Autism is really becoming a trend!

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I sort of understand why you guys feel that way, but I just wish I was faking it to be cool. I really think it would be pretty difficult to fake my life and essentially it would be stupid. Yeah, I'm going to have no relationships with my family or much of anybody for years and I'm going to misunderstand simple instructions and embarrass myself and constantly be overwhelmed with noises and smells to the point of being ill sometimes and I'm especially going to go out of my way to make most of my conversations with human beings as difficult as I possibly can and spend 10 years in misery of IBS, I'm just pretending to be so clumsy I can't walk through a door without getting caught on the doorknob, and all that tripping in the hall at work (funny pratfalls haha, aren't I cool?)

In the end, it really doesn't matter if you believe us, but I kind of think we should all stick together!

You're better at diplomacy than I am. Also, I agree - it doesn't really matter. And solidarity is good.

10-4 to that

With regards to the mask, that only really seems to work in immediate situations. It appears to me that as people get to know you more, the autism will begin to shine through more. Like a co-worker I was working with for 3 years was not surprised at all to learn I was autistic, yet on first meetings people often are surprised.

EDIT: Corrected term.

In my honest opinion, most of those whom are "self diagnosed autistic" give those with the disorder a bad name.
Keep in mind, I said most.
Some whom are self diagnosed autistic still attempt to function in society and don't use it as an excuse to not do anything with themselves.

I'm self-diagnosed...how exactly do I give you a bad name?

Yeah, this is basically nonsense. You're making a sweeping generalization. Like people who self-diagnose likely do so because their lives aren't exactly great. They may be having a very hard time with stuff most people take for granted, and that doesn't mean they're using anything as an excuse.

You don't give me a bad name. I am not diagnosed. I might be going through the process, but I haven't been officially diagnosed yet, therefore, until then, I do not have it.
I have seen neurotypical after neurotypical insist time and time again, they have X disorder because they fit a few key traits/symptoms. They go around telling everyone this and it takes away the seriousness from the disorder itself. Many now do not take Aspergers as seriously as they should because of a combination of this and the fact people insist someone is amazingly talented because they have X disorder, romanticizing it, if you will.
Unless you're an ASD specialist, you cannot say for certain that you have an ASD. You aren't trained to be objective.



If they are having a hard time dealing with everything situations most people take for granted, that doesn't mean they have ASD. It means they are having a hard time dealing with everyday situations. They aren't trained to be objective.

You can take as many "online tests' as humanly possible, that doesn't mean you have ASD.
There is more involved in the ASD process than a few questionnaires. Providing of course you get a specialist in the area whom wants to make sure they are diagnosing you with the correct thing.

I was dx by autism specialist and six general psychologists.. .. however ... how would a psychologist differentiate a person with OCD and social dysfunction from an ASD/AS person ??

Last edited by LoveNotHate on 21 Jan 2014, 1:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

My daughter is autistic and my wife is NT, I really don't need a so called "expert" who draws their information from peer reviewed journals to tell me what I already know (yes I can also read)



LOL! I've retrospectively scanned my past traits plus done most of the online Aspie inventories. I'm fairly confident I'm an Aspie (again I don;t need a third party to tell me what is self-evident for me), although it's fair to say I feel I've adapted good coping mechanisms...

Now this has no relevance in reference to what I said, which is simply that people who look into the possibility of being autistic probably do so because they are having difficulties. No, this does not mean they are autistic, but it also does not mean that they aren't, and you are certainly in less of a position to claim either way than they are.

Training to be objective is also not relevant. You don't have to be 100% objective to be able to say "Hey, I have this problem and this problem and this problem." Subjectivity is not automatically wrong and objectivity is not automatically correct.



This is one of the many straw men people like to produce about self-diagnosis. People aren't seriously self-dxing based on just taking a few "online tests." Further, many of those online tests are actually clinical tools used for screening people for the possibility of autism and identifying autism severity and traits. Things like the Autism Quotient, Empathy Quotient, Systemizing Quotient, RAADS-R, etc. are not just some internet quizzes like you find on OKCupid or what have you. Even the Aspie Quiz - which is not used as a clinical tool - is constantly being tested and refined by the man who created it.

Like if you're going to dismiss "online tests" at least be aware of what they are.

But people don't just do those, they also do research both online and off. They read books, talk to other autistic people. Many of the threads on this forum are people trying to understand what they're dealing with and possibly identify autistic traits and symptoms they have.

Basically, you're not contributing anything constructive to the discussion by claiming that people who self-diagnose are likely to be wrong, especially when your own assumptions about self-diagnosis are clearly based on rather biased (thus not remotely objective) stereotypes and not on how people set out to do this.

I am not saying that everyone isn't right, although professionals who actually work with and diagnose autistic people have said things like "if you think you're autistic, you probably are." Many autistic adults are diagnosed professionally after they go through a self-diagnosis process.

All this sort of insistence on a hard line against self-diagnosis does is discourage people looking for answers and foster a hostile environment toward said people.

You're not going to change my mind, self diagnosis is wrong.
I'm fully aware of the tests available online.
More goes into it than just that.

I self-diagnosed myself with autism, and because of that sought out a professional diagnosis. I was diagnosed as autistic, and then diagnosed a second time during an appointment with another psychiatrist to discuss other issues. Like he just went ahead and rediagnosed me.

So tell me again how self-diagnosis is wrong.

It is good to be skeptical of self-diagnosis, because otherwise it's easy to fall into some otherwise avoidable traps. Automatically accepting everything at face value leads to far less rigorous analysis, and automatically dismissing everything at face value is exactly the same. There's no analysis, just a knee-jerk reaction. You don't even have any arguments as to why it's always wrong.

And if you really were fully aware of the tests available online, why did you incorrectly write them off as "online tests?" Why make a categorically false statement if you know it to be false?

Is autism popular to be diagnosed with? I don't think so. Severe impairment requires certain severity in specific symptoms including repetitive and restricted behaviors other than controlling anxiety.

Please refrain from making dismissive posts/threads about the diagnosis of other members. WrongPlanet is a support site, and speculating on and/or dismissing whether other members are on the autistic spectrum or not isn't appropriate. More specifically, it is equivalent to provoking and belittling other members, which is against WP rules.

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