Autism

[lolly07766]

I know there are many threads concerning this subject, I've just read one now.
I have a son with severe autism, limited communication and obvious learning disabilities, aibu to think the diagnosis/description should be changed for high functioning people, as opposed to those who have serious disabilities.

@fluffyoverlord - you should report the professional to their professional body.

If you think HCPs are acting unprofessionally you should report them. However, just because you judge someone not to be limited and impaired by their difficulties doesn’t mean they aren’t.

I didn’t mention support groups. Partly because in my experience the adult support groups consist of many self ID’ing individuals so aren’t relevant to what I posted about the diagnostic criteria.

to the point they look totally normal at all times in front of other people.

You do realise not all disabilities are visible, don’t you?

especially their total lack of understanding or empathy for our difficulties.

Ironic.

You have no idea what is going on in their heads and I doubt very much what you said about the professional is true .They go though how you meet the diagnosis at assessment, discuss it as a team and then you get a report. Kind of tricky if there is nothing to say or put in a report.

fluffyoverlord And lucky you for getting a diagnosis in your younger years. Some of us who grew up decades ago didn’t even have diagnosis as an option and have lived blighted lives, having to mask as a necessity with no understanding of ourselves.

@fluffyoverlord please read my post about my mum. Not everyone who is diagnosed late is a successful career minded superstar. You are misguided.

So she told a whole group of people she was being negligent and doing something that would actually be impossible. Sorry no it doesn’t ring true.

“People with full independent lives may technically have a "disability" but their reality is not like mine“

How do you know you’re not in their heads.

It is not patronising to point out not all disabilities are visible when you post that you don’t think someone is disabled or impaired because they “look totally normal”.


their reality is not like mine.

Everyone’s needs are different. It doesn’t mean your or their experiences are any less valid. Your ‘reality’ is vastly different to e.g. someone who can’t post on SM, can’t eat…

It's not "judgement", it's objective reality.

You are being judgemental, and ignorant.

They can live a fully normal life, even if at some times hard, and myself and my peers cannot. The end.

Again, in order to get a diagnosis one has to have persistent difficulties that limit and impair everyday functioning. That is not living a “fully normal life”. Just because you don’t see the impairments and limitations doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

I would have got a diagnosis 16 years ago. 38 years ago for a girl it wasn’t even thought of. So no your autism is no more valid than mine. You were just born later.

Oh and anybody with an autism diagnosis has a disability.

was diagnosed 16 years ago, and it was relatively rare at the time for girls to get diagnosed.

Now think about what it was like 40 years ago.

I’m not taking your comment out of context. You think someone isn’t disabled because they “look totally normal.” Just because you don’t see their difficulties doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

people with greater or opposing needs.

Differing needs. And even those within what would have previously been within the autism diagnosis (as opposed to Asperger syndrome diagnosis) still have differing needs.


And your point is what?

My point is your ‘reality’ is different to many other people’s reality, it doesn’t mean other people’s ‘reality’ is any less valid. Just different.

Give over.

Which part are you disagreeing with? The needing to have “persistent difficulties” “that limit and impair everyday functioning”? As that is a fact there for everyone to see. Or that something that “limits and impairs everyday functioning” isn’t living a “fully normal life”? As that is, by definition, true.

"Modern autistics: live independently, have jobs, have or had partners, have children that they look after themselves, cook, clean, organise their lives, do not look autistic or "off" to onlookers and manage social situations by "masking"."

15% of people with Autism are in work.

And what is a "Modern Autistic"?

I was diagnosed 11 years ago. None of that in your list applies to me at all..