Poll: Are those that are unaware more successful?

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I think the OP is talking about contrasts in history rather than contrasts in severity.

Aspergers was not a recognized diagnosis until 1994, and few shrinks in the US even heard of it until a decade after that.

So if you are a Millenial born in 2000 you grew up entirely within the era of it being a recognized diagnosis. So you could have been diagnosed any time from infancy onward.

But if you were like me (born in the Fifties) you couldn't have been diagnosed at age prior to middle age anymore than George Washington could ever have ridden in a 747 at any time in his life! The difference is the historic era in which you were born, not the severity of your condition.

Was diagnosed later in life and success level below average. Have mental illnesses in addition to the Aspergers that are extremely hard to manage. Also have no friends and not in a relationship.

I don't think being diagnosed on the spectrum made any difference in integrating me into the community. Having a diagnosis has certainly helped to explain all of this pain, but there are few activity groups or support groups for adults with autism, especially in my area.

Well, I'm guessing I'd have better self confidence and sense of Self, which usually translates to most definitions of "success".

Actually since it's been brought up I find both to be good factors.

The history point though is definitely a strong argument.

I think most mental illness was relatively undiscovered back then and society was a bit more harder on older generations to function in society.

Back then it might have been either you function normally or you're 'too unstable' and put into mental hospitals to be taken care of.

There might have been no in-between where aspies and others try to live and function as members of society still but with a little extra help.

As APOM indicated, a skewed outcome results from that set of questions, as those who didn't survive are absent and silenced voices, and also the older ASD group (50 years plus) is hugely under-represented on WP. The older asps here do tend to be the more successful ones, though whether we are representative I doubt very much.

I think it is a good point you are raising, all undiagnosed will probably not come on this site, nor answer this poll, saying "i don't know i am autist and i am having a hard time trying to jump like a frog although i am mouse, because i don't know that i am not a frog." (this is a way of speaking of mine, hope doesn't hurt)

...I'm sure a failure . Late-life .

the-phoenix wrote:
"Yes, because words mean things.
Labels mean things.
The label given to me was "gifted" instead of "autistic."
In our society, the first one is looked up to while the second is looked down on.
Makes a huge difference."


That's a very important observation TP - I was labelled gifted also, and the impact on our developmental self-esteem would have been very very different had we been labelled disabled instead. It made a huge difference, as you say. In actuality, we were gifted in some ways and disabled in others, and the gifted label predated by decades the generation of much younger autists who have endured a life-long barrage of stigmatising attitudes and myths about people on the spectrum, which can in turn be internalised in the forms of self-stigma and shame. People my age didn't face that "they are less than human" hate stuff nor anything like it; the atmosphere then wasn't deliberately poisoned around us by outfits like (and mouthpieces for) Autism Speaks which imply that people on the spectrum are not fully human.

Having unofficial negative labels was bad also. In America if you were different you were thought of as gay or at least less male. So not only were you flawed in charactor, you were thought of as morally flawed. "Common Sense" has always been valued more in America "book smarts". Donald Trump is just the latest manafistation.

But the bullying and degradation came from individuals be it family or classmates not from the media, scientiests, and policy makers that the Autism label has given us.

"Sink or Swim" or 25-40 hours of a week of ABA? Which is worse? I think ABA but the important thing is these choices need to go away and replaced by acceptence and appreciation. "Neurodiversity" has too many negative connotations for you, describe it another way.

Drop the other shoe please.

Which way were you (that you wish you were the other way)? Early DX, or late DX?

Basically the OP is suggesting that being labeled "a neurotic, wierdo, ret*d" is somehow better than being labeled "aspie".

In the real world you dont get to be free of labels. Only the labels change.

So in practical terms those who get late diagnosis are saddled with the mixed bag of "ret*d, wierdo, sicko, etc", and the early dx'ers get "aspie". Which is better?The later seems far better, and less damaging to me. But whatever. It certainly is not obvious to me why the former mix is "better".

I was seeing severity and history to be related questions. I got criticized on another thread for saying something along the lines of "I got a job/lived on my own because I had no choice." The person rightly called me out on this, that it sounded like I was saying that autistics who are not living on their own are not trying hard enough, or that somehow an early diagnosis discourages them from trying to be independent. It was not my intent to say that, but I can see how someone can interpret it that way. For those of us older people, an early diagnosis was not possible unless our symptoms were very severe, and independence was close to impossible. Those of us who could make it on their own, did so, although with varying degrees of success. Some others died, or were incarcerated, or were misdiagnosed and mistreated, or were diagnosed and got some support.

My idea is that it's a very complex question--are younger autistics not independent because their symptoms prevent it, or are they not independent because the NTs tell them they are not capable? Answer: I have no idea, but I'd like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, and assume that younger autistics who get support actually need it, and that some are not working because they don't have the ability to, or their communities are not giving them adequate support, education, and opportunity to transition to work or do other things for themselves.

Also, I see the stage of life that a person is in makes a big difference. It's unfair to compare a 21-year old to a 50-year old, who may have learned a lot more skills and gradually made a network of supportive people. I think my story is pretty typical: I went a lot of years only able to get minimum-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, washing dishes, and filing papers, and I was an honor student in high school and university. I'd get into a job interview and the interviewer would go from enthusiastic to dismissive, and not return my phone calls. I have lousy credit history, went through bankruptcy, tried two different careers, washed out of college, was buried in college debt, got evicted once, almost evicted last year, been fired, been laid off, been nearly fired, and passed over for promotion and watched people 15 years younger advance ahead of me.

Who knows what I could have been like if I had adequate support? Maybe I could have avoided a lot of those pitfalls and really lived up to my potential. Maybe I just had a mild case of autism, and some guidance could have allowed me to have a successful career doing something I love, instead of barely hanging onto employment and living paycheck to paycheck. I think the person who (correctly) told me off reminded me that it's difficult to compare different people's situations--they do have different severities AND different histories.

Being called "ret*d" made me more determined to prove them wrong. Same with "loser", "dumb-ass", "weirdo", and "sumpin just ain't right with you".

Had some psychiatrist labeled me with "Autism" as a child, my parents would have either locked me away or sent me away - either way,my hat would have been the end of the story.

Interesting question, when I was unaware of my condition I was very successful academically. I was basically a robot though, in ever meaning of the word. I was a troglodyte type slave to be honest. I didn't think critically I just got good grades because that's what my parents expected of me and I was terrified of getting in trouble. I had few to no friends, I was thoroughly miserable. So no, I wasn't successful. I'd say my quality of life got no better though when I found out that I had Aspergers. I began to think critically, he who increases knowledge increases sorrow as the phrase goes. I remained miserable and my grades began to go down the drain. I stopped believing in my ability to succeed. So I remained unsuccessful. Now I've sort of renounced my diagnosis and am just doing whatever I feel like without feeling limited, yoked under the weight of a diagnosis. I've become very mentally healthy. I have real friends. I think critically all the time though so I'm still a bit cynical. My grades are recovering slowly, still dealing with the fallout of before.

So learning that I'm ASD and then not giving a hell about it has made me the most successful in life.

I'm sure there were some who called me "weird" and other nasty things way back last century when I went to school ... I've pretty much moved beyond that nonsense and put it out of my mind. I do remember for sure being called "brainiac" ... and it was not meant in a nice way.

The difference as I see it being ...

Kids at school could laugh at me and call me names, but those same kids did not have the authority to insist that I be placed in a special ed class, or attend BOCES, or take the "short bus," or have some psychiatrist prescribe questionable medications with side effects that could arguably have made my condition far worse.

But once some doctor slaps you with an official diagnostic label, such a thing can adversely affect the entire rest of your life in ways that go way beyond playground bullying.

That said, if being publicly known as an Aspie works for you, and is helpful to you, then I completely respect and support your preference to use that label.

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Thanks for your additional commentary, B19,

Definitely agree as well with the points you've made.

Those of us who want labels
should get to pick out our own.

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