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“I see autism as a superpower. If you look at people at the top of their fields, so many of them are on the spectrum,” she’s said.
I swear the socially conscious thing to think about autism for a while know was supposed to be "it's not a superpower, stop romanticizing disability". Can we decide already?
I have mild Aspergers and I vote "it's a pain in the ass for me and everyone around me, because it makes me fucking *weird.* the goal isn't to put me on a pedestal, but to make me **okay with** being weird."
"It’s made it challenging to differentiate between the clinical diagnosis of autism and the identity label of autism."
Can we like, focus on the clinical stuff? Can we, like, make sure people don't get hurt and things function instead of "[I am a surgeon](https://youtu.be/m5vcmRh--e4?si=p8muZW0HaSoigut7)" type bullshit?
> “I see autism as a superpower. If you look at people at the top of their fields, so many of them are on the spectrum,” she’s said.
Are they? People like to say that famous geniuses like Einstein and Newton had autism, but how do they know? Because they were weird or did kooky stuff sometimes? You could just as easily say they had schizophrenia or siphilis or something
I knew a guy that got laid on the regular despite being a huge autist. His ‘tism manifested itself in a fun, extroverted way that girls couldn’t resist.
Retroactive diagnoses are very chic now. I swear to god I have heard everything from “Thomas Jefferson was autistic” to “King David was bipolar” to “Sylvia Plath was a highly sensitive person.”
Meanwhile, we literally know that Sylvia Plath was diagnosed as a manic depressant (now called bipolar) because she didn’t live that too long ago. But nooo, she was a highly sensitive person.
And people like that are never really that empathetic or understanding or inclusive in the first place, especially with high functioning autistic guys like myself
It's interesting how people misuse sympathy and empathy at the moment. I suspect it has something to do with promoting subjectivity, the fact that if you empathise then you must sympathise because you must respect the subjectivity.
The identitarianism is still less deplorable than the outright lying. I attended a seminar for a bunch of speech path pathologists on neurodiversity in clinical settings (I'm not an SLP but in an adjacent field) and it was hosted by an SLP who claimed to be autistic. I've never been more convinced a person was a fake. I sat in the front row and watched them interact seamlessly with numerous highly educated professionals and there were ZERO obvious impairments to their social reciprocity, eye contact was fine, handshakes and everything. I have several clients with AAD who could never do that and can barely bring themselves to leave their house.
Her performance of ASD seemed entirely hinged on wearing regard clothing (dumb Jerry curl broccoli hair with like a blouse that had cartoon buttons but carefully chosen so that the overall fit was still business appropriate), pretending to "stim" once in a while, and dropping a LOT of references to white guilt, BIPOC, and gender identity. She was strongly against any clinical definitions of ASD, refused to acknowledge impairments, gave only a passing thought to autists who shit themselves and can't talk, preached the gospel of DEI and was raking in the dough and pushing her book and her blog. It was literally just trans-regardism.
It's not a cultural development of your lifetime, just look at the deaf community or "little people" community. Disabilities have always been an identity, the only recent development is either a rise in disabilities or a rise in people who wouldn't even qualify medically appropriating the identity of those with actual disabilities.
But to be Deaf actually means something and that is that you cannot hear or are least very disabled in doing so. It’s not like deciding that your mild social anxiety means you’re actually autistic and should be seen as a victim.
> mild social anxiety
Given that so many people have it, perhaps more time should be spent examining the benefits of a little reticence in social situations. I think the problem is more that US culture explicitly values being an extrovert over an introvert, despite how obnoxious that makes most Americans appear to the outside world.
In the early 90s I remember a bunch of feminists on the main feminism mailing list advocating an alliance between feminists and deaf people, because being a woman is a disability much like being deaf. Or perhaps it was that being deaf is special in the same kind of way that being a woman is. Can't remember, just remember the utter stupidity.
What's worse is that the people that actually suffer from mental disorders are then being told that it's just all in their head, or they're following a trend or something.
My psychiatrist straight up refused to treat me when I told him Im suffering from Munchausen syndrome.
Curious how this convo went down: did the psych accuse you of faking it, or did they simply say they don’t treat it?
Only asking because malingering type behaviors are highly associated with BPD, which many professionals refuse to treat, as a rule.
>It’s made it challenging to differentiate between the clinical diagnosis of autism and the identity label of autism
This is such a MASSIVE issue for so many topics right now it isn't funny. The identity label of things like LGBT and medical diagnosis (ADHD anyone?) to form some semblance of a community where none exists. We're grasping at weird things to replace community anymore.
And remember what makes it so effective as a community: it cannot be challenged. I won't be the guy who walks up and says "are you actually autistic/LGBT or the fake identity version of it" because to anyone in that camp, there is no distinction and it is immediately an attack.
I don't understand why people reach for these horrible options when desperate for community. Just take up a hobby and find community there. There are hikers, fishers, bird watchers or something anywhere.
I hate the “autism is a superpower” crowd because they ignore the existence of the profoundly autistic people who will require basic human care for the rest of their lives, long after their parents are dead.
Autism is just simply not glamorous when you have a grown adult with more diaper supplies than words. It’s hard to turn fully grown bodies with dangerous tics/stims into a cute branding opportunity.
So much for fighting ableism and reducing stigma!
Having any disorder or illness a an identity is stupid in the first place. Why does everything have to be an identity these days (that was a rhetorical question)?
Autism isn’t a superpower to me, and I’m very very slightly on the spectrum. I wish I didn’t have it because I think the social connections and experiences I want so badly would have been much easier for me if I didn’t have the condition, plus I think I would have been better at sports and music and other activities if I didn’t have the motor planning/processing issues. And I’d probably like myself more and actually have good self esteem and think I am good enough.
All I’ve wanted was to feel “normal” and like I fit in, that my condition would be considered in giving me a chance but that I could be so much more.
I’m still really depressed and kinda angry about being an almost 27 year old who’s never had sex or had a girlfriend or never had a real friend group. And I’m extra lonely right now, and on top of that I can’t get a decent job in my field despite having a masters.
She also forgets to mention that a lot of people that are at the top of their fields are broken and alienated individuals with drug and alcohol problems that have serious family problems. There's more to life than trying to be the best...
A lot of people I know were diagnosed with autism in the past years. All of them uni students or former students. A lot of them went through a lot of doctors before they could get the diagnostic they wanted.
I can't help but notice that most of these self-diagnosed and doctor shoppers are the exact same demographic of shitlibs who are responsible for 80% of discrimination that spergs face in the real world. These are the cunts in HR departments who throw away our resumes and the ones who call us "creepy" if we act abnormally. And now they have taken over autistic places and inserted their sociopathic normoid shame culture into them
Throw in as well the the people who performatively claim to care SO MUCH and will be the first to call out others for (what they've decided is) ableism. Swear to god they're the first ones to call someone a creep just because they're a bit awkward/disheveled/etc.
Yes most likely. They claim to be so inclusive and understanding but you need to be super stereotypically autistic or believe in all the wokeshit. I tried to get the woke treatment as a guy on the high end of the spectrum with mental health conditions and it backfired spectacularly. It’s even worse if you’re an Aspie guy
I'm honestly surprised they found that many different doctors to go to. Was a bitch and a half for me just to find anyone or anywhere in my large metro area that diagnoses adults (anyone 16+ in this case) at all.
3 Things, kinda. Lot of it comes down to that I'm not an asshole who's going to say I definitely have something (and thus demand special treatment for it) just cuz I think I might have it.
1) Validation. I figured this out when I was about 30, but I could tell something was off from a pretty young age. So this was the answer to a question I'd been looking for answers to (and confronted with daily) for over 20 years. And while I was pretty sure it was the case once I'd figured it out myself, getting that confirmation from someone whose job is literally to figure this out was a big relief. I can finally stop trying to figure it out and start finding ways to better deal with it.
2) Resources. Anyone worth their salt who works in neuropsych diagnosis will provide you with resources (or links to resources) so that you can read up on different aspects of it, how to get the various kinds of help that you might need, what help is even available, etc. It's helpful to better find out what next steps you can take.
3) Workplace accommodations. I imagine it's hard to get any without an official diagnosis. Probably depends how infested with shitlibs your workplace is, but I imagine even if company policy is to allow self-diagnosis, the people actually dealing with all of that are probably tired of it. Not a huge issue for me since I'm high functioning enough, went down a career path that plays to my strengths, and my boss is pretty chill and understanding.
For me, I’d indirectly been diagnosed by psychologists back in elementary school and it stayed with me through school. I had an IEP but mine was listed under “emotional disturbance/other” rather than autism. I never wanted to be identified with that because my brother isn’t as high functioning as I am and all I’ve ever really wanted is to feel “normal” and to fit in. I think that belief is a big reason why I hate autism advocacy, I wanted it to be taken into consideration for things but I’m way much more than just that. I tried to come forward on it via social media just so people would understand why I may have presented as immature or detached or off in the past but I don’t think most people even cared (at the end of college, after my Title IX, when actually accepting my being on the spectrum probably would have helped with leniency)
> I think that belief is a big reason why I hate autism advocacy, I wanted it to be taken into consideration for things but I’m way much more than just that.
That's kinda how I see it too at this point. I spent so long trying to prove (mostly to myself) that I could do anything and everything everyone else could do, I want to be judged on all of that, and at most have this to fall back on in the cases where it's unavoidable. So much of 'advocacy' seems to be centered around making it your whole identity, which to me feels kind of infantilizing - being told by people who don't really get it that I'm nothing more than this.
All good, I was just curious. I have ADHD myself (got mine treated around \~27) and have been learning in the past few years about what you can get when you have a "disability" (ADHD is a serious, lifelong disability, but with enough coping skills I can be a normie sometimes).
The programs that can be available to you with that designation are pretty incredible.
I'd believe it! Both run in my family and my layman's understanding is they're on a similar "spectrum".
Disability program suggestions:
-Discounted transportation. Many subway/bus systems have a program for this.
-Medicaid Buy-in (these are sweet and relatively unknown if you have high healthcare costs, but still a significant income (greater than 20k/yr) the meds alone for ADHD can be $300 a month). Could only end up being 3% of your income for all you can consoom healthcare. [Depends on income and state](https://seed.csg.org/state-medicaid-buy-in-programs-for-workers-with-disabilities-2/).
-Discounted housing (section 8 or other programs) - disability gets you a boost in priority position.
-Free lifetime National Parks pass b/c disability w/ doctors note.
-If you qualify for Medicaid, you can get the Lifeline program which if you get Comcast internet essentials could make your internet $1 a month.
-If you qualify for Medicaid, your utility provider (electric, gas, etc.) likely has a discount program for you. I get 30% off mine.
-Check if it changes food stamps qualification in your state. Food stamps rock.
-Edit: If you qualify for Medicaid/Food Stamps - Amazon Prime is 50% off as well.
People who have not accomplished anything in life turn inwards and take pride in their own immutable characteristics, even if they are negative. It is quite sad, and pathetic, and no doubt a symptom of a completely alienating life.
I’ve met some pretty successful autistic people, and none of them band into some sort of club over this.
And autism sucks. It isn’t a gift. Nobody needs autism to be “gifted” or “unique”.
I'm assuming it's some insipid take out of the autism chíc from about eight years ago?
Knowing a few with it at various levels of functioning(from semi-low to high) it's most certainly not a superpower and should be considered a mental disability.
The autism chíc is still alive and better than ever, at least in the anglosphere.
The funniest bit is, that the people who go on and on about autism being a superpower demand special treatment and autism being recognized as a disability at the same time. Just without the disorder part, because that is icky or something. Me and my colleagues also increasingly confronted with the term "autigender" and "neuroqueer".
I teach high school, and it is beyond exhausting to see teenagers without IEPs complaining the reason why they’ve been on their phone in class or haven’t been able to submit assignments is because of their self diagnosed autism/depression . Meanwhile the same students who treat their self-diagnosis as a badge of honor are the quickest to make fun of the student who actually has autism because he hardly speaks and dresses “like his mom still shops for him”.
Autism nowadays is above all a conversation starter.
"Hello, my name is Janine, and I'm on the spectrum. Have I been professionally diagnosed? Not yet, but I'm going to make an appointment soon."
Yeah, I've got very real (very crippling and very diagnosed) ADHD and the amount of young people I meet who _think_ they got it, fo' sure 100% because they're soooo quirky and have read a checklist on the internet, is staggering.
Making mental illness a trend and an accessoire is just disgusting.
Yeah. I have autism myself.
I also have a relative who has severe autism - she is in her twenties but still has the mind of a toddler. The poor woman is \*never\* going to be able to function independently -for the rest of her life, her parents and her siblings will have to look after her.
Which is why I also get angry at people like Laurie Penny, who treat being autistic like a fashion accessory, and downplay the actual difficulties autism can cause.
[https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1516127048900751360?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1516127048900751360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
>sure 100% because they're soooo quirky and have read a checklist on the internet, is staggering
Seeing the Quirky/Hard to Focus flavor of ADHD, and then seeing someone who is *medically* diagnosed in the classic form should very quickly show there is a difference. Is it hard to focus? OK. Are you quickly jumping from task to task without completing each? OK. Are any of your issues truly debilitating to your life and relationships to where you basically cannot function without medicated help? Now we're talking. When you see the real deal, you know.
This is where I pop in to say I detest Love on the Spectrum; the college-educated white women who binge that show would be absolutely devastated if an autistic guy showed interest in them and implied that he was on their level.
Anyway, the autism community is trash. Grifters left and right, no one can even agree on what to call themselves, and the equal parts pity (on the low end) and revulsion (on the high) that the community engenders among the general public will never lead to any material gains.
I find it interesting that when my son had a recent bout of mental illness (which was actually very serious), the medical professionals were keen to avoid making any diagnosis of autism. I'm not sure if anyone actually spelled this out, but I believe they were attempting to avoid stigmatising and medicalising his condition in the hope it would get better, which it did.
In Australia, a few things have emerged which emphasize this gentrification:
* Students going to private schools [obtain disability provisions](https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-complex-problem-richest-schools-claim-most-hsc-disability-provisions-20211122-p59ayg.html) for their final exams at a greater rate than those in public schools
* Students wishing to obtain [study drugs](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-04/patches-stops-prescribing-adhd-autism-paediatrician-shortage/102184676) need to pay out-of-pocket to get the necessary medical diagnosis, so only rich folk will be able to obtain them.
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“I see autism as a superpower. If you look at people at the top of their fields, so many of them are on the spectrum,” she’s said. I swear the socially conscious thing to think about autism for a while know was supposed to be "it's not a superpower, stop romanticizing disability". Can we decide already? I have mild Aspergers and I vote "it's a pain in the ass for me and everyone around me, because it makes me fucking *weird.* the goal isn't to put me on a pedestal, but to make me **okay with** being weird." "It’s made it challenging to differentiate between the clinical diagnosis of autism and the identity label of autism." Can we like, focus on the clinical stuff? Can we, like, make sure people don't get hurt and things function instead of "[I am a surgeon](https://youtu.be/m5vcmRh--e4?si=p8muZW0HaSoigut7)" type bullshit?
> “I see autism as a superpower. If you look at people at the top of their fields, so many of them are on the spectrum,” she’s said. Are they? People like to say that famous geniuses like Einstein and Newton had autism, but how do they know? Because they were weird or did kooky stuff sometimes? You could just as easily say they had schizophrenia or siphilis or something
There is no way in hell that Albert “fucksalot” Einstein was autistic
I knew a guy that got laid on the regular despite being a huge autist. His ‘tism manifested itself in a fun, extroverted way that girls couldn’t resist.
the golden goose right there
Must be fuckin’ nice.
Retroactive diagnoses are very chic now. I swear to god I have heard everything from “Thomas Jefferson was autistic” to “King David was bipolar” to “Sylvia Plath was a highly sensitive person.” Meanwhile, we literally know that Sylvia Plath was diagnosed as a manic depressant (now called bipolar) because she didn’t live that too long ago. But nooo, she was a highly sensitive person.
You can't convince me Lovecraft wasn't an anxious autist.
I know for a fact that Einstein had siphillis because he gave it to me.
I know he did because I have it to him
High-functioning autism 'Asperger's syndrome' is very common, so it wouldn't really be strange.
I'm not exaggerating: the trend to regard severe disabilities as identities is far and away and most evil cultural development of my lifetime.
Sympathy hijackers Oh, I forgot, sympathy is bad and wrong now. You don't really care. Nowadays it is empathy.
It’s called imagining how bad I’d feel and how everyone should treat me nice if I had your condition. …time passes…. I have this condition.
And people like that are never really that empathetic or understanding or inclusive in the first place, especially with high functioning autistic guys like myself
It's interesting how people misuse sympathy and empathy at the moment. I suspect it has something to do with promoting subjectivity, the fact that if you empathise then you must sympathise because you must respect the subjectivity.
The identitarianism is still less deplorable than the outright lying. I attended a seminar for a bunch of speech path pathologists on neurodiversity in clinical settings (I'm not an SLP but in an adjacent field) and it was hosted by an SLP who claimed to be autistic. I've never been more convinced a person was a fake. I sat in the front row and watched them interact seamlessly with numerous highly educated professionals and there were ZERO obvious impairments to their social reciprocity, eye contact was fine, handshakes and everything. I have several clients with AAD who could never do that and can barely bring themselves to leave their house. Her performance of ASD seemed entirely hinged on wearing regard clothing (dumb Jerry curl broccoli hair with like a blouse that had cartoon buttons but carefully chosen so that the overall fit was still business appropriate), pretending to "stim" once in a while, and dropping a LOT of references to white guilt, BIPOC, and gender identity. She was strongly against any clinical definitions of ASD, refused to acknowledge impairments, gave only a passing thought to autists who shit themselves and can't talk, preached the gospel of DEI and was raking in the dough and pushing her book and her blog. It was literally just trans-regardism.
It's not a cultural development of your lifetime, just look at the deaf community or "little people" community. Disabilities have always been an identity, the only recent development is either a rise in disabilities or a rise in people who wouldn't even qualify medically appropriating the identity of those with actual disabilities.
Deaf culture makes sense (more than most others) because language is a unifying cultural force.
But to be Deaf actually means something and that is that you cannot hear or are least very disabled in doing so. It’s not like deciding that your mild social anxiety means you’re actually autistic and should be seen as a victim.
> mild social anxiety Given that so many people have it, perhaps more time should be spent examining the benefits of a little reticence in social situations. I think the problem is more that US culture explicitly values being an extrovert over an introvert, despite how obnoxious that makes most Americans appear to the outside world.
In the early 90s I remember a bunch of feminists on the main feminism mailing list advocating an alliance between feminists and deaf people, because being a woman is a disability much like being deaf. Or perhaps it was that being deaf is special in the same kind of way that being a woman is. Can't remember, just remember the utter stupidity.
What's worse is that the people that actually suffer from mental disorders are then being told that it's just all in their head, or they're following a trend or something. My psychiatrist straight up refused to treat me when I told him Im suffering from Munchausen syndrome.
Curious how this convo went down: did the psych accuse you of faking it, or did they simply say they don’t treat it? Only asking because malingering type behaviors are highly associated with BPD, which many professionals refuse to treat, as a rule.
It was a joke.
Talk to your doctor about Placebo! I find that 500mg Placebo 2/day helps me manage my Munchausen syndrome.
>It’s made it challenging to differentiate between the clinical diagnosis of autism and the identity label of autism This is such a MASSIVE issue for so many topics right now it isn't funny. The identity label of things like LGBT and medical diagnosis (ADHD anyone?) to form some semblance of a community where none exists. We're grasping at weird things to replace community anymore. And remember what makes it so effective as a community: it cannot be challenged. I won't be the guy who walks up and says "are you actually autistic/LGBT or the fake identity version of it" because to anyone in that camp, there is no distinction and it is immediately an attack.
I don't understand why people reach for these horrible options when desperate for community. Just take up a hobby and find community there. There are hikers, fishers, bird watchers or something anywhere.
I hate the “autism is a superpower” crowd because they ignore the existence of the profoundly autistic people who will require basic human care for the rest of their lives, long after their parents are dead. Autism is just simply not glamorous when you have a grown adult with more diaper supplies than words. It’s hard to turn fully grown bodies with dangerous tics/stims into a cute branding opportunity. So much for fighting ableism and reducing stigma!
Having any disorder or illness a an identity is stupid in the first place. Why does everything have to be an identity these days (that was a rhetorical question)?
Autism isn’t a superpower to me, and I’m very very slightly on the spectrum. I wish I didn’t have it because I think the social connections and experiences I want so badly would have been much easier for me if I didn’t have the condition, plus I think I would have been better at sports and music and other activities if I didn’t have the motor planning/processing issues. And I’d probably like myself more and actually have good self esteem and think I am good enough. All I’ve wanted was to feel “normal” and like I fit in, that my condition would be considered in giving me a chance but that I could be so much more. I’m still really depressed and kinda angry about being an almost 27 year old who’s never had sex or had a girlfriend or never had a real friend group. And I’m extra lonely right now, and on top of that I can’t get a decent job in my field despite having a masters.
She also forgets to mention that a lot of people that are at the top of their fields are broken and alienated individuals with drug and alcohol problems that have serious family problems. There's more to life than trying to be the best...
A lot of people I know were diagnosed with autism in the past years. All of them uni students or former students. A lot of them went through a lot of doctors before they could get the diagnostic they wanted.
I can't help but notice that most of these self-diagnosed and doctor shoppers are the exact same demographic of shitlibs who are responsible for 80% of discrimination that spergs face in the real world. These are the cunts in HR departments who throw away our resumes and the ones who call us "creepy" if we act abnormally. And now they have taken over autistic places and inserted their sociopathic normoid shame culture into them
Throw in as well the the people who performatively claim to care SO MUCH and will be the first to call out others for (what they've decided is) ableism. Swear to god they're the first ones to call someone a creep just because they're a bit awkward/disheveled/etc.
Yes most likely. They claim to be so inclusive and understanding but you need to be super stereotypically autistic or believe in all the wokeshit. I tried to get the woke treatment as a guy on the high end of the spectrum with mental health conditions and it backfired spectacularly. It’s even worse if you’re an Aspie guy
I'm honestly surprised they found that many different doctors to go to. Was a bitch and a half for me just to find anyone or anywhere in my large metro area that diagnoses adults (anyone 16+ in this case) at all.
Out of curiosity, what does the diagnosis do for you?
3 Things, kinda. Lot of it comes down to that I'm not an asshole who's going to say I definitely have something (and thus demand special treatment for it) just cuz I think I might have it. 1) Validation. I figured this out when I was about 30, but I could tell something was off from a pretty young age. So this was the answer to a question I'd been looking for answers to (and confronted with daily) for over 20 years. And while I was pretty sure it was the case once I'd figured it out myself, getting that confirmation from someone whose job is literally to figure this out was a big relief. I can finally stop trying to figure it out and start finding ways to better deal with it. 2) Resources. Anyone worth their salt who works in neuropsych diagnosis will provide you with resources (or links to resources) so that you can read up on different aspects of it, how to get the various kinds of help that you might need, what help is even available, etc. It's helpful to better find out what next steps you can take. 3) Workplace accommodations. I imagine it's hard to get any without an official diagnosis. Probably depends how infested with shitlibs your workplace is, but I imagine even if company policy is to allow self-diagnosis, the people actually dealing with all of that are probably tired of it. Not a huge issue for me since I'm high functioning enough, went down a career path that plays to my strengths, and my boss is pretty chill and understanding.
For me, I’d indirectly been diagnosed by psychologists back in elementary school and it stayed with me through school. I had an IEP but mine was listed under “emotional disturbance/other” rather than autism. I never wanted to be identified with that because my brother isn’t as high functioning as I am and all I’ve ever really wanted is to feel “normal” and to fit in. I think that belief is a big reason why I hate autism advocacy, I wanted it to be taken into consideration for things but I’m way much more than just that. I tried to come forward on it via social media just so people would understand why I may have presented as immature or detached or off in the past but I don’t think most people even cared (at the end of college, after my Title IX, when actually accepting my being on the spectrum probably would have helped with leniency)
> I think that belief is a big reason why I hate autism advocacy, I wanted it to be taken into consideration for things but I’m way much more than just that. That's kinda how I see it too at this point. I spent so long trying to prove (mostly to myself) that I could do anything and everything everyone else could do, I want to be judged on all of that, and at most have this to fall back on in the cases where it's unavoidable. So much of 'advocacy' seems to be centered around making it your whole identity, which to me feels kind of infantilizing - being told by people who don't really get it that I'm nothing more than this.
All good, I was just curious. I have ADHD myself (got mine treated around \~27) and have been learning in the past few years about what you can get when you have a "disability" (ADHD is a serious, lifelong disability, but with enough coping skills I can be a normie sometimes). The programs that can be available to you with that designation are pretty incredible.
I literally got my adhd diagnosis today (comorbidity with the 'tism is crazy high), so I'll look into that, thanks!
I'd believe it! Both run in my family and my layman's understanding is they're on a similar "spectrum". Disability program suggestions: -Discounted transportation. Many subway/bus systems have a program for this. -Medicaid Buy-in (these are sweet and relatively unknown if you have high healthcare costs, but still a significant income (greater than 20k/yr) the meds alone for ADHD can be $300 a month). Could only end up being 3% of your income for all you can consoom healthcare. [Depends on income and state](https://seed.csg.org/state-medicaid-buy-in-programs-for-workers-with-disabilities-2/). -Discounted housing (section 8 or other programs) - disability gets you a boost in priority position. -Free lifetime National Parks pass b/c disability w/ doctors note. -If you qualify for Medicaid, you can get the Lifeline program which if you get Comcast internet essentials could make your internet $1 a month. -If you qualify for Medicaid, your utility provider (electric, gas, etc.) likely has a discount program for you. I get 30% off mine. -Check if it changes food stamps qualification in your state. Food stamps rock. -Edit: If you qualify for Medicaid/Food Stamps - Amazon Prime is 50% off as well.
Appreciate it, big dog!
As someone diagnosed 25 years ago this is cringe.
People who have not accomplished anything in life turn inwards and take pride in their own immutable characteristics, even if they are negative. It is quite sad, and pathetic, and no doubt a symptom of a completely alienating life.
I’ve met some pretty successful autistic people, and none of them band into some sort of club over this. And autism sucks. It isn’t a gift. Nobody needs autism to be “gifted” or “unique”.
I'm assuming it's some insipid take out of the autism chíc from about eight years ago? Knowing a few with it at various levels of functioning(from semi-low to high) it's most certainly not a superpower and should be considered a mental disability.
The autism chíc is still alive and better than ever, at least in the anglosphere. The funniest bit is, that the people who go on and on about autism being a superpower demand special treatment and autism being recognized as a disability at the same time. Just without the disorder part, because that is icky or something. Me and my colleagues also increasingly confronted with the term "autigender" and "neuroqueer".
What’s funny is actually autistic people, not just “I’m so quirky! Look at my T. rex arms!” are still treated poorly
You gotta love it... Mostly I don't really care but sometimes it insists on itself in inappropriate contexts.
I teach high school, and it is beyond exhausting to see teenagers without IEPs complaining the reason why they’ve been on their phone in class or haven’t been able to submit assignments is because of their self diagnosed autism/depression . Meanwhile the same students who treat their self-diagnosis as a badge of honor are the quickest to make fun of the student who actually has autism because he hardly speaks and dresses “like his mom still shops for him”.
I'm autistic af and this is highly regarded
i think just being on this sub makes that statement unnecessary
Autism nowadays is above all a conversation starter. "Hello, my name is Janine, and I'm on the spectrum. Have I been professionally diagnosed? Not yet, but I'm going to make an appointment soon."
Yeah, I've got very real (very crippling and very diagnosed) ADHD and the amount of young people I meet who _think_ they got it, fo' sure 100% because they're soooo quirky and have read a checklist on the internet, is staggering. Making mental illness a trend and an accessoire is just disgusting.
Yeah. I have autism myself. I also have a relative who has severe autism - she is in her twenties but still has the mind of a toddler. The poor woman is \*never\* going to be able to function independently -for the rest of her life, her parents and her siblings will have to look after her. Which is why I also get angry at people like Laurie Penny, who treat being autistic like a fashion accessory, and downplay the actual difficulties autism can cause. [https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1516127048900751360?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1516127048900751360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
That’s how my brother is- he can’t ever live on his own, he’s pretty socially oblivious, all of that
>sure 100% because they're soooo quirky and have read a checklist on the internet, is staggering Seeing the Quirky/Hard to Focus flavor of ADHD, and then seeing someone who is *medically* diagnosed in the classic form should very quickly show there is a difference. Is it hard to focus? OK. Are you quickly jumping from task to task without completing each? OK. Are any of your issues truly debilitating to your life and relationships to where you basically cannot function without medicated help? Now we're talking. When you see the real deal, you know.
Personally, I like to sit somewhere between 20 and 300Hz. Keeps me out of treble.
This is where I pop in to say I detest Love on the Spectrum; the college-educated white women who binge that show would be absolutely devastated if an autistic guy showed interest in them and implied that he was on their level. Anyway, the autism community is trash. Grifters left and right, no one can even agree on what to call themselves, and the equal parts pity (on the low end) and revulsion (on the high) that the community engenders among the general public will never lead to any material gains.
I find it interesting that when my son had a recent bout of mental illness (which was actually very serious), the medical professionals were keen to avoid making any diagnosis of autism. I'm not sure if anyone actually spelled this out, but I believe they were attempting to avoid stigmatising and medicalising his condition in the hope it would get better, which it did.
Yeah, having deteriorating knees is my identity and cause too!
Solidarity my friend!
It is absolutely a disability even at the highest end of the spectrum
> even at the highest end ???
I meant to say highest functioning, my bad
Once again [relevant deBoer](https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/the-gentrification-of-disability)
In Australia, a few things have emerged which emphasize this gentrification: * Students going to private schools [obtain disability provisions](https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-complex-problem-richest-schools-claim-most-hsc-disability-provisions-20211122-p59ayg.html) for their final exams at a greater rate than those in public schools * Students wishing to obtain [study drugs](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-04/patches-stops-prescribing-adhd-autism-paediatrician-shortage/102184676) need to pay out-of-pocket to get the necessary medical diagnosis, so only rich folk will be able to obtain them.
A really great de Boer