and I cannot get the official diagnoses If you don't have an official diagnosis, on what basis do you claim to be any more “actually autistic” than the other undiagnosed people that see themselves that way and are seeking an official diagnosis?
- kstenerud 5y ago
  Because I had a diagnosis in another country a decade ago.
  - zepto 5y ago
    That explains how you know about yourself, but it doesn’t explain how you know that the others seeking diagnosis are not autistic. It seems like a bad idea to stigmatize people for seeking diagnosis. There are plenty of stories of actually autistic people who don’t get diagnosed until much later because the people around them dismissed it or didn’t support them because their difficulties were not so visible.
    - kstenerud 5y ago
      Yeah, I'm one of them. But this is a real problem that psychiatrists themselves complain about. Many have even stopped doing autism diagnoses due to the sheer number of people who come in over some simple behavioral tick and demand their autism badge. Until you experience it yourself, you can't understand just how frustrating and demeaning it is.
      - zepto 5y ago
        It does makes sense, sadly. I’m surprised people are seeking diagnosis just to have the label. What actual benefits are they getting?
        d0gsg0w00f 5y ago
        An excuse to not have to live up to standard societal "norms". An explanation for why life seems hard.
jl2718 5y ago
So, here’s what that sounds like without the emotional content: You are a self-diagnosed-autistic person (SDAP). You are upset that other SDAPs are consuming resources intended for ‘actual’ autistic persons. You would prefer to consume those resources yourself. You are trying to get a professional diagnosis as ‘autistic’. You have thus far been unsuccessful. Are those the facts which you intended to convey? People tell me I’m autistic all the time. I do not accept this label. I will not agree to the diagnosis, treatment, or aid of any sort. I don’t care if it’s in a book. I call it rationality. I see information where other people see emotions. I realize that this is a deficit in relating to many other people and the world at large. If I were to change one thing to adapt better, it would be stronger recognition and avoidance of emotional people, and closer connection to rationals. Emotional people can be very convincing to get what they want from rationals.
- kstenerud 5y ago
  It is an emotional issue for us, because it's effectively a DDOS of the psychiatric services that is preventing us from getting the support we need, and preventing a number of other things that we could otherwise do. And no, we are not self-diagnosed.
  - jl2718 5y ago
    Be specific. What exact resources do you want access to?
    - kstenerud 5y ago
      Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was answerable to you. Do you treat all marginalized groups this way?
      - jl2718 5y ago
        I don’t think I have an adequate understanding of how you perceive yourself to be treated. But, to attempt, I’d first say that I don’t ‘treat’ groups. I interact with individuals. Also, I don’t know exactly what ‘marginalized’ means, but that sounds like something having to do with the way that others have treated those individuals. So I’d probably say, on an individual basis, I think I treat most people the same. I tend to have a penchant for reaching out to people who I observe to have been ignored or mistreated by others because I find that they are often very happy to be treated normally, and make great friends. I’m not really a big fan of interacting with anybody that demands to be treated differently, if that’s what you mean. So, yes, I think I’d say that I probably do.
sircastor 5y ago
I appreciate the frustration, but doesn’t this mean that there is a larger percentage of people trying to get help for mental illness that otherwise would not be? Sure trying to get diagnosed with something because it’s trendy is ridiculous, but it also means these people are talking to a professional and may uncover other mental health concerns
- kstenerud 5y ago
  No, it means there's a deluge of status seekers deceiving themselves into thinking they're autistic and then clogging up the system with their diagnosis requests. As I mentioned in a sister comment, many psychiatrists who have autism knowledge and training have stopped doing diagnoses because of this, thus exacerbating the problem.
  - emodendroket 5y ago
    I have trouble understanding what status seeking ends would be served by getting a diagnosis.
    - Zircom 5y ago
      You get to put it in your social media bio. That's all a lot of them want. They don't want treatment, they don't want to get better, they just wanna be able to tell people they have it. It's a whole thing on Til Tok right now.
      - emodendroket 5y ago
        Why do you need to waste your time and money when typing “#actuallyautistic” into the box is free?
  - iab 5y ago
    What status is conferred by having autism?
    - 5y ago
stareblinkstare 5y ago
emodendroket 5y ago
Well, maybe that’s what’s happening. Or maybe a lot more people have realized they’re likely autistic than in the past. Getting a diagnosis seems like a lot of trouble to be “trendy.”
- stathibus 5y ago
  The people trying to be trendy are not the people seeking medical diagnoses in my anecdotal experience, but the fetishization of mental disorders on the internet as social media profile badges among young people is not helping anything.
  - emodendroket 5y ago
    Sure. Probably not. But I think anyone who's booking an appointment with a doctor at least have some basis for believing they might meet the diagnostic criteria.
- schleck8 5y ago
  In a lot of cases on Tiktok they turn it into a quirky "twitching" and saying cute things. You barely see anyone where it doesn't come across adorably. Most of them are faking it for attention.
stared 5y ago
I don't think that "autistic" is more of a "status symbol" than, say, "gay". And yes, it is wonderful that finally, autistic people get their voice, their agency and are (sometimes) getting treated as equals (even if different). Sadly, in some places, "autistic" is still being used as an insult, usually based on a harmful stereotype that autism is in any way related to the lack of empathy. I love that the world changes to at least consider autism as a neurodivergence, even if not act upon that. Decades ago, it wasn't the same. Being traumatized by noise level was my problem, and even when I was in primary school, begging to let me go to some more quiet place, I was not allowed. Other kids were OK with the noise level, so why do I have a problem? If a person needs some accommodation (say, reducing volume in their workplace), it shouldn't matter if they are "truly autistic" or "non-autistic, but highly oversensitive to noise". And converse - if someone declares themself "mildly autistic" but does not require special accommodations, they won't take precious resources from you. I wish you success with getting the necessary accommodations!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- aspaceman 5y ago
  Probably will lose an account over this, but... > I don't think that "autistic" is more of a "status symbol" than, say, "gay". Uh..aren't they both pretty big status symbols? Gay, queer, disability, "this is indigenous land". If I work as a disability officer, it's probably somewhat important my email byline has a disability (or two, of three). "I have to prove my status" (as someone who is a disability officer) and "this person is a disability officer, they dont even have a disability or their pronouns in the signature?!".
  - dreae 5y ago
    It's true, gay people only come out as a sweet status symbol to own all the hets. /s > If I work as a disability officer, it's probably somewhat important my email byline has a disability It's not.
    - 5y ago
phil21 5y ago
I don't know how anyone could see mild autism as a status symbol? I have no idea what I am, but I know I'm not "normal" - at least as normal as most in America. I definitely think different and require a strong filter to function in normal society. Things like schedules and meetings overwhelm me mentally, or at least are the most tiresome stuff I do where to others they are trivial. I also simply cannot push through "busy work" tasks even if I see immense payout in the end. I dropped out of high school without a plan simply because it was such a mental torture to sit through useless classes every day I could trivially test out of. But, when I get an idea or project or goal in my head I am utterly relentless to a level I don't see in many others. When I was younger I could kind of patch through this and find professional paths that worked alright with my quirks. Now that I'm older and have a family and "real" career with 7am alarm clocks/etc. I find life to be fairly unbearable from a mental aspect. I'd really like to know what causes this in me. I've always been this way, to my extreme detriment, when I was younger I would cry myself to sleep just wanting to be "normal". Is it mild autism? ADHD? PTSD from childhood trauma? I dunno, but it's both relationship and career impacting and having to build your life around it sucks - knowing what your dealing with sounds amazing to me. I just can't imagine wishing putting life on "hard mode" like this is on anyone, or anyone wanting to live it...
- hosh 5y ago
  I was hanging out with some friends. One of them, is not neurotypical; she says her family were farmers. In that way of life, it doesn’t make demanda on executive functioning like modern life does. The other side too: there are plenty of thinkers and critics of modernity to make a case that the modern way of life is not really that healthy for neurotypical people — or more precisely, people with good, or great executive functioning, even if they are rewarded the most by modern society. I argue that, the hard mode is not necessarily your neural wiring, but that our civilization and way of life is terribly skewed.
- mattgreenrocks 5y ago
  Sounds like ADHD to me, FWIW! Hope you find some tools and understanding in the coming year.

globular-toast 5y ago

This happened with gluten intolerance although seems to have had the positive effect of raising the profile of actual gluten intolerance (like coeliac disease) and vastly increased the availability of gluten free products. I wonder if there could be a similar upside for people with "actual autism".

thathndude 5y ago
I think we are seeing that effect with regards to mental health and autism. It seems to me that there is at least a greater understanding. Growing up, I was likely right on the bubble of being diagnosed. Unfortunately, instead I was just labeled a bad kid. Now I have a child with an official diagnosis, and I see a lot of the traits from my childhood, and things that I struggled with and her, just magnified. I think if I were to go through the school system now, someone probably would have at least suggested that I get tested. Rather than berating me day after day and labeling me a bad kid
TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
Yeah, I used to laugh at the gluten intolerance epidemic. Then as an experiment I cut it from my diet. I was not at all intolerant, I just wanted to try it. I could not believe the difference. For example, I never realized that some foods made me tired. Now when I eat breads or pastas, I notice i am tired afterwards (not immediately but after a time). Very strange.
- leephillips 5y ago
  Why do you think this has anything to do with gluten? Is there perhaps another substance in bread and pasta that is known to contribute to sleepiness after eating?
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    Good point. I don’t really know if it is gluten. I hadn’t thought of that!
- zepto 5y ago
  There are different kinds of intolerance. Some people have mild allergies to gluten, which is very different from celiac disease.
- mementomorti 5y ago
  Supposedly carbohydrates are a precursor to serotonin, so getting sleepy from carbs could be expected. The neuroscientist Andrew Huberman talks about this in his podcast, eating low carb during the day can maintain alertness, while eating carbs at night are useful to prepare for sleep.
- 88913527 5y ago
  A heavy portion of carbohydrates will raise and lower your blood sugar levels. The crash is the tiredness. I would nearly fall asleep at my desk after lunch if I had pasta, and it took some time to make the connection.
  - watwut 5y ago
    It does not do that for me. As in, I don't get tired after eating them. So I think, it is quite likely that it does affect other people differently. And it makes sense for them to cut that stuff out while I don't have to.
0xcde4c3db 5y ago
The gluten intolerance thing is complicated by FODMAPs (certain carbs that tend to ferment in the gut and to which some people are especially sensitive for reasons that are poorly understood). In practice, a gluten-free diet is often also a low-FODMAP diet, but companies don't label their food as "low-FODMAP", so people might make the switch, get actual relief from actual symptoms, and assume that gluten was the issue because they've never even heard of FODMAP sensitivity. In my experience, the biggest issue with autism isn't so much raw awareness or availability, but that almost none of the "autism industry" caters to autistic people themselves. I sometimes end up excluding phrases like "your child", "the child", "the student", "my son", "my daughter" etc. from searches for information about autism because there's just so much stuff that's laser-focused on the concerns of presumed-neurotypical people around an autistic person.
jl2718 5y ago
Interesting, but I think it has gone the other direction. It seems to me that the autism diagnosis has been unilaterally bad for rational people, and something like a green light for exploitation by emotional people. I hear people calling others autistic all the time to diminish their rational points in an argument.
- watwut 5y ago
  Autistic people are not more "rational" in the sense of having better arguments.
  - jl2718 5y ago
    That wasn’t my implication. I was saying that the term is being abused rather than just over-used as in celiac. I don’t claim to know what ‘autistic’ is, and I’ve never heard a clear definition.

smoldesu 5y ago

I really feel for you. My ex-boyfriend had Asperger's and was similarly had issues applying for programs and getting regular specialized medical/therapy visits because of how sensationalized "neuroatypicality" had become. My heart sinks whenever I read another article about how TikTok users decided that nervous tics are not only popular, but deserve to be imitated and even diagnosed to feel legitimacy. I know "social media bad" is a played-out theme these days, but it really makes my blood boil imagining all the personal development these people are missing out on by trying to roleplay as a less-fortunate individual and record it for online clout.

pessimizer 5y ago
As individuals, they're probably not intentionally doing this. Autism has just expanded to being so vague that people think it may actually be the reason they're not happy, or the reason they're secretly special. Walking into an autistic identity by imitating people whom you know as autistic could subjectively feel like dropping the pretenses of being normal and expressing your true autistic self.
- kstenerud 5y ago
  An autism diagnosis is actually not vague; it's only the public perception of autism that is vague. And I really would be quite happy with that if it weren't for the fact that it's become popular and draws a ton of unwanted attention now.

mc32 5y ago

People crave attention. Some people and kids do what they need to do to get attention. Look at the kids of Hollywood actors and how their afflictions affect their behavior. That’s not to dismiss people who actually suffer from actual differences, but some of it is the same old “rebellion” in different clothing.

nerdponx 5y ago
It's more than just "attention", it's about feeling individually special.
- jl2718 5y ago
  Perhaps that is a bigger need that ought to be addressed separately instead of mixing it in with the mental health industry. This may be the domain of the matchmaking industry, which basically exists to keep people feeling alienated.
thathndude 5y ago
This is sadly all too common in the disabled community in general. I am not ignorant. I understand that many, perhaps the majority, of disabilities that exist in the United States are of the “invisible“ kind. However, the number of individuals who want to elevate their very common, and human, difficulties in life, to a “disability“ is ridiculous. If I had to diagnose most of these people, I would call them narcissists.
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
  Funny because narcissism can be debilitating. Narcissistic personality disorder completely ruins a persons ability to have even just one healthy human interaction or relationship.
  - jl2718 5y ago
    Actually that’s interesting because logically it implies that anybody seeking diagnosis is in fact impaired.

whalesalad 5y ago

The notion that a neurotypical person exists is kinda silly. What does that even mean? That’s like saying this snowflake here doesn’t look like all the rest.

falcolas 5y ago
If NT is a snowflake, someone with an actual disorder is a piece of hail, or a speck of dust. NT is the large part of the bell curve. It’s called typical because they share mental ability traits with over 80% of the rest of humanity.
alvarlagerlof 5y ago
Of course there are differences, but in terms of large traits and behaviors over the majority of the population there are a lot of similarities. Saying no one is NT hurts those who absolutely aren't.
- jl2718 5y ago
  “No one is neurotypical” “I’m not neurotypical. That statement hurts me” “It seems that we are in agreement on your first statement. Please help me understand how the second statement can be true.”
jeswin 5y ago
> The notion that a neurotypical person exists is kinda silly. It's not at all silly. Not more than what's a good car. For some, a Toyota model is a good car. For some, a Mercedes model is a good car. A Dodge is a good car too perhaps. But a boat is not a good car. A Formula 1 engine is also not a good car.
- whalesalad 5y ago
  Your statements are inexplicably linked to your own biases. They are true for you, but only you. An F1 car wouldn’t work for a family with kids but I’d love to daily one of those. Nothing is absolute. Nothing is typical. An “NT” person in Japan is not the same as one in the US. Where do you draw the line? I posit you don’t. There isn’t a line. There isn’t a typical case. We are all so vastly different, often in ways we cannot see or understand.

mam4 5y ago

Im pretty sure all the other ones you talk about refer to them selves as "actually autistic people".

kstenerud 5y ago
No. They don't. That's the whole purpose of this "actually autistic" movement. And the infuriating thing is that it shouldn't even be necessary.

Khelavaster 5y ago

It's the government's fault for refusing to expand licensing enough that there's a reasonable supply of doctors for even intake apointments.

dragonwriter 5y ago

> actually autistic people such as my wife and I cannot get the official diagnoses If you don't have an official diagnosis, on what basis do you claim to be any more “actually autistic” than the other undiagnosed people that see themselves that way and are seeking an official diagnosis?

kstenerud 5y ago
Because I had a diagnosis in another country a decade ago.
- zepto 5y ago
  That explains how you know about yourself, but it doesn’t explain how you know that the others seeking diagnosis are not autistic. It seems like a bad idea to stigmatize people for seeking diagnosis. There are plenty of stories of actually autistic people who don’t get diagnosed until much later because the people around them dismissed it or didn’t support them because their difficulties were not so visible.
  - kstenerud 5y ago
    Yeah, I'm one of them. But this is a real problem that psychiatrists themselves complain about. Many have even stopped doing autism diagnoses due to the sheer number of people who come in over some simple behavioral tick and demand their autism badge. Until you experience it yourself, you can't understand just how frustrating and demeaning it is.
    - zepto 5y ago
      It does makes sense, sadly. I’m surprised people are seeking diagnosis just to have the label. What actual benefits are they getting?
      - d0gsg0w00f 5y ago
        An excuse to not have to live up to standard societal "norms". An explanation for why life seems hard.

jl2718 5y ago

So, here’s what that sounds like without the emotional content: You are a self-diagnosed-autistic person (SDAP). You are upset that other SDAPs are consuming resources intended for ‘actual’ autistic persons. You would prefer to consume those resources yourself. You are trying to get a professional diagnosis as ‘autistic’. You have thus far been unsuccessful. Are those the facts which you intended to convey? People tell me I’m autistic all the time. I do not accept this label. I will not agree to the diagnosis, treatment, or aid of any sort. I don’t care if it’s in a book. I call it rationality. I see information where other people see emotions. I realize that this is a deficit in relating to many other people and the world at large. If I were to change one thing to adapt better, it would be stronger recognition and avoidance of emotional people, and closer connection to rationals. Emotional people can be very convincing to get what they want from rationals.

kstenerud 5y ago
It is an emotional issue for us, because it's effectively a DDOS of the psychiatric services that is preventing us from getting the support we need, and preventing a number of other things that we could otherwise do. And no, we are not self-diagnosed.
- jl2718 5y ago
  Be specific. What exact resources do you want access to?
  - kstenerud 5y ago
    Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was answerable to you. Do you treat all marginalized groups this way?
    - jl2718 5y ago
      I don’t think I have an adequate understanding of how you perceive yourself to be treated. But, to attempt, I’d first say that I don’t ‘treat’ groups. I interact with individuals. Also, I don’t know exactly what ‘marginalized’ means, but that sounds like something having to do with the way that others have treated those individuals. So I’d probably say, on an individual basis, I think I treat most people the same. I tend to have a penchant for reaching out to people who I observe to have been ignored or mistreated by others because I find that they are often very happy to be treated normally, and make great friends. I’m not really a big fan of interacting with anybody that demands to be treated differently, if that’s what you mean. So, yes, I think I’d say that I probably do.

sircastor 5y ago

I appreciate the frustration, but doesn’t this mean that there is a larger percentage of people trying to get help for mental illness that otherwise would not be? Sure trying to get diagnosed with something because it’s trendy is ridiculous, but it also means these people are talking to a professional and may uncover other mental health concerns

kstenerud 5y ago
No, it means there's a deluge of status seekers deceiving themselves into thinking they're autistic and then clogging up the system with their diagnosis requests. As I mentioned in a sister comment, many psychiatrists who have autism knowledge and training have stopped doing diagnoses because of this, thus exacerbating the problem.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  I have trouble understanding what status seeking ends would be served by getting a diagnosis.
  - Zircom 5y ago
    You get to put it in your social media bio. That's all a lot of them want. They don't want treatment, they don't want to get better, they just wanna be able to tell people they have it. It's a whole thing on Til Tok right now.
    - emodendroket 5y ago
      Why do you need to waste your time and money when typing “#actuallyautistic” into the box is free?
- iab 5y ago
  What status is conferred by having autism?
  - 5y ago

stareblinkstare 5y ago

emodendroket 5y ago

Well, maybe that’s what’s happening. Or maybe a lot more people have realized they’re likely autistic than in the past. Getting a diagnosis seems like a lot of trouble to be “trendy.”

stathibus 5y ago
The people trying to be trendy are not the people seeking medical diagnoses in my anecdotal experience, but the fetishization of mental disorders on the internet as social media profile badges among young people is not helping anything.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  Sure. Probably not. But I think anyone who's booking an appointment with a doctor at least have some basis for believing they might meet the diagnostic criteria.
schleck8 5y ago
In a lot of cases on Tiktok they turn it into a quirky "twitching" and saying cute things. You barely see anyone where it doesn't come across adorably. Most of them are faking it for attention.

stared 5y ago

I don't think that "autistic" is more of a "status symbol" than, say, "gay". And yes, it is wonderful that finally, autistic people get their voice, their agency and are (sometimes) getting treated as equals (even if different). Sadly, in some places, "autistic" is still being used as an insult, usually based on a harmful stereotype that autism is in any way related to the lack of empathy. I love that the world changes to at least consider autism as a neurodivergence, even if not act upon that. Decades ago, it wasn't the same. Being traumatized by noise level was my problem, and even when I was in primary school, begging to let me go to some more quiet place, I was not allowed. Other kids were OK with the noise level, so why do I have a problem? If a person needs some accommodation (say, reducing volume in their workplace), it shouldn't matter if they are "truly autistic" or "non-autistic, but highly oversensitive to noise". And converse - if someone declares themself "mildly autistic" but does not require special accommodations, they won't take precious resources from you. I wish you success with getting the necessary accommodations!

deleted 5y ago
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aspaceman 5y ago
Probably will lose an account over this, but... > I don't think that "autistic" is more of a "status symbol" than, say, "gay". Uh..aren't they both pretty big status symbols? Gay, queer, disability, "this is indigenous land". If I work as a disability officer, it's probably somewhat important my email byline has a disability (or two, of three). "I have to prove my status" (as someone who is a disability officer) and "this person is a disability officer, they dont even have a disability or their pronouns in the signature?!".
- dreae 5y ago
  It's true, gay people only come out as a sweet status symbol to own all the hets. /s > If I work as a disability officer, it's probably somewhat important my email byline has a disability It's not.
  - 5y ago

phil21 5y ago

I don't know how anyone could see mild autism as a status symbol? I have no idea what I am, but I know I'm not "normal" - at least as normal as most in America. I definitely think different and require a strong filter to function in normal society. Things like schedules and meetings overwhelm me mentally, or at least are the most tiresome stuff I do where to others they are trivial. I also simply cannot push through "busy work" tasks even if I see immense payout in the end. I dropped out of high school without a plan simply because it was such a mental torture to sit through useless classes every day I could trivially test out of. But, when I get an idea or project or goal in my head I am utterly relentless to a level I don't see in many others. When I was younger I could kind of patch through this and find professional paths that worked alright with my quirks. Now that I'm older and have a family and "real" career with 7am alarm clocks/etc. I find life to be fairly unbearable from a mental aspect. I'd really like to know what causes this in me. I've always been this way, to my extreme detriment, when I was younger I would cry myself to sleep just wanting to be "normal". Is it mild autism? ADHD? PTSD from childhood trauma? I dunno, but it's both relationship and career impacting and having to build your life around it sucks - knowing what your dealing with sounds amazing to me. I just can't imagine wishing putting life on "hard mode" like this is on anyone, or anyone wanting to live it...

hosh 5y ago
I was hanging out with some friends. One of them, is not neurotypical; she says her family were farmers. In that way of life, it doesn’t make demanda on executive functioning like modern life does. The other side too: there are plenty of thinkers and critics of modernity to make a case that the modern way of life is not really that healthy for neurotypical people — or more precisely, people with good, or great executive functioning, even if they are rewarded the most by modern society. I argue that, the hard mode is not necessarily your neural wiring, but that our civilization and way of life is terribly skewed.
mattgreenrocks 5y ago
Sounds like ADHD to me, FWIW! Hope you find some tools and understanding in the coming year.