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Individuality & Reaction to Diagnosis

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starkid
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20 May 2015, 9:29 pm

Since there have been a lot of people who reacted positively to their diagnosis or just learning about autism because they felt relieved to have an explanation for their life experiences and felt like they belonged to a group, I wondered if anyone felt negatively about it: upset that their individual quirks are considered a syndrome, worried that they'll be seen as just another autistic person instead of their unique self, or just not being interested in the belonging aspect of sharing traits or a diagnosis with other people.

I suppose that people who strongly felt that way would probably never join WP, but I'm asking anyways.



Chris71186
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20 May 2015, 9:53 pm

starkid wrote:
Since there have been a lot of people who reacted positively to their diagnosis or just learning about autism because they felt relieved to have an explanation for their life experiences and felt like they belonged to a group, I wondered if anyone felt negatively about it: upset that their individual quirks are considered a syndrome, worried that they'll be seen as just another autistic person instead of their unique self, or just not being interested in the belonging aspect of sharing traits or a diagnosis with other people.

I suppose that people who strongly felt that way would probably never join WP, but I'm asking anyways.


getting confirmation was a very positive experience for me because it gave "context to my story" so to speak. When you understand yourself it makes what you do 100x less stressful. It has nothing to do with belonging to a group and also has nothing to do with the idea of "oh I do that cause I'm autistic". It's just more of a "I figured out what kind of human being I am". At least that's how it felt for me. A lot of people with ASD feel they are alien or inhuman. I think it has a lot to do with feeling like "you have permission to be human again". As sad as that sounds.... it certainly was my experience.



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20 May 2015, 10:34 pm

Yes, there are.

My friend is exactly like that. He is actually more negative about his autism than anybody I've seen on this website. He is the main reason I strongly believe it to be a disorder, and not just so because the world contains NT people. However many times I have had to explain the positives to him, because as I said, he's very negative about it.


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btbnnyr
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21 May 2015, 1:34 am

Being all-negative about autism diagnosis is just as bad as being all-positive.
Both are delusional and maladaptive.


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Norny
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21 May 2015, 2:58 am

btbnnyr wrote:
Being all-negative about autism diagnosis is just as bad as being all-positive.
Both are delusional and maladaptive.


I agree.

Though my recent posts may lead people to believe that I'm entirely negative. I kinda screwed up the context of which I was referring to in a thread that I made.


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iliketrees
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21 May 2015, 8:33 am

btbnnyr wrote:
Being all-negative about autism diagnosis is just as bad as being all-positive.
Both are delusional and maladaptive.


Definitely. There are people here who believe autism isn't a disorder, people who believe it's "evolution in action" to be autistic, people who believe they're superior to NTs for being autistic.

Scares me, really. I hope they don't get to people so much that support for those with HFA is removed because a select few don't need it because they're stuck up their own asses and think they're superior. :?

Not to say it doesn't have its positives, just it is a disorder.