is autism gonna get so bad eventually

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I was only two years old the first time. But have been tested and evaluated many times since then as part of child development. Have been in many offices and clinics and tested and evaluated with lots of people involved in the process. As a matter of fact, that environment is one of the places where I have heard talk of false cases and misdiagnosis etc.

Adult diagnosis is not an easy process. I am really smart, but I could not fake it if I tried.

They are judging every little behavior from the moment the person walks into the room. During other tests that are taken (like written self-assessments), the behavior of the person is monitored. I had no idea this was going on until afterward.

Plus the forms filled out by parents, and the ADOS. I had several hours worth of testing and interviews over 3 days, weeks apart. One would have to be a really good actor to fake adult ASD over that period of time, and remember to be consistent with all the fake behaviors. I was even being watched while we were on a "break", to see what I did.

Maybe it's easier for kids. I know the process and ADOS module are different.

Someone that could act that well is probably not socially awkward, they could act normal if they wanted instead of acting autistic.

I got sent to the hospital at 12. I wish they would have had the means to assess me then. I think they assumed I was a little psycho, instead.

Yeah...people always knew that there was something wrong with me. That's why I was picked on by the kids, and hated by the teachers, made fun of by the majority of my relatives, etc. I didn't realize it till later in elementary school, and it made me really anxious.

I thought I'd outgrown it after awhile, but didn't realize I was completely wrong. Apparently I am obviously weird to others "within minutes" of a conversation. And it's apparent to everyone. Even before I open my mouth, sometimes, because I look perpetually pissed off or confused.

It would have been nice if people would have told me this before.

This is a thing I notice consistent in most cases. Which is some kind of instance where they got sent to a shrink, a hospital, wherever, because there was concern about their behavior. Parents, teachers, family doc, whoever was concerned about them. L a lot of the time depending on how far back that was, they were not diagnosed with autism but should have.

There is someone who used to be famous in a way who claimed to have severe autism. Wrote a bunch of stuff, made a video that got watched by a big number. Very convincing. However classmates say this person exhibited no signs of severe autism and behaved in a completely ordinary way. Big difference from they could tell something was wrong/different as is usually said. I will not say the person's name, because I was warned not to a couple of years ago because it's a big controversy. But what I'm trying to do is show that you can make an individual personal judgement call, but that doesn't mean you are out to diagnose or undiagnose everyone.

There's like this attitude in general, that you must not ever challenge any claim what so ever, because if you do you are trying to diagnose everyone and rewrite the DSM criteria etc. So that way people start becoming afraid to speak out or challenge anything, and that kind of suppression worries me.

Maybe that thing is more common in the younger generations. I'm guessing it's kids trying to get attention online.

When I was a teen, kids still did things to get attention online, but it was done in other ways. We didn't have YouTube. Just chatrooms and instant messaging, mostly. So making up ridiculous stories, boasting of having genius IQs, of knowing celebrities, basically all kinds of bragging about completely unrealistic and obviously false things to get attention.

Kids would make long lists of all the mental illnesses they were diagnosed with, along with various meds they had been in, in efforts to "one-up" each other on who was the most mentally ill.

The whole thing of "people knew there was something wrong with me" -- you guys still don't seem to be considering the fact that many of the so-called high functioning people at least here visible around WP also, many of them, mention the same thing about themselves. But the difference was, they were growing up in a generation when even when everyone could see there was something not quite right, nobody cared UNLESS the child was actually completely non-verbal and rocking in a corner 24/7.

The thing you younger people don't understand about the older people now being diagnosed is what the 50s, 60s and even the 70s were like. Compared to now it was the caveman days.

It may surprise you that parents, teachers and others in MY life too, just like in yours, were talking to each other and saying "something's wrong" about me too, just like you're describing of your own journeys.

But mine were in massive denial too and nobody did zip, zilch nada about it. I have reason to believe my parents were even approached about "something" (the need to have me tested?) and they vigorously told the powers that be to get stuffed. You have no idea what went on in my childhood, regarding "the problem of BirdInFlight". I could write a post longer than a novel if you really wanted to know.

But the 1960s were horrendous. The ignorance and "never mind" outlooks on EVERYTHING were astounding compared to today. They didn't even know that smoking could be harmful.

I used to be left as a baby in my cot, with a woman who chain smoked.

With adult around like that, do you think they even bothered with my behavior and issues as long as I was walking on my own and feeding myself? You have no idea how primitive everyone's attitude was to everything back then. ##

These days everything about every child is examined minutely like EVERY child is a precious jewel. Back then as long as you weren't lying comatose nobody gave a crap about the details.

Don't assume that that wasn't also the case for many more like me. I bring up my own personal case again simply because it's one example to try to illustrate what you seem to be blanket denying other people you know of who may be like my own case.

And by the way Ezra -- I never called you "a jerk" in my post to you, EVER. I never called you any manner of names. I didn't call you a name not even once.

I expressed over-all disappointment in your skepticism because I always thought you were smarter than to be so bigoted.

Yes you're entitled to your opinion and to expressing it. Bu when your opinion is one that in its very premise attacks if not specifically a large group of people you have decided belong to by any other name the fakers and bandwagon jumpers and people who "don't really have it" -- and yes you're not the only one who thinks that way -- it's not surprising that this type of opinion causes reactions from others who will then express that they are disappointed, sad, angry or tired of hearing this and feeling like they are in the group that may be accused of this.

And the member you mention who left WP -- or rather I believe she's still a member, she just stopped posting -- if I recall correctly, she stopped posting here because another member accused HER of something like "not seeming autistic." She posted her diagnosis to prove herself but was understandably outraged, angry and distressed at having the "not really autistic" thing thrown at her.

When you think how one of WP's actually MOST severely disabled member got driven away by skeptics, then how do you think we (I include myself) so-called "higher functioning" members feel?

I now don't want to post here either because I feel like the next time I even talk about something stupid like being able to work or drive a car, there are going to be members here rolling their eyes and eventually making posts that imply strongly that they just don't believe that type of member is even on the autism spectrum at all.

As for the "quack doctors" issue -- I didn't express myself clearly about that one. What I meant was not that I didn't think quack doctors of any description exist -- of course the do, I know there have always been quacks, ranging from people who sold snake oil remedies in traveling shows, all the way up to doctors in offices who actually don't have qualifications.

What I meant was more focused on autism diagnosis; I don't believe there could possibly be much of that going on, of quack or unqualified professionals actually able to hand out official ASD diagnoses. I would be extremely surprised if this was able to even happen in these days, especially for adult whom nobody seems willing to readily diagnose.

One final thing although this post is already way too long, but all of these things need to be said:

Again speaking only for myself since that's the case I know the most about, and if I'm one person then there must be others like me -- I can say in my own case I don't even feel like I belong on Wrong Planet. Far from wanting to fit in and feel like I belong somewhere, I have never felt that here, even though over and over again I have found people sharing my exact same experiences so much so that I ought to have a feeling of coming home to my own people -- I don't feel that.
I feel judged for (my own quote marks simply based on many views I've seen expressed) "not being autistic ENOUGH." I don't feel I belong here at all even though there are higher functioning people than ME on here.

I've never believed THEY "aren't autistic enough" and yet some here do that to people at my level. Basically NOBODY can win on this place.

BirdinFlight, I have pointed out s number of times how kids in the 50, 60, 70's were not diagnosed with hfa when they should have been. And later on on life a connection is made between the past and the present and the diagnosis is finally made. It's not invalid, it's not faked, it's not by a quack in the vast majority of cases.

I think, along with others, including some (not all, but some) professionals, that there is a minority sub-set who don't fall in with the majority.

I never attempted to put you in that sub-set or anyone else in this forum.

I did not say you called me a jerk, because you did not. I was replying to the person who did use the word jerk. Not you, the person who said jerk.

Do you know I have invited non-autistic people to join this forum?

Does that sound like someone demanding members be "autisic enough".

I have commented on here in the past that sometimes I feel like I don't fit in because I am too autistic and not an aspie.

All the time questions are directed at aspies specifically about aspergers, which makes me feel left out and like maybe I don't belong here.

And now more so than ever, when I can't even address a subject, without grown adults flipping out and decide I must mean them personally. That I'm not addressing a subject, but the person who happens to be reading my post---ridiculous. And then they decide to make a personal attack against me in return.

Word for today:

Ad-hominem

I must have not seen the post where someone else used the word jerk; I didn't know someone else had actually said that literally.

Thank you for at least acknowledging the phenomenon of late-diagnosed genuine cases on the spectrum. From other posts of yours I have formed a strong impression that you didn't think anyone in this category could be genuine. You once asked how it was that anyone got missed in childhood, and even though it was explained, your response left me feeling like you still had skepticism about those generations. I just felt you were hardening into one of these disbelievers of this category of person. If that's mistaken then I apologize, but I had gotten that distinct impression.

It is something that comes up on WP over and over again -- people of differing levels of severity expressing skepticism or lack of acceptance of other levels of severity. I feel like it's one of the worst aspects of WP.

The world at large is hard enough to live in for anyone anywhere on the autism spectrum, and then we come on here and actually face more battles among ourselves also -- this shouldn't be how it is.

As for the Asperger level of things -- I can see how you could feel left out because of that itself. I'm at the Asperger end of things and yet I feel I don't belong here either.

There's something wrong where both a more severely affected person and a so-called less severely affected person both feel like they don't fit in here. And each sees it that the other has more of a place here.

Yes I realize that non-spectrum people can be here too but this is about those of us diagnosed on the spectrum yet still making each other feel like we aren't the ones this place should be about. That's just insane.

For what it's worth you probably do have more right to be here than I do even though I too feel I need the support as there's nothing out here for me yet there is lots of support in your real life for you.

I posted in your other thread that you should not leave. The discussions often range toward the aspie end rather than more severe but you absolutely belong here.

I'm just feeling like this divide that always gets brought up between "less" and "more" people on the spectrum is so stressful I actually feel BAD about posting about work or driving or being able to pay a bill.

Technically I shouldn't leave either but I feel I belong here even less than you do.

The people who belong here is anyone who wants to join.

The only ones who don't belong are trolls and spammers.

My guess is the majority of members feel like they don't fit in.

The bottom line is: there's many different manifestations of autism, and many journeys that people have taken to arrive at some sort of diagnosis or resolution.

There could, at least theoretically, be misdiagnosis--both on the part of professionals and on the part of people attempting to self-diagnose.

It is impossible to determine, based upon an Internet presentation, whether somebody is "truly" autistic or not. One can only speculate.

Autism (and Asperger's) is not a trendy "disease of the week." It's something that remains at least somewhat of a stigma within the "first world." It is probably seen as being worse than that within areas which are not in the "first world."

WrongPlanet is not just for autistic people, or Asperger's people. It is for people who believe in the right of autistic people to live in the greater world, and to realize their potential within this greater world. This includes autistic people, people within the Broad Autism Phenotype, family of people with autism, friends of people with autism, etc.

WrongPlanet, in many ways, is a great Site, a great resource. It has great potential--it really does! There's 12 years of a firm foundation. We must not let controversy break up the Site. Instead, we can learn from this controversy, and know that controversy, within a family that loves each other, is inevitable.

It's better to argue virtuously than not to argue at all. (I don't mean "argument" in the sense of a screaming match. I mean it in the senses of a "discussion.")

All people who are on the Human Spectrum must work together, not set themselves apart.

Again speaking only for myself and my own experience of what you too are saying, kraftie -- personally I don't set myself apart. Rather the opposite, I find others setting me apart.

I don't set myself apart from NT's for example -- but it's NTs who often make it very clear they set ME apart.

I have never ever on WP "set myself apart" from people here of differing levels of functioning or of the autism spectrum as I am.

Yet I notice it's they who set themselves apart from not just me as an individual but from my level of spectrum issues and therefore from the general grouping of people of which I could be said to be part.

Speaking for how I would behave on here regarding levels of autism -- I have never and would never say negative things about the validity of lower or in fact higher functioning people. The validity of their being autistic or the validity of their being here on WP.

And yet negative things are regularly said by the so-called more affected, about the so-called "less" affected here. And by negative I deem skepticism of their very autism, questioning it, to be negative.

This regularly comes up on WP whether anyone likes it or not, and it's one of the worst things about this place. It shouldn't be happening.

I first came here naively unaware that this kind of thing IS happening here.

But when it does happen it needs to be challenged.