Neurotypicals HIJACKED the Aspergers diagnosis!

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cberg
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04 Aug 2013, 3:33 pm

You can start by befriending any number of students, pathologists, psychologists, neurologists and any combinations thereof. I know that's what I did, and I was lucky enough to get an early start.


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Phssthpok
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04 Aug 2013, 3:36 pm

cberg wrote:

Dead on. If I happen to be misdiagnosed, then I'm still grateful for all the help spectrum individuals have rendered me, and as a means of moving past it I choose to accept my diagnosis rather than forget. Good riddance or better riddance, huh?

Either way hearing from people with similar or worse problems than your own is helpful.



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04 Aug 2013, 3:45 pm

Phssthpok wrote:
Your concern over military conscription is completely ridiculous.

I think it's pretty obvious that you're resentful of all the newly diagnosed aspies because they make you feel less unique and special. You sound like one of those hipsters who gets irritated when some indy band they like goes mainstream.


this.



chlov
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04 Aug 2013, 3:50 pm

Musicgirl wrote:
chlov wrote:
Musicgirl wrote:
chlov wrote:
I agree.
AS has become much of a stereotype in the last 20 years, and has gotten to the point that it is "just being a genius who's a little introverted".

However, AS doesn't exist anymore.
Now there's only autism.
I myself am officially diagnosed with HFA now.

Who do you see to get a new diagnosis?

A psychiatrist, simply.

Thanks but I do not see a psychiatrist. Is there any possibility I could get it from someone else?

I don't think so.



Willard
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04 Aug 2013, 3:56 pm

logician wrote:
When I went to a special school in 1997, I was a rare case. Everyone else were mentally ret*d infantile autists.
Then there came others like me. And then some who were more well-functioning than me. And then some that are so socialized that I can't see the difference between them and Neurotypicals.


Just because you can't see their internal struggles doesn't mean they aren't having them. People who have gone many years without being diagnosed develop lots of coping mechanisms for faking their way through the Neurotypical world. Your claim that because their disability is invisible to YOU, it isn't real, is the same argument NTs use to excuse bullying, abusing and discriminating against ALL High Functioning Autistics.


I was born in 1959 and wasn't diagnosed until 2007, so I'm one of your newly diagnosed statistics. Are you saying that because the school system didn't catch it back in 1965, when nobody knew what it was, that all these years I've been faking a disorder I didn't know had a name, so I could enjoy being treated like a freak by my peers and spend half my adult life unemployed?

Kind of like saying "Your cancer isn't as serious as mine, so you aren't really sick." :roll:



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04 Aug 2013, 4:03 pm

Willard wrote:
logician wrote:
When I went to a special school in 1997, I was a rare case. Everyone else were mentally ret*d infantile autists.
Then there came others like me. And then some who were more well-functioning than me. And then some that are so socialized that I can't see the difference between them and Neurotypicals.


Just because you can't see their internal struggles doesn't mean they aren't having them. People who have gone many years without being diagnosed develop lots of coping mechanisms for faking their way through the Neurotypical world. Your claim that because their disability is invisible to YOU, it isn't real, is the same argument NTs use to excuse bullying, abusing and discriminating against ALL High Functioning Autistics. :roll:


Agreed. Those of who were diagnosed as adults, had no choice but to fake our way through the NT world.

Autism is an awful lot more than issues with socialising. Surely, if socialising is the only issue, then the diagnosis would be something like social anxiety?

There are some people I know who are on the spectrum, which shocked me. But I imagine that's because they just fake the confidence, etc.



Panddora
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04 Aug 2013, 4:03 pm

So could someone tell me why a 60 something year old woman who would not be conscripted to the military and has no need to claim disability benefits and is gainfully employed would want an Asperger label?



Stalk
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04 Aug 2013, 4:03 pm

the irony

a similar thread called waspie was also locked. I take it this thread will be too. because it is discriminating.



KingdomOfRats
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04 Aug 2013, 4:05 pm

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People who deliberately mimic disorders and get away with it are quite rare as they usually get caught sooner or later by a proper psychiatrist.

Besides people have used plenty excuses in the past to avoid military conscription, and the illnesses/disorders they mimicked are still taken seriously.

I don't understand what you are so afraid of, you sound very distrusting towards NT's and very biased towards seemingly more socially capable Aspies.

it isnt as rare as many people think due to the internet having got so wide spread,google munchausens syndrome by internet, its not an official label as munchausens is called that regardless of what way it happens but will come across a lot of awful stories,some whole communities having been recked by individuals with this behavior.
was severely cyber bullied by a sockpuppeting and very prolific munchausens type individual who mainly faked severe autism on here after having used the blog of mine to groom and fake a friendship; asking for information like what medications was using,what equipment and adaptions was using,any behaviors am aware of etc to get the identity he wanted,he woud be posting the same things as his words as soon as he got the PMs as the time frames shows-never noticed it though,because had thought had found the first ever person had related to on WP;obviously,had not. :P

people cant fake ASDs in real life unless they have suddenly invented the time machine and found a way to go back and change their developmental history.
some famous individuals like donna williams have been recognised by several experienced professors/pyschs who have assesed her as her issues having being caused by the abuse she suffered and the resulting personality disorders that developed out of them; if that is true god knows how any pysch coud have moraly diagnosed her with classic autism when she woud not have shown the developmental history.

the diagnosis is complex,but people who fake it generaly are not NT to begin with anyway, not being NT covers a lot more groups than autistic people,it refers to people who are neurologicaly or neuro chemicaly divergent.


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04 Aug 2013, 4:15 pm

I think the whole mental health practice of trying to fit people into previously designated little boxes can actually be very harmful. The experts end up treating the standard symptoms they want or expect to see with standard solutions. In my experience most people have a range of issues that don't all neatly fit into one category.

The good news with AS is that the criterea are fairly broad, which gives room for variations and for more personalised treatment, if you can get any. However there is a downside to this with high-functioning AS patients diagnosed in later life who have spent years developing and honing their behaviour to appear "normal". Firstly they don't seem to be affected that much at all, and secondly the minor symptoms they might exhibit cause barely a ripple on the lake that is the official diagnosis threshold, partly becuase it is quite wooly in the first place.

I appear NT most of the time. However I work like hell at appearing normal most of the time, and I've been doing it for so long that now I don't even know which bits of my behaviour are real or artificial. Sometimes I suspect I'm even self-delusional. I find social situations very stressful, I stim (though I try not to), I'm a detail freak and sometimes quite obsessive,

I have low self esteem and I have real issues understanding people or empathising with them. I am permanently stressed and cannot maintain relationships for more than 6 months without breaking down. Work I can normally last about 2 years in a role before I'm off on long term leave with stress or depression.

So basically I'm like a duck on a pond - all serene on the surface, but thrashing away like crazy underneath.

And being borderline AS means getting any recognition or treatment is just about impossible. Especially as the forms they use in the UK don't bother to distinguish between how you'd naturally behave, and how you know you're supposed to behave in a given scenario. All they ask is, "How would you react to this?". Which is a bloody stupid question to ask someone who has spent most of his life learning what to say and what not to say, and lives in almost permanent denial of what he's really thinking. Faking it becomes an automatic response after a while, but leaves you wondering who you really are.

I'm being treated for anxiety at the moment. So that's Veneflaxine, Buspirone and Diazepam on the meds front. I'm also trying out all sorts of relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga and trying to eat healthily and exercise. But I suspect I either have AS, GAD or some form of Oxytocin deficiency, which means that the core issues are not being addressed and may never be. And that's a tough call as I don't want to spend the rest of my life self-destructing relationships and jobs and then my own self-esteem by doing so - it's a real downward spiral.

So rather than criticising those of us who are only just on the spectrum, have a think about how difficult it is to get help and how bewildering it is for both the people affected and their friends, lovers and colleagues, who every so often find that the person they thought they knew is actually someone different and melting down. It's more confusing than a clear-cut diagnosis, rather than less, and that creates lots of issues. And I'll be having none of this "not proper Aspies" bull either, having just tried to take my own life twice because of all the pressures and doubts this crap has brought about. It's real, like it or not, and it ain't pretty.


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Phssthpok
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04 Aug 2013, 4:22 pm

Panddora wrote:
So could someone tell me why a 60 something year old woman who would not be conscripted to the military and has no need to claim disability benefits and is gainfully employed would want an Asperger label?


Cognitive dissonance. People will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics to convince themselves that they have AS so they don't have to accept that they are just losers. If you have AS you're unique, special and maybe even gifted in some way but if you act like this and you're NT, then maybe you're just an as*hole, an idiot or a pariah and it's all your own fault. Also nobody, including the OP, is actually worried about the draft.



Jonov
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04 Aug 2013, 4:35 pm

KingdomOfRats wrote:
Quote:
People who deliberately mimic disorders and get away with it are quite rare as they usually get caught sooner or later by a proper psychiatrist.

Besides people have used plenty excuses in the past to avoid military conscription, and the illnesses/disorders they mimicked are still taken seriously.

I don't understand what you are so afraid of, you sound very distrusting towards NT's and very biased towards seemingly more socially capable Aspies.

it isnt as rare as many people think due to the internet having got so wide spread,google munchausens syndrome by internet, its not an official label as munchausens is called that regardless of what way it happens but will come across a lot of awful stories,some whole communities having been recked by individuals with this behavior.
was severely cyber bullied by a sockpuppeting and very prolific munchausens type individual who mainly faked severe autism on here after having used the blog of mine to groom and fake a friendship; asking for information like what medications was using,what equipment and adaptions was using,any behaviors am aware of etc to get the identity he wanted,he woud be posting the same things as his words as soon as he got the PMs as the time frames shows-never noticed it though,because had thought had found the first ever person had related to on WP;obviously,had not. :P

people cant fake ASDs in real life unless they have suddenly invented the time machine and found a way to go back and change their developmental history.
some famous individuals like donna williams have been recognised by several experienced professors/pyschs who have assesed her as her issues having being caused by the abuse she suffered and the resulting personality disorders that developed out of them; if that is true god knows how any pysch coud have moraly diagnosed her with classic autism when she woud not have shown the developmental history.

the diagnosis is complex,but people who fake it generaly are not NT to begin with anyway, not being NT covers a lot more groups than autistic people,it refers to people who are neurologicaly or neuro chemicaly divergent.


You are right , I had not taken the internet into the equation, and people sometimes go to extremes to get attention, I was thinking more of the actual diagnostic side where it is a lot harder to pull it off :).



Annaliina
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04 Aug 2013, 4:38 pm

Phssthpok wrote:
Panddora wrote:
So could someone tell me why a 60 something year old woman who would not be conscripted to the military and has no need to claim disability benefits and is gainfully employed would want an Asperger label?


Cognitive dissonance. People will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics to convince themselves that they have AS so they don't have to accept that they are just losers. If you have AS you're unique, special and maybe even gifted in some way but if you act like this and you're NT, then maybe you're just an as*hole, an idiot or a pariah and it's all your own fault. Also nobody, including the OP, is actually worried about the draft.


Its these stereotypes of autism that exactly the opposite for me;

My therapist said on our first meeting that it's very likely I'm autistic.

Now, I've been sort of fightin this for years since learnin about Asperger's. I am cheerful and hyper and polite. I make friends super fast because I'm so out there and confident, but it never goes anywhere meaningful because I don't do small talk and/or irrelevant chatting.

I have so much dissonance inside me.

I yell at myself in my head for faking it. Surely, then, I am NT. Why wouldn't I be? I'm probably just making it up.

But the reality at the end of the day os that I'm autistic and it fits, and it's ok to accept that.

These types of stereotypes withon our own community, amongst the autistics themselves, it's so harmful.

So harmful.

I wanted to write a lot more but brain has shut down for the day. My autistic brain has lost most of it's function since I've become an adult and entered the workforce. But oh, wait, that's irrelevant because I'm not like how an auistic should be.



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04 Aug 2013, 4:47 pm

Phssthpok wrote:
Panddora wrote:
So could someone tell me why a 60 something year old woman who would not be conscripted to the military and has no need to claim disability benefits and is gainfully employed would want an Asperger label?


Cognitive dissonance. People will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics to convince themselves that they have AS so they don't have to accept that they are just losers.


I used to know someone like this. His argument was that he was good at maths. :roll: He did also once claim he's so severely disabled that he doesn't have that much sight. Yet, holds a driving licence.



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04 Aug 2013, 4:52 pm

Outerspace wrote:
Phssthpok wrote:
Your concern over military conscription is completely ridiculous. I think it's pretty obvious that you're resentful of all the newly diagnosed aspies because they make you feel less unique and special. You sound like one of those hipsters who gets irritated when some indy band they like goes mainstream.
this.

Seconded. It's also like when white women get irritated that a white man has married a non-white woman - it makes them feel less "special" in so many ways.



Keni
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04 Aug 2013, 5:07 pm

So - You, who had help and assistance, resent people who had none.
People who struggled and had to cope alone, and who are finally discovering there was a real reason for their hardship.

Because that somehow makes you less of a precious little snowflake.

Maybe think yourself lucky that you were born in a time and place of understanding and compassion,
and give thought to how far you would have got without it.