Nobody believes my diagnosis - are they right?

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I never believed it was simply merged and I never believed it was eliminated for purely scientific reasons. As implied in your link the costs of rapidly increasing diagnoses to the school districts and insurence companies were a factor. So bacisically they screwed it up royally in the DSM IV and instead of making it better they gave up and removed it all together.

As we now know from Steve Silberman's Neurotribes book the image of Aspergers as socially ackward genius has its roots in a decision made by Hans Asperger. He was trying to save people from Nazi Eugenics and to do that he used the example of his 4 highest functioning patients to prove autistics can be useful members of society in order to prevent Autistics from bieng killed. His decision was a neccesary evil. That we still are bedeviled by the stereotype some 70 years later is not his fault.

In 1994 the Aspergers becomes a seperate diagnoses even though all concerned belive it is part of the Autism Spectrum. Diagnoses rates exploded. A lot of people who would have been missed are picked up and many who went well into adulthood with mis or non diagnosis find out why things happened the way they did and that a lot of bad things that happened to them was not thier fault. A few people take things to far and become Aspie supremacists. Based on a feeling, not scientific studies the people who added Aspergers decide there is massive gaming of the system by parents, "special snowflakes" getting incorrect diagnosis etc. These explanations proved popular with parents dealing with severely autistic offspring,taxpayers and school districts stressed by the worst economy since the 1930's and who are watching. TV portrayals of charactors described as having Aspergers".

The removal of Aspergers provides official confirmation for those that believe the stereotypes and those that believe that Aspergers was never real, and maybe those that believe that most that identify as Aspie must be ablelist against other Autistics. The actual supremiciststs who wanted Aspergers out of the DSM precisely because they did not want to be associated with other autistics got their wish while we have to deal with the stereotypes.

Now Alex is trying to make this site less negative. When I started in 2013 it was less negative, people while far from brushing off difficulties were generally more positive about AS. In 2014 the year after the new DSM came out the Autism is a curse type posts skyrocketed. There were simultaneous multiple posts and threads about massive over diagnosis, wannabes and attacking people calling Aspies as a group as bieng elitist. That died out for awhile but has come back a bit lately. Simultaneous occurrences does not prove causation. That bieng said I do believe there are links between the DSM mishandling of Asperpers and the sometimes toxic and negative post we observe here at WP

Oops, I got so hyper focused on my post I forgot I was in the women's section. The anti "over diagnosis" backlash is likely hurting females because as last group recognized the clinicians who think the spectrum has been expanded to much are probably not or mis diagnosing women even more then they would other groups. It makes women more likely to hear from friends and relatives that thier suspicions or diagnosis are really character flaws such as drama queen.

I found this 9gag post days ago and I found it so lame: http://9gag.com/gag/anBWoyn?ref=fbp

underwater, My "AS" thing is a private secret that I won't share with anyone- I wouldn't even share it with a girlfriend - let her think I am extreme introvert instead.

Honestly, even I no longer convinced by AS and to be honest, I find the whole psychiatry field very questionable, subjective and prone to social social constructivism.

Psychiatry, as a whole, is still in the dark ages and too pseudo-scientific, like how conventional medicine was hundred of years ago.

And as long AS only exists in psychiatry then my thoughts about it won't change and it will remain a secret that I ll take it with me to death.

I did reveal it to few when I was younger, and when I showed them the diagnosis list, some of the reactions were : "Well, this is a list of behaviors everyone can have" , "You are totally normal", "This is a bullock, this describes shyness only" ...etc.

And you know what? I have realized years later that they were right, you simply can't argue against that it's fake because there's no way you can prove it in tangible way; there's no blood test, no genetic test that shows "AS".

fMRI scan studies? Those are attempts by psychiatrists to make their field sound more scientific but the brain is still too unknown for this to be indicative of anything.

They take a group of AS and a group of NTs, and they fMRI scan them then and they are like "Oh look, there's a differences here and there...".

Of course there will be differences, women's brains vs men's brains would show greater differences on fMRIs, religious people vs atheists would show differences too, smokers vs non-smokers, extroverts vs introverts....etc

To claim that fMRI proves the existence of AS as a real genetic syndrome is too baseless.

AS people are more likely to have engineers and mathematicians showing some "AS traits"in their families? That also a weak argument, what if AS is simply a personality type and socially constructed as a disorder? Some personality traits are also genetic after all.

Last edited by The_Face_of_Boo on 29 Oct 2015, 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think the most important question is, do YOU believe your diagnosis? If so, embrace it, revel in it, use it to work out how to thrive in life and enjoy it.

They do not believe your diagnosis because a lot of people picture a person with Asperger's as some painfully shy, socially awkward person who is "unattractive" and acts weird. So many people don't get it. These types categorize us as one and do not realize we are all different. . .

I Have no experience with that but i hope you are doing well now

please stop with the captcha. Just because I'm posting from a public computer instead of from home doesn't mean I'm a bot, or trying to infect the host server with Trojan Horses.

Last edited by LyraLuthTinu on 18 Nov 2015, 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ellykeeling, are you still around? How is this going? I'm in a similar situation--NThubby was supportive of me getting officially diagnosed, even though he waffled between not believing it was the real problem or even a real problem (it's just an excuse for bad behavior, we've all heard that one haven't we) and just popping out telling people that I have Asperger's even before I was actually diagnosed. His kin believed him readily; my bio family--didn't. Anyway now that I have in on paper that I am ASD Level One, in need of support, the support from NThubby kind of dissolved for a couple months. I think part of it was he was upset about the (admittedly ginormous) pricetag on that 10-hour eval and report. Both in time and in dollars owed to a psych MD PhD. He's coming back around, but for a while--up to a couple weeks ago--I thought we would lose our relationship entirely over this.



I so agree with this now. I'm glad I have mine, but there are a few people I wish I could "untell." Also in some ways it seems to have done the opposite of help in the areas I was hoping it would. Like NThubby learning how best to Support a Level One ASD individual who "needs support," and manager and supervisor at work looking at accommodations.

Instead NThubby was mean and angry for weeks, co-workers side-eye the "special snowflake," and I have to try to come up with my own suggestions for accommodations. NT hubby took one look at my brainstorming list and said "you're going to get yourself fired." He's also said we "don't need marital counseling" even though we could have three free sessions through my employer's Life Assistance program.

So, how is it going? I would really like to get NThubby to a few sessions on making the best of an Aspie+NT marriage.

Last edited by LyraLuthTinu on 18 Nov 2015, 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A post has been deleted from this thread at OP's request, it was off topic, and contained a personal attack on another poster.

B19
Moderator

The Haven? This is the women's discussion.

Quite so! Thank you League Girl. I have removed the incorrect information.

My girlfriend feels like I don't have it, too. Which is frustrating if I need support on the matter (e.g. on Monday I finally get my assessment done). But my response to her is "I am the best possible version of myself (at least socially) with you. No one sees me like you do."

Similarly, I've had a few people think that I will use a diagnosis as a crutch. My mum decided, despite being suspicious I had AS since I was a baby, that getting a diagnosis as a child would make it a crutch and a barrier stopping me from living my life. I can see what she meant, but it's really tedious being accused of the crutch thing. We should try our best and try and thrive and do what we want to do in our lives, but AS makes things a big challenge. Mentioning that or being aware of that is not a crutch. You wouldn't accuse someone in a wheelchair of using their disability as a crutch for them not doing gymnastics.

All kinds of people with all levels of expertise can be ignorant about AS. For example, when I first asked my doctor to refer me for assessment I found out he typed up a report that sounded as if it had been copied and pasted from Google. It did not actually mention any of the problems I said I had to him. Seems like he knew nothing about it.

Dump that bastard, and the GP.

Your GP is not an expert on autism. The are just a general practitioner. They know diddly squat when it comes to the process you had to go through to get the diagnosis. All they have is something on their records saying you were diagnosed by some sort of specialist. They can't say you don't have it because, frankly, it's not their job to undiagnose you. It's also very unprofessional because if they had any serious concerns that you did not genuinely have this condition and that whomever diagnosed you is just trying to get money from you, then it is their prerogative to investigate it further in case somebody actually is scamming you. I'd report them and I'd get a new GP.

As for your husband, he's not being supportive. Even if he doesn't believe you have aspergers, he should know that you have difficulties and he should be trying to help you through it. If he makes fun of you and berates you, that's unacceptable. I would even call that a form of abuse.

So ultimatum time! You need to tell your husband that he either supports you or he's finished. Use language that focusses on yourself and how you feel, i.e "I feel like I don't get enough support from you and I need you to be on my side on this".

You know you have special needs. Whoever diagnosed you knows you have special needs. Whatever therapist you might have knows you have special needs. That's really all that matters. f**k everyone else.

I haven't been formally diagnosed yet but feel I will get the same reaction. Although my current set of GPs (they are a group practice) seem ok, in the past I had a really awful GP who blamed everything, including my PCOS and clinical depression, on my weight, even though I had both issues when I had a below normal BMI. I've also had midwives class me as high risk and tried to refer me to a specialist psychiatrist because I had suffered from depression several years earlier, yet with my other kids in a different area they had no such policy. I also had a midwife write on my notes that I was morbidly obese and would have to see the anaesthetist at 38 weeks-when I was only slightly overweight and my BMI was a whopping seven points below that classed as a risk in that NHS trust. Another midwife I told I was worried as I had been diagnosed with PCOS, and had experienced a total loss of pregnancy symptoms. She laughed and said that i had been misdiagnosed, as 'women with PCOS can't have kids, ever' . A couple of hours later I started miscarrying. I know my family won't take it seriously if I get diagnosed with ASD either. No advice really but just wanted to say I understand how you feel xx

I deal with this a LOT, because I am very high functioning, friendly, and well spoken. But these people don't realize how much work it takes for me to fit in. Look up the term "camouflaging"

Don't listen to people saying that your diagnosis isn't real or ASD in general is fake. Especially if they are not a psychologist or don't have a certification. It is an invisible disorder, but the struggles are very real. Your husband is not directly in your shoes, so he couldn't possibly know. That stinks that so many people in your life are unsupportive.

IRL, There are a lot of people who pick up that I have some type of diagnosis or disability interacting with me long enough. But there are many misconceptions about Autism that people have. Over the internet, it's a different story. I've had people pooh-pooh my diagnosis for whatever reason. I know over the internet, people can indeed lie. People are going to have doubts with the rate on the rise. At least one person has assumed that it's a "self diagnosis."

I'm not saying that self diagnoses are not valid but the fact is, it's NOT the case with me, and I was diagnosed at a very young age. People are very ignorant especially when they assume that Autism is a one-size fits all type of thing, and people have to act a certain way.