Lockeye wrote:
I experienced a dramatic shift when I started being open about being an autistic. I was also heavily patronized by doctors and therapists, and new ones *only* saw autism, and did not treat me like a human being like others in the past did before my official diagnosis. It shocks anyone I tell that I also have a masters degree in clinical psychology, and I'm still talked 'down to' as though I'm more of a child.
Society has a lot of growing up to do.
That's really ridiculous. Nothing about the way you are treated should have changed, besides maybe more understanding of your limitations. And sometimes medical decisions may be a bit different. It's not as if autistic people are stupid or mentally ill.
In my case, I'm already treated in this manner by many, if not most, people. I look young for my age. I act younger than my age in some ways, mostly because I am socially awkward, not because I'm immature. I think that my inability to make typical eye contact, and the manner in which I speak give people the impression that I'm either stupid, or mentally unbalanced. Once people talk to me for long enough, they seem surprised by my intelligence and the amount of knowledge I possess.
Being poor and relatively uneducated (only an associate's degree, so far) compared to people my age doesn't help, either. The assumption is usually made that I must be stupid, and know very little. It's extremely irritating. I expect that telling doctors I have autism won't make much difference in the way in which I'm treated.