War on the disabled ramped up again.

[Shamefuldodger]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40058482

What the fucking fuck is this?!

Yeah, I know, you all know someone's aunts brothers nephew who just popped to the gp and got their child diagnosed (like fuck they did)

But how can this even be a consideration?

That'll work.

I have high functioning autism as does my daughter.

Am I not autistic enough to count now?

We had a private diagnosis of ADHD for ds1. We still didn't receive any help from camhs and they still minimised things and blamed us.

It's just bloody neurotypical privilege to first of all diagnose us and label us, then backtrack and deny its very existence. How perverse is that?

Either we exist or we don't. We'll just go back to being invisible, addicted, sick or dead then?

I suppose they had a fucking cheek to label us in the beginning anyway. As if they're the 'gold standard' of human functioning bunch of fuckwits.

My life was abject misery before diagnosis.

It's still no picnic. I can't work, can't be left on my own, have no friends, struggle to leave the house, mentally scarred from years of physical and sexual abuse from a partner and strangers (so so easy when you are isolated and can't read the body language/ tells that scream 'you are in danger!')

But at least I feel like it's not all my fault now. I'm not a defective human being and no matter how alone I feel I know there are actually other people like me.

I've started to become less ashamed of my obsessions (attic and rooms full of notes, stories, children's books I've written) and have started to think I can be happy being me, instead of having to hide away.

That's a long self ventured monologue there I realise (thanks to my autism support group )

But I wanted to show exactly what a diagnosis meant for me.

Please, we can't let them take that away from children who need it.

I've seen it in my daughter, they can be helped before they ever get to this stage.

Me being undiagnosed has cost the NHS a lot more money than the diagnosis eventually cost

I only got a diagnosis because my psychologist noticed it when giving me counselling from the problems that arose from me not knowing I was autistic

I'm better now, but have been hospitalised and almost killed myself a few times from depression partially due to being a social outcast and not knowing why I was different. I thought autism was limited to loud boys who liked trains, when I was a shy girl who liked stimming and dancing to herself and was teased for it.

It is perverse. And very very shortsighted.