My new theory on self diagnosed autistics

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Blah, blah:

"Gallileo only said that the Earth wasn't at the center of the solar system because he was trying to make up for the attention that he didn't get from his mother as a child."

"Women all secretly wish that they had a penis."

"Tourette's syndrome and OCD are actually, mostly factitious disorder."

"Black people are psychologically disorganized and need and benefit from the imposition of slavery upon them."

The "fun" of such psychological arguments is that they are trivially easy to create and very difficult to prove false, even if they actually are false. And that makes them worthless.

Completely agreed. But this is usually what happens when this is brought up. Frankly, the fact that many get so incredibly defensive about it just makes it much more suspicious to me, when it happens (which is often). But whatever, I really just dont care all that much at this point. Not my problem.

Hopefully it wont turn into a flame war (again). Dont need that sort of thing on this forum. It's generally a peaceful place most of the time, really. Best to keep it that way.

it is certain that not all people who self diagnose are correct.
some are merely mistaken which is innocent and innocuous.

some are dishonest for various reasons.
some are dishonest in order to pick up pretty asperger girls who they consider naive and less judgmental.

some are dishonest because they perceive asperger syndrome to be a hallmark of genius and they wish to still have a chance at being seen as a genius despite having no apparent areas of excellence because they can say that their "difficulties" impede their native potential.

some are very intelligent and wish to parade it among people who they have heard are a "cut above" (in an intellectual sense) by assuming the guise of AS as a free ticket to the "club".

some wish to seem unique because they read that AS is a rare condition which carries a propensity for advanced intellectual development, and so they pretend to be one of those "rare gems".

most of the dishonest ones seem to have "conceit" as a common element.

most of the dishonest ones are male i believe because most females do not have that desire to boast and compete with, and deride others.

it is certain that not all people who self diagnose are correct, but it is not certain how many self diagnosticians are incorrect.

whatever

Do professionals not make mistakes also? Do they not rely on the honesty/rationality of the individual seeking diagnosis? It could be argued that the very act of an adult seeking a diagnosis is a form of self-diagnosis. The idea of a spectrum of autistic behaviours is more inclusive than some people are prepared to accept as their identity is so bound up with their diagnosis. The issue is that some people feel very possessive of a certain identity and seem to think that that identity is undermined by self-diagnosis.

I think I get what the OP is getting at. But I could see the lot of WP members as posers and go on about how unlike many of them, I have "real autism" on a level that in no way could ever be missed until I was an adult, or that I could in any way hide, or me revealing it to people who know me in real life would be like Carrot Top revealing he has red hair....I mean it is blatantly obvious in real life that I am autistic.
But I see this as a place for people who are neuro-diverse and have experienced and can personally relate to autistic traits and impairments and what goes along with it, whether they have an official diagnosis or not.

Or we're intelligent enough to read books (The Complete Guide To Asperger's Syndrome by Dr. Tony Attwood, and a couple of Aspie autobiographies) & know that the description matches our entire lives' experience to a T. Further, as I've stated here many times, I did not and do not want the stigma of an official diagnosis. It doesn't change what my neurological makeup is, though, whether I have some so-called-expert's seal of approval or not. Like many others on this forum, I know what I know.

I think it's interesing that a few people on here seem to think that autism can't go along with other mental disorders ('other' only if you consider autism a mental disorder as well). As if autistic people can't also have PTSD, or BPD, or anything else. In fact, autistic children and adults have a very high risk of suffering from other mental disorders as well, including, but not exclusively, PTSD and personality disorders (although there are also scientists who categorize autism as a personality disorder).

There are now a rising number of scientists who believe that PTSD (or at least an affliction with the same effects as PTSD) can even be caused by being autistic in a non-autistic-friendly world. To quote: "Post traumatic stress occurs when there is severe insult to the nervous system. It results in changes in both brain chemistry and suspected structural changes in the brain. The person exhibits generalized anxiety, depression and isolation, panic attacks for no apparent reason, and sometime rages."

So even if these self-diagnosed people (I am self-diagnosed, by the way) whom you talk about suffer from PTSD, that does not have to mean that they are not autistic, and there are probably many autistic people out there who suffer from undiagnosed PTSD.

And lastly, the diagnosis process for autism is even now far from perfect. There are still many girls in the world who have been diagnosed as not-autistic, simply because autism manifests itself differently in girls than in boys, and the diagnosis is still largely based on the behavior(s) of autistic boys. I personally know someone who was diagnosed as not-autistic when she was a child, but she got herself re-diagnosed when she was in her 20's, and did 'pass the test' then.

Diagnosis isn't everything, and people without diagnoses should be taken as seriously as people with diagnoses. Even if they are not autistic, you might be able to help them figure out what it is that is bothering them, without ostracizing them and/or comparing them to people like Martha from Fight Club, and generalizing ALL self-diagnosed people based on a few cases. And let's not forget; there are many people who make the decision to go into the diagnosis process themself, when they are of age, and in a way they also diagnosed themselves before getting the 'official stamp' (how else would they have known to get diagnosed with autism?).

I wanted to post a few sources, but as I'm a new member I am not allowed to post URL's, so sorry for that.

Wise words Smellygrl and welcome to WP.

OP I understand you have had some poor experiences with other people on this subject. I really think you should relate to people on an individual basis, promoting your "us vs them" concept is not beneficial.

Thank you for your post Smellygrl (and welcome )

Ostraciszing and "us vs them" talks never lead to anything good, imo.

We have to give people the benefit of the doubt--if only because we can't determine if one is "truly autistic" based upon an online presentation.

I give people the benefit of the doubt on an even a higher level: Because it's just not glamorous to be autistic. It carries a pretty heavy stigma amid the general population.

If somebody believes they are autistic, I would tend to believe that person has some traits which are troubling to him/her.

Autism is, most definitely, a Spectrum. There is a wide range in "severity."

This Forum is not merely for diagnosed autistic people, anyway. It's for all those who seek to advance the cause of autism, even if they are NT to the bone.

I should note that my feelings are much aligned with Ezra's feelings on this.

Behavior isn't too drastically different in boys and girls, though, otherwise there'd be different tests for different genders.

And there may be a reason for that. Was she diagnosed non-autistic before 1994? The Asperger's label only came out then. And if in the couple of years after I'd put it down to lack of experience with diagnosing Asperger's as it would have been new. So it may just be that she didn't fit the criteria for classic autism, but did for Asperger's. Just speculating.


Completely agree. A lot of the new members are those seeking advice with the diagnostic procedure. I think it'd be wrong to deny them access to the site because they're not officially diagnosed. There are NT parents of autistic children, too. Nothing can be achieved by separating and nobody would learn anything.

It's probably useless at this point but I'm going to throw this out there anyway. I self diagnosed myself a year before I was officially diagnosed. So in my case my self diagnosis was accurate.

Not useless. Actually very illustrative. And rather common here.

We need anecdote to corroborate theory, and vice versa.

So appearently if self diagnosers and thier supporters come to an opinion it must be pack mentality. In your view they could not possibly come to thier opinion on thier own.

Appearently you are confusing many disagreeing with you as intolorence. There have been endless threads and posts by people who disagree with self diagnosis and vast majority of them if not all of them have not been censored. And I have seen only very occasional calls for them to be banned that has not and probably won't be listened to by Alex.
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Wow, thank you for your information! It would seem it would at least to me that would indeed fall under that category

Varying opinions is what keeps discussions moving. As long as they don't regress to name-calling and other such egregious things.