is autism gonna get so bad eventually

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How do you personally know when or if someone is "diagnosing themselves for the wrong reasons"? You can't possibly know that from posts on here or even in someone you know in real life. You don't know what issues they actually have. You're making yourself the qualified professional if you think you can diagnose that they shouldn't be diagnosed, to put it one way.

What makes you think it's glamorized or trendy? This implies that it's a desirable thing to have, therefore it has become "trendy" because everyone wants to have. I cannot imagine ANYONE in their right mind WANTING to have this diagnosis.

I can tell you about my own personal journey with this -- I knew all my life that something "wasn't right" with me. I grew up in the time when only profound autism was recognized as autism at all. I'm not as badly affected as you are but I can bet you I have mild version of everything you go through, it's just that they are all less severe than yours. Does that make my two years-recent adult diagnosis invalid? Done by a quack?

That's you assuming things you can't possibly know are true in all cases.

All I know is when I first stumbled across the traits of less profound autism -- Asperger's at that time -- I was horrified to recognize myself in 90% of it. Not happy. Not thinking it's "cool" or "trendy." Wanting to be part of something trendy was the LAST thing on my mind. I actually shrank from my recognition. It was what they call and "aha" moment and while some people feel relieved to finally have something to suspect, I was very, very upset. I didn't relate myself to "being autistic." I had always mistakenly thought autism was something tragic. To even stumble across the first suspicion that I might be....autistic....was actually traumatic to me and I felt ashamed, embarrassed and in denial. I hadn't even been diagnosed yet! But just thinking it fit me made me want to go "NO NO NO NO."

I didn't "want" autism or an autism diagnosis. I was shocked to find I matched anything about it.

I've gone past this now but that was what happened almost a decade ago to me. It took me years to finally pursue formal evaluation. Years to come to terms with even the idea of pursuing it.

That's why I find it such an insult that you persist in thinking ANYONE thinks this is trendy and desirable therefore we're a bunch of bandwagon jumpers. In my own case, far from it.

So next thing -- "underqualified quacks."

How are you personally able to know whether these even exist? It's something I actually doubt. There are penalties for that kind of thing. And why would anyone be willing to overdiagnose it when it comes with often drains on public funds? The NHS in Britain is probably straining to deliberately UNDER diagnose genuine cases, particularly adult ones, because public funds and the welfare system is at the point of collapse and professionals are striving to keep people OUT of the system, not put more into it.

Ezra, you show more and more skepticism and lack of support to a certain subset of people -- adults who were diagnosed as adults. I've seen it in your posts on here lately, more and more.

I'm forming the opinion, based on your opinions, that you really at heart disbelieve the validity of any adult-diagnosed person. You can't say that right out but it's seems to be what you think.

I'm part of that group and yes it's threatening because it's a massive insult. It's not overtly stated but it's an insult just the same. Go ahead and just say it -- you think my group of people are full of sh!t.

And that saddens me in one so young, because I used to be very impressed by you. And now based on many views you express that all speak of a singular skepticism, I feel like I'm one of the people you basically kick to the kerb.

Thanks a bunch. You have NO idea about anyone else's situation or journey. It's shame because you are very smart and thoughtful, yet you are bigoted about this.

Last edited by BirdInFlight on 09 Feb 2016, 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What does be able to talk have to do with it?

Every Down's syndrome person Ive ever met could speak. But that didnt exempt any of them from being classified as "ret*d".

I'm talking about the general population's conception of autism, which is obviously erroneous.

I've never met a person with Down's Syndrome who CANNOT talk. Many times, I've seen people with Down's Syndrome take the bus to their jobs.

My experiences in this is not limited to Wrong Planet. There is a lot of other stuff out there. Lots of social media outlets. Lots of articles. Lots of books. Lots of reports. Lots of discussions elsewhere.



It's one of the few things I know of where people are often hoping for the diagnosis to came out positive instead of negative. Hoping they will pass the test. People wishing them good luck in succeeding. I am not saying that is a bad thing for the most part. But the point is, people often do WANT the diagnosis.



My impressions, which don't belong to me alone, are that of the entire population of the planet Earth. The US, UK, Europe, Asia etc. Not you as an individual.



Where did you ever get the idea I was talking about all cases? Or most cases? Most cases of autism are legitimate.



That is true of a lot of people. Probably most people. But not all people.



In your case yes. In most cases. But not all cases. If I was the only one who feels what I feel, I can see you pouncing on on me. But I am not. This perception is held by many. Several here have expressed it. Many elsewhere have expressed it. And it will continue to exist with or without me.



Again, none of this is anything that is held by me alone, but by many. In this case by many for hundreds of years before I was born. Do a study of the term quack. I guarantee you will not see me mentioned as coining the term or coming up with the notion.



Well it's not. It was not my idea to include a large segment of the autism community. That is something you are shoving onto me. Most of the time I have written SOME and that somehow gets translated to MOST



No I do not. You are making it out that way and pinning it on me.



People tell me it is okay to express my personal opinions, but it is not. Because when I do I get hated and persecuted for it like I thought.

Last edited by EzraS on 10 Feb 2016, 1:09 am, edited 2 times in total.

I can sympathize with being frustrated by the not-a-disability viewpoint, but I don't think over-diagnoses, incorrect diagnoses, self-diagnoses, or trendiness are what's causing it. I think bigger problems are things like
(a) conflation of autism spectrum disorder with broad autism phenotype
(b) pathologization of BAP, even pathologization of introversion (even among introverted people!!)
(c) NTs getting their metaphorical undies in a bunch over ASD coping techniques
etc. (not a complete list)

When someone says "autism" they could be talking about ASD or BAP or both collectively, and they probably couldn't distinguish the two if you asked for clarification. I feel pretty strongly that one of them is a disabling condition and one is not. You can't lump the two together without either trivializing ASD or unfairly hating on BAP.

I wish BAP had more of a "community." I mean, BAP is to ASD what the Highly Sensitive Person concept is to sensory processing disorder. HSPs have forums and mailing lists and books and blogs, so if a person is just a little bit more sensitive than is typical, they can find a label for themselves, connect with similar people, commiserate, and share information. BAP has pretty much none of that. Someone who is BAP must surely feel all alone between the disorder people and the normal people. The aspie community often acts the way you'd expect a non-ASD BAP community to be, so I can't too badly blame non-ASD BAP folks for wandering in and deciding that's where they belong.

(On the other hand, I've seen a few HSPs deny that SPD exists, leave nasty reviews on books about SPD, etc., and the HSP concept is probably a red herring for some folks who have severe hypersensitivity, so having a separate identity label for the non-disordered version doesn't fix everything.)

I think changes to the DSM will reduce insincere self-diagnoses (not that I think incorrect self-diagnoses are some kind of huge problem). I think I heard that some past versions of the DSM did not have "clinically significant impairment" as a diagnostic criteria for Asperger's, but at least the latest revision of the DSM4 had it, and the DSM5 merged Asperger's with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which people interpret as a bigger deal.

If you think you should be able to express any of your opinions without regards to other people's feelings, it should at least go both ways--other people should be able to express their opinion that they think you're acting like a jerk. It's not fair if you can say whatever you want but other people can't argue.

No I do not think that. That is something you are falsely accusing me of.



I never called anyone names like jerk. I never singled anyone out or made a personal attack against them. There is a difference between arguing over a subject and personally attacking someone.

I don't know if this is part of the feeling behind the concern, but when i was younger..there were all these people who thought it was so cool to be different. And it really pissed me off because they had no clue what it was really like and what i went through every day.but i never had the choice to just go home and be normal the next day.

Meanwhile, it does seem more prevalent lately that diagnostic terms are becoming part of mainstream speak. In some ways, i think this is good as it can help reduce stigmas. But sometimes..it does bother me to hear someone say 'omg i'm like totally -fill in the blank-' or people who seem to be seeking diagnoses for things that don't even adversely impact their lives..all the while, i wonder why in the world they would Want a diagnosis? I'd love to have none. To have my whole life rewind and never have heard of the dsm.

At the same time, it feels sometimes like..the people who do seek these labels or say they are this or that.. One is that they have no clue at all what it is to truly be this or that and how utterly crippling and life f*cking it is..and it's kind of insulting on an emotional level. and two is that others see them - who really aren't- carrying on lalala ..which then makes it even a bigger bridge for me to try to build to get people to understand. Or say understand that Yes, it is and very much can be Disabling. And No, it is not just me making things up or trying to get out of doing my share..i would give anything to have that option.

Now that i'm older, i just live in my own world, so it doesn't bother me much. But, being forced to in a situation like school...i can relate. Diagnoses of everything are handed out quite readily nowadays. We seem to seek a label for everything.. So, while i don't think we can or should police each other for "real" dx or not, i do on some levels relate to a generic frustration with the random people who proudly carry a label and yet have no idea the misery that label really entails.

Its not that people WANT autism, its that socially awkward people try and make the diagnoses fit so they have a place to belong, like this website for instance and the diagnoses gives them a reason to not wanting to be social; it makes it not their fault or a disability when being social awkward ISNT a disability, its called being an introvert not being autistic

Exactly. I'm thinking maybe it's something our generation has a better handle on.

It's interesting because in school I hear older students talking about misnomers, the whole special snowflake thing, pretenders on social media and the like. They are all or at least mostly HFA (as far as I can tell, no I am not attempting to diagnose them). But I doubt they are including themselves or the majority of HFA in that.

Also there are students who range from severe to hfa. I am not aware of the students with more severe autism thinking of themselves as superior or elite, or better in any way. Or being viewed that way by hfa students. If anything it's the opposite. There has never been a time I viewed those with worse autism than me as greater or those with milder autism than me as lesser. It's only here recently that concept was introduced to me. Might explain the problem KindomOfRats had here and why she left WP, but I don't know, just wondering.

Last edited by EzraS on 10 Feb 2016, 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

That is true some people believe they're autistic when they're just socially akward
.

People who try and make the diagnoses fit still have problems, Theyre problems still exist its just not autism..

Well being an introvert and being socially awkward aren't exactly the same thing. I'm not an introvert (or an extrovert either), but I'm extremely socially awkward.

Introverts generally like to keep to themselves. It's just the way that they are. They don't necessarily need to socialize often or want to, but it doesn't necessarily make them socially awkward. I've known many that socialized just fine.

Those who are socially awkward because they lack normal social instinct and abilities, yet don't have any signs of autism, are now able to be diagnosed with social communication disorder under the DSM-V.

These people are similar to those with autism in that they lack the natural and instinctual ability to socialize. They must learn to socialize on an intellectual level.

I don't think they really know why these people lack this ability, but it must be present in early childhood for a diagnosis.

I've never met a single "introverted" person that was anything like me. They mostly just tended to be nerdy types, and they hung out with other nerds. I seriously doubt that they'd be able to get diagnosed with autism just because they were nerdy or socially awkward.

What about the need for routine, repetitive behaviors, sensory issues, tendency to take things literally, inappropriate facial expressions, gestures, body language? How can someone fake all that?

When they tested me they noticed all kinds of things that I did that I wasn't even aware of. I didn't know about many of the things that they were looking for, and didn't know that certain behaviors I have are actually abnormal.

Maybe there are some that are self-diagnosed that are deluding themselves, but I really doubt that many people would have the capability to fake ASD well enough to get diagnosed.

Pieplup and ZombieBrideXD, how likely do you think it is it that *someone like that after studying the DSM-IV/V to death and consuming tons of other materials about HFA, are able to ape the criteria in a convincing way or start acting it out psychosomaticly?

*Readers please note that I said someone, not most everyone, just someone ---you reading this, I was not referring to you personally---

I have this worry too. not only that but people are starting to recognize normal human things as "symptoms"

For example: not liking loud noises. NO ONE LIKES LOUD NOISES. the difference betwen not liking loud noises and a autstic sensitivity is the autistic person cannot handle loud noises, at all, it causes sensory overloads resulting in a inability or difficulty functioning.

Right. I remember talking in a forum with someone with a hyper sensory disorder about things like shirt tags. Someone chimed in that everyone is bothered by those. But we were not talking about just bothered, but literally tortured.

Last edited by EzraS on 10 Feb 2016, 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

How old were you guys when diagnosed? Do you even remember the diagnostic process?