I’ve been internet-diagnosed with autism plenty of times, but the one time I went to get evaluated, they said I didn’t have “it.”
But if it’s a spectrum with different combinations of different traits at different levels of intensity, maybe a diagnosis is irrelevant and what matters is what your constellation of traits actually is, regardless of an official diagnosis (which, let’s face it, is probably highly subjective outside of some constellations–that is to say, with a long enough list of psychologits, I could probably get a dx).
Personally, for me, what this means is I can look to autistic literature to see what resonates with me without worrying about the fact that I don’t share many of the hard markers for autism. For instance, my investment in the truth often conflicts with social niceties even though I can read people’s emotions. I can see myself as an unofficially atypical person in a lot of ways.
I’ll leave my resonsances in the comments below. Feel free to share yours.
You can get rid of the spoiler tag, brother, we’re all in this together. I’m happy to discuss this topic with everyone, including people who feel like maybe I shouldn’t be having this discussion here.
Yes, I think you touched on exactly my problem. We have neurodivergence, but you can’t say you’re OFFICIALLY neurodivergent unless it’s DEBILITATING. But being divergent isn’t about a disability, it’s about difference.
Politically, it’s a bit of a mess. People with autism want to overcome the stigma of it being a disability by recasting it as a style of interacting with the world, but if they leave the disability model, they lose legal protection.
Thank you but I’m going to leave it because I think edits get confusing with federation. Yes I did edit to add other stuff. No I can’t make it make sense lol.
I think it’s possible to talk about autism both as a neurotype and a disability but it’s hard for neurotypicals because they love implied meaning and hate when things are super specific and detailed lol.
I want to further clarify that it only looks at how debilitating it is right then (or up till then) and that’s a problem. Wouldn’t it be great to support people before they suffer?
Anyways consider yourself peer reviewed fellow autist. Your sonic the hedgehog plushie will arrive in the mail in 3-5 business days. (Reference.)
Fucken A, yes!!
Imagine a society where you could say, “You know what, this makes me uncomfortable and I’d like to achieve the same exact result this way instead” without having to get the entire psychiatric establishment and congress and judicial system involved in it every fucking time.
Thank you for the sonic plushie. I shall display him proudly next to my Certificate of Sanity.
ETA: I also sometimes want to say, “I’m autistic” because I have these traits, but I don’t like to say that because people will think I mean I can’t read emotions or detect sarcasm.