Are people really faking autism?
I keep hearing about a bunch of people thinking autism is a cool trend and pretending to be autistic because they think it's cool. If this is true, this is horrible, but I'm wondering if that's what's actually what's going on. I don't really go on TikTok, and I'm afraid to look at autism related vids there, but I watch YouTubers who comment on TikTok because I like psychology. These YouTubers show videos and say they're faking, but I've only seen a very few where they have been able to prove it in any substancial way other than just what's posted on the Fake Disorder Cringe subreddit. Are these people really faking or are they just high masking?
I think any behaviour pattern or disorder that is well known will get copied online to some extent. There can be many different reasons for it: seeking attention, self esteem, wanting to seem unique, wanting to gain interest/followers.
On the other hand, a lot of people who are accused of being fakers may deep down have genuine concerns about having autism. So it won’t be easy or straightforward to say who is just pretending and who isn’t.
Is not horrible. It's a compliament!
Don't forget that teenage and young people are trying to find themselves. They don't know where they fit in and are trying to make sense of their lives! Please don't be too hard on them. They mean no harm. These are the youth that are naturally more sensitive and kind. They are not purposfully trying to be someone they are not.
I want to also add why it is a good thing. They are being brought up in a communistic style education system which tries to mould them into "Sameness" which is NOT a good thing.
They are trying to break out from sameness and be themselves, and they see autistic people as different, and they long to be different themselves but don't know where thsy fit in..
I want to encourage these younger generations be they autistic or not, to find themselves and discover who they are. It took me nearly 40 years to find out who I was, as I was always trying unsuccessfully to fit where I did not fit. I feel for these younger ones! They need to find themselves, and are exploring possibilities to find out who they are!
How on earth would the YTers know other people are faking it unless they're diagnosticians with access to their testing records, in which case they'd lose their licence for disclosing confidential medical information?
It sounds to me like the YTers don't necessarily know what autism is. Maybe the focus should be on educating them.
I'm sure there have been some fakers for whatever reason, or people who think they are but aren't, but it sounds like the commentators are blowing it out of proportion and doing a disservice to us all for clicks.
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ASPartOfMe
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Not this again.
I have been reading about this so called epidemic of autism wannabes since I joined this site 11 years ago.
There are hundreds of millions of people in this world so there are fakers out there. The problem is not so much the fakers but the perception of an epidemic of them. Unless a person is a professional entertainer people look down on fakers. This problem leads to a lot of Autism denial. I seen this denial happen in a number of different ways. People wondering if they are autistic, seeking a diagnosis, or even those that have received a diagnosis being told by friends and loved ones that autism is a “fake disease”, “disease of the month”, “just a label”. They are told that they are using autism to excuse bad behavior, they are attention seekers or drama queens. Sometimes they do not need to be told just from reading about the “epidemic” they convince themselves they are a faker and don’t bother seeking a diagnosis. If I got paid for every time I read a post from a diagnosed member wondering if they are an attention seeking faker or convinced that they somehow faked the person who diagnosed them I would be a rich man. In this situation instead of moving forward with their lives with a much better understanding of who they are they are stuck in a negative loop of self doubt. These are among the most heartbreaking posts I read here.
As for the actual fakers they are most likely faking the most stereotype traits leading to NT’s misunderstanding us even more. If they are doing it to be cool or trendy once they get into the non virtual, non school world they are going to find autism is not considered so cool. They will put their mistake behind them and get on with their lives. We having to deal with the stereotypes they promulgated do not have that option.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Not everyone can distinguish a masking autistic with low support levels struggling their whole life (of any age, diagnosed or not) from anyone who's on a phase of finding their identity (developmentally teenagers or young adults) and are in a generation obsessed with labels as some sort of trend (prone to copy anyone or claim associations with the name of psychological belonging).
The so-called epidemic can be applied to sexual attraction, transgender issues, labels of ADHD, DID, BPD, etc.
Psychopathy and sociopathy is still somewhat trendy though somewhere abroad.
I can say the same things with lifestyles, dares, and all sorts of fashion trends.
And it's only going to be worse with continuous unregulated content and access in the internet.
It's a double edge sword of awareness; being seen and known with a chance of understanding, at a cost of discernment by bandwagons.
Anyone can deny my autism (not that they ever need to know that).
But no one can deny my neurodivergence. They can't. They just can't. Not even as an undiagnosed 5 year old.
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I'm sure some people are, there's just too many people on the planet for it to be zero. But, I think the more common issue is with people being misdiagnosed either as autistic when it's something else or as something else when they're autistic.
I keep hearing people swearing up and down that other people are faking it, but in all honesty, I just don't see what's in it for people to fake this diagnosis in particular when there are easier to fake diagnoses that come with a bunch of the same "perks" of being autistic without the same level of stigma. If somebody just wants accommodations, anxiety and depression are a lot easier to fake.
lostonearth35
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Munchausen Syndrome seems to have become an epidemic thanks to social media. And it's not just physical illness or disorders the "munchies" love to fake, many of them feign psychological disorders and autism as well. It's infuriating that they do this when so many people who are really on the spectrum have to go through all kinds of hell every day due to living in a world that won't accept our brains being different.
I worry that people will think I'm faking it. After all, I can make eye contact, I don't wear noise cancelling headphones or stim a lot. That's because I'm either low-support or high masking and we're all different.
auntblabby
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I keep hearing people swearing up and down that other people are faking it, but in all honesty, I just don't see what's in it for people to fake this diagnosis in particular when there are easier to fake diagnoses that come with a bunch of the same "perks" of being autistic without the same level of stigma. If somebody just wants accommodations, anxiety and depression are a lot easier to fake.
Actually, autism itself is more common than people think. I heard a Ted Talk speach given by one of the worlds leading psycologists. (A Doctor or Psycology) and he travelled the world doing research and found some interesting results. He would gather large groups of at least 1000 people (Usually 1200 people or more) from every country he travelled to and did not tell them what he was assessing them for. He used local psycologists to do the assessments where needed as one would need to know the culteral traits to work out what was normal and what was a trait. Anyone who knew what the assessment was for (E.g. Someone who had sat the assessment before was told not to tell anyone else, as he said this beforehand that if anyone knows what it is, to come to him and let him know without telling anyone else what it is, and he included them in the results to show they were or were not on the spectrum, but he didn't need them to be assessed again if that makes sense?)
What he found from the end results was fascinating as which ever country and people group he assessed, he found the results averaged at 6% of the population which were on the spectrum, and most who were didn't know it.
He said where the results varies from the 6%, they didn't vary much in that some areas had 5.9% and others 6.1% and he found this fascinating.
He said what he was doing had never been done before, as the approach was usually that docots sent patients to be assessed who either they thought needed an assessment, or the patients thought they needed to be assessed. No ones health system at the time just blanket tested everyone, and he found that the countries in the world with the best healthcare systems rarely ever went over 2.5% of their populations being on the spectrum and the countries with the poorest mental healthcare systems had as low as 1.5% or less of their populations diagnosed as being on the spectrum, which gave concern because it means so many people wefe being missed.
It could be a matter of whether autistic traits are severe enough to be disabling. It's possible most of those 6% wouldn't have been diagnosed because they never had a strong reason to seek help.
Or they could be suffering but not knowing why, as here in the UK even people in professional places who have jobs that regularly deal with the public have missconceptions of what autism is. I have met a schoolteacher who had taught for 30 years who was highly intelligent and was in her last few years in a school with 2000 pupils, so she has seen a huge about of pupils during her time, and when my Mum mentioned back when I first was on the waiting list to be assessed that I was accepted on the list said "No way is he autistic. He is not in a wheelchair". This is typical of the missunderstanding that the neneral public have, even I used to think I was a totally unique breed that somehow there was not a catagory like me on this planet! When I found out about autism in a way that I realized it "Could" be me, I suddenly had that "Wow" factor to realize that there are other people who are like "Me!" People don't realize how much of a relief it felt like to me to know that I was not alone!
ASPartOfMe
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Not surprised but still sorry.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
My wife and a mental health professional both thought I had autism. The professional was doing an internship at one of those places that lock people up for their own safety so you could say that he'd literally seen it all.
Face blindness and savant level memory skills are two of the most obvious signs of autism.
I'd flip though a book absorb a surprising amount of information.
Not normal.
But, my real issue is that I'm transgender and can't pass as my birth sex in social situations.
A little diet an exercise and I now have obscenely thin waistline and an hourglass figure!
Waist to hip ratio is 0.65! One rarely sees that at my age!
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