Is WP attracting too many of the wrong people

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Well, if only ten or so in a thousand have AS, and there are 14,000,000,000 or so of us (both types) on the planet, what was your point again?

I don't see why it matters whether other people have an official diagnosis or not. Unless they're causing trouble (ie trolling, harassment, etc), they should be welcome here.

I was diagnosed with autism in November last year. I'm not sure when I caught it, perhaps it was from the cheese sandwich I had in the hospital cafe. Or maybe it was bestowed upon me by the consultant? I dunno, all I know is that I can't have had it before I went to the hospital because before then I was self diagnosed and therefore wrong. [/sarcasm]

Thanks for posting this. It made me laugh.

There are plenty reasons NOT to pursue an official doctor's diagnosis. I've mentioned my story in other threads, but it's appropriate to mention it here as well, and I'll try to make a long story short:

I really have no idea if I have it or not. I was diagnosed as a child with ADD, though I have no hyperactive tendencies that people generally expect in ADHD. I've always been accused of not paying attention or having a short attention span, but the truth is I have an excellent ability to "hyperfocus" on things that interest me or are relevant to me.

For a long time I considered seeing someone for a diagnosis, but to be honest I don't really have the money, nor do I think having a diagnosis would really "solve" anything now that I'm an adult, married, and have children.

What happened to me was a "friend" from our church maliciously attacked me and my family by calling Child Protective Services shortly after my daughter was born. That was a horrible year for all of us because my wife had placenta previa, I'd lost my job the year before, and my wife was "let go" two weeks after she came home from the hospital. I still managed to maintain a meager income by playing gigs and teaching piano lessons, but it was a struggle. We were trying to figure out how to make $1,000+ payments towards our mortgage every month, fight off debt collectors, and figure out how on earth we were going to feed two babies and keep our premature baby girl alive. Things got MUCH worse before we started getting things turned around, and we still haven't fully recovered despite SOME things improving. We have a long way to go.

So this person called CPS on us because we both lost jobs and were struggling financially, were very worried about our premature baby girl, had no idea how we were going to keep our kids fed and healthy, and in general had no clue how things were going to work out. It was a very emotional time and there were very few people we trusted enough to confide in at all. This person told CPS (through an anonymous hotline) that we were watering down our son's baby formula, that we were worried about SIDS, I had Asperger's, and one or both of us were suicidal. My son was prone to ear infections, so we had surgery to implant tubes until he outgrew the infections. Anyone who has ever been around a child with tubes knows how messy this can be when the ears drain. We were told different things by different people--use cotton; don't use cotton. Pro-cotton means the cotton absorbs the drainage and it's not messy; however, it only allows so much to drain before fresh cotton is needed, defeating the purpose of the tubes, and also maintains a moist environment that encourages bacteria. Anti-cotton means the ears are draining and minimizes the moist bacteria-encouraging environment in hopes that the infection will clear up sooner. However, it's messy and having bacteria-infested drainage spread over the skin of the outer ear and face will, as you'd expect, cause the skin to break out. We'd gone to local doctors for round after round of antibiotics, and in the end we had to be honest that the antibiotics weren't really helping and that we'd be better off just waiting and let our son outgrow the ear infections naturally.

What this person said was that we were refusing to get our son medical attention for his chronic ear infections. We proved these accusations false because we were still giving our son antibiotics at the time the calls were made. We also proved that we weren't watering down formula because at the time of the CPS visits, our son was already too old for formula and really had stopped even using a baby bottle. As long as I don't say much and have minimal contact with other people, I appear perfectly normal. My wife is an NT and she's very smart. So when they asked me if I'd ever been diagnosed, I responded plainly and honestly, "No." I told the truth, but I volunteered absolutely no information, either. This happened not once, but THREE TIMES over about as many months. I shudder to think what would have happened if I'd answered any differently, because I'm no good at lying to people convincingly. I just don't do it, and if there'd been any truth to any of this, I'd have admitted it. There's no doubt in my mind that admitting to an Asperger's diagnosis would have lent credence to these malicious hotline calls and constituted a threat to my family. This person was trying to break up my family or force us to leave the area and our church. While we survived that ordeal with our family intact, we can no longer trust certain people. Neither can I talk to anyone, not even a psychologist, about who or what I am.

Getting a diagnosis is not what's best for everyone. I know in the UK there have been numerous cases involving AS parents and their children in which child services takes away their children for no more reason than a person has been diagnosed. There was a person, actually right here in WP last year, who had been diagnosed and due to some related problems worked with a counselor to get his children put in care temporarily (so they said) until he resolved some issues. But when he was ready to be a parent again, he found that his children had actually been taken into permanent custody. I have since learned in the UK that this is quite a standard practice and that child services will come after parents even when they have NEW children, virtually as soon as they're born. I'm not a perfect dad by any stretch of the imagination, but my wife has had to be out of town before on weekend business or to take care of her ailing grandmother for days or nearly a week at a time, and I've managed as a "single father" just fine. It's only difficult because I'm used to sharing the responsibility, but I CAN handle it without falling apart. I imagine this to be the case with most AS parents, and it's frightening to me that any government agency can take away your children just because you're a little different than everyone else. It's ridiculous. It's sad. But it happens. Be careful how you judge people who don't get a diagnosis. There are times when getting a diagnosis does more harm than good.

I'm not sure what Venger's all up about. According to [url=http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm]Internet World Stats[/url about 1,966,514,816 people currently use the internet. This means that approximately 511,294 people diagnosed or diagnosable with AS are using the internet if you use the .26 per 1,000 number.

Using Twirlip's statistic of 1 in 300, that means approximately 6,555,050 people diagnosed or diagnosable with AS are using the Internet.

Right now, Wrong Planet has 49,262 members. If MidLifeAspie was correct yesterday, about half of those are bots. So around 25,000 people on this site.

The 1 in 300 or .26 in 1000 stats are not of course intended to be applied to every single population you pick, especially a self-selected population like the people who come to a site dedicated to discussing the autistic spectrum, who will be here because a) they are autistic, b) they have a relative, friend, or partner who is autistic, c) they have some other condition(s) that are open for discussion here, or d) they have an interest in discussing these things.

I wish I had statistics for how many people have which diagnoses listed in their profiles, but I am sure that all 25,000 real users (many of whom may not even use the site regularly, and of those who do, most never post) are not and do not identify themselves as autistic. So really, you have 1,047 members online while I write this. I have no idea how many are bots, but I do know the majority aren't writing forum posts. A fraction of that number is. Many of whom have self-selected themselves to come here out of the pool of all possible autistic people on Earth who use the internet. And the numbers I posted were simply for those who are diagnosed or diagnosable with Asperger's Syndrome, and not people who would be diagnosed with autism or PDD-NOS (although I would suggest there is a lot of overlap). The main reason I did this is because the numbers quoted directly in the thread were the statistics for possible number of AS people, and I didn't think to get the number of people with all PDD/ASD diagnoses instead.

But the numbers don't really seem all that far out of line, I don't think. The number of potential autistic internet users is large enough that the number posting and reading here regularly is a drop in the bucket.

Does it still seem really far-fetched?

Last edited by Verdandi on 04 May 2011, 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Why does this make them the wrong people? Fitting in is difficult and this should be a place where any "social misfit" can feel comfortable. *shrug*

Saying that there are members here who don't belong is a very NT claim to make.

I'm not reading this whole thread, because I'm tired of it too. But I think the people who claim such things about the self-diagnosed are elitist in more than one way, because it's actually a fraction of people who have the money to spend on therapists, making official diagnosis a class issue. And guess what. People on the spectrum have a harder time finding and keeping jobs, making them less likely to have insurance to pay for such things. Sure, there are the lucky ones who have mommy and daddy to pay for it, and I'd bet they're the ones complaining. I work and still don't have insurance. And I found out the hard way that going to a therapist is bank-breaking.

Correct, and how could it even do so anyway?! What would be the alleged "attraction"?!

Absolutely.

See just above!

Yes, I am actually fortunate that my medicaid coverage actually includes therapy, but only for six months, and only one diagnostic referral (which I have already used). I might be able to get something more if it looks like I need it, but I suspect not. My access to mental health care is provisional at best.

YAY, another offensive thread.

This kind of things just comes along with the territory!

*points to sign* "Do not feed it."

Oops, I already did.

Please explain how self diagnosis runs the risk of not doing '...you or the people around you any good.' You do realize that there is a whole host of online self analysis tools/tests available, right? You do realize that many of those tests are more easily accessed through Wrong Planet, right? My impression is that you believe self diagnosis is done in a sham or inadequate fashion. Do you know how much time, thought, insight or concern that people put into self diagnosis? Of course you don't, you aren't them.

Self diagnosis is an appropriate alternative WHEN ONE HAS NO MONEY for a professional diagnosis.

Here's an analogy almost anyone should understand:
- your car won't start and it's parked in your driveway
- you're going to lose your job if you don't get it started
- you don't have the money or the time for a mechanic, you need it fixed
- do you attempt to fix it yourself or do you just give up without trying?
- if you do attempt to fix the car yourself and if the car does start do you assume that you've found the problem (or are close to finding the problem) or do you assume that something unrelated was wrong with it?
- JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED THE POINT- My car (brain) doesn't start all the time. I don't have the money or the time for a mechanic (psychologist). I need my car (brain) to work so that I can be a functioning member of society. If I get it started with my own tinkering, do I assume that I have no clue what I'm doing?

I am tempted to start another thread wherein I delineate my self diagnosis process, in an effort to address such dismissive assumptions. It really is no one else's business what I have gone through or how I came to my conclusions but it may just help others to see how excruciating and involved the process really is. Frankly, throwing $1,000 at a psychologist would have been the easier option if I had the money. My self diagnosis took MONTHS and literally HUNDREDS OF HOURS of work - reading, searching, self analyzing, doubting, discussing, reevaluating, etc., etc., etc.

Last edited by Dinosaw on 05 May 2011, 3:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

It's only seven billion, fortunately.