To find this view re autism frustrating

So how autism presents differently in women and girls should be ignored and they should be shut out of the diagnosis process as they were before. The late diagnosed and people of colour who were not see before through no fault of their own should not get a diagnosis. We should not recognise that you can have Autism and AdHD or recognise sensory needs although extensive evidence shows otherwise.

Is that what I said? No it wasn’t.

So how autism presents differently in women and girls should be ignored and they should be shut out of the diagnosis process as they were before. The late diagnosed and people of colour who were not see before through no fault of their own should not get a diagnosis. We should not recognise that you can have Autism and AdHD or recognise sensory needs although extensive evidence shows otherwise.

I think she’s got it bang on. working in schools for the last X number of years ive seen what constitutes autism completely and utterly change

But we don't have anxiety. We have autism

Mh support isn't pills though and yes am I am replying to this as you are being very rude and I hadn't read this when I posted.

Mh support varies and there's nothing wromg with needing it, many people do. Shutting down in social situations can be supported, likewise anxiety and stress. Lot's of people suffer like this.

You are proving my point for me with your posts.

Mh support isn't pills though and yes am I am replying to this as you are being very rude and I hadn't read this when I posted.

Mh support varies and there's nothing wromg with needing it, many people do. Shutting down in social situations can be supported, likewise anxiety and stress. Lot's of people suffer like this.

You are proving my point for me with your posts.

Exactly. It's so fucking dismissive to be told "oh, it's your mental health". Like I can just be given some pills and sent away.

I am genuinely interested. I also don't want to upset you any further so please don't reply to me any further if it is.

Well no my ds won't. He has to have 2:1 support to go out and it would be a safeguarding failure for his carers to take him to somewhere like a supermarket as it is documented in his care plan that he shouldn't go.

He won't ever learn to drive, the suggestion is laughable. He will likely have high rate of mobility for as long as PIP is around so no public transport. He's also given sedatives for flying.

What he is exposed to isn't in his hands; where he goes and what he does is decided for him. He isn't taken anywhere new without the environment/ activity being risk assessed first and if something doesn't work for him, we leave.

Being able to communicate via a screen is not the same as being able to communicate in real life. If you were having this discussion with me in person I would probably have already gone into verbal shutdown.

I don't think you're really interested in how it impacts me because every time I answer you, you tell me I need MH support. I don't. My mental health is absolutely fine. I need support with my disability. They are two completely different things.

But we don't need mental health support

You clearly managed without it you didn’t enjoy it, but you managed. So, you don’t need the extra financial boost.

But you are quite able to communicate, most of the support you detailed was for mh type needs and sensory needs?

I'm not denying you have a disability what i'm askes is how that impacts you and what you came back with was anxiety, stress, burnout and sensory needs.

But I don't qualify for any of that support so what do you think my options are, exactly?

Well no my ds won't. He has to have 2:1 support to go out and it would be a safeguarding failure for his carers to take him to somewhere like a supermarket as it is documented in his care plan that he shouldn't go.

He won't ever learn to drive, the suggestion is laughable. He will likely have high rate of mobility for as long as PIP is around so no public transport. He's also given sedatives for flying.

What he is exposed to isn't in his hands; where he goes and what he does is decided for him. He isn't taken anywhere new without the environment/ activity being risk assessed first and if something doesn't work for him, we leave.

Well your friend is pretty ignorant then and clearly misogynistic to boot. The way autistic women and girls present differently is now quite rightly recognised in the autism and adhd diagnosis process and you can now quite rightly be diagnosed with both. Autistic women and girls were very much there in the 90/00s.Uta Frith has been quite rightly criticised and pulled up on her awful misogynistic views by those in the field, researchers and charities.

We need the support because we are disabled. Not because we struggle with our mental health. I was fobbed off with poor mental health for YEARS before my diagnosis and it really pees me off. I am not depressed or anxious. I have developmental and communication disability. They are not the same thing.

It's not about not wanting things to be classed as MH support, it's about the fact that your entire post appears to dismiss how much impact living with a disability can have on people.

You talk about not subjecting your DS to a supermarket but at some point he's going to grow up and be an adult who has to, at some point, go somewhere like a supermarket. The same applies to going to noisy places. For example, I had to go and get my car fixed recently which meant I had to be able to navigate a noisy garage with lots of people talking all at once and lots of smells that I didn't like. I was so overwhelmed I genuinely almost fainted. I was SO embarrassed but what choice did I have? I had to get my car fixed so I could do my job.

Or what if your DS never learns to drive and needs to cope with noisy public transport to get to his job?

It's impossible to live your life without ever exposing yourself to things you don't like, and unfortunately when you live with a disability, you sometimes need support to be able to do that.

What support is that you have need that isn't mh or sensory? I really am trying to understand. Much of what the pp listed I would think does come under mh needs? I know this wasn't you but that is the example of support given.

But we don't need mental health support

It wasn't intended as either. I'm trying to understand.

Do you not want some of those to be classed as needing mh support? Some of the sensory suggestions i've made are because we implement them for my son. I won't subject him to a supermarket and do get shopping delivered, why would I take him to somewhere with loud noises knowing it would hurt/ upset him. Surely that's common sense.

As usual, context matters?

The only people I have ever heard, or read, using the words "gifts and superpower", were mums of SEND kids.

I can't really imagine going to tell them that it's not a superpower and they should stop using that term. People cope how they can.