To think you actually *can* be a bit...

[gringlewalden]

Autistic
OCD
ADHD

and a whole load of others?

I know people will often (angrily) declare that you can't be 'a bit' autistic, OCD etc, they're very serious diagnoses, you either are or you aren't etc etc.

However

The diagnostic criteria are made up of lists of indicators. You fulfil a certain number of these, you get the diagnosis.

So if the diagnosis is based on fulfilling, say, 25 of the criteria, and you fulfil 20, would it not be fair enough to say you are 'more' autistic that someone who fulfils 5?

Is it not the nature of all spectrums, that everyone must fall somewhere on them?**

I think people are getting hung up on this one because of the grammatical issue

No, you can't 'be' a bit OCD, but you can be a bit obsessive compulsive (I.e have some of the traits)

You can't 'be' a bit ASD, but you can br a bit autistic (have some of the traits)

It's all the same point. Everyone seems to want to establish a very clear binary - you are or you ARE NOT, get off our turf! - when in reality it makes sense that there are people who hover around the boundary for diagnosis.

plenty of people now seem to want a number, a grade, for their diagnosis, where they are on the scale does this come from america?

Nice first post, or name change btw

Oh right OK sorry I do read things quite literally.

But being an alcoholic isn’t just about the amount of alcohol you consume @gringlewalden it’s the behaviours and attitudes that go with it.

Not sure what you mean @AgnesX but the autistic spectrum is the spectrum of people with autistic traits. It's not the spectrum of all humanity.

• Which is either officially assessed and diagnosed, or not.

Fuck, give me strength.*😂

Ok!

That 'official' assessment and diagnosis is still just a series of diagnostic criteria though. It's not a genetic test, with a binary 'you have it or you don't'.

It irks me when people say they're a bit OCD or whatever when what they really mean is that they like things neat and tidy or like patterns and structure. It's definitely not the same thing and I think quite offensive to genuine sufferers.

However I do think there are spectrums with certain things. My ex and 2 of his siblings all have autism in varying degrees. He has mild autism, it effects him during his day to day life but you wouldn't necessarily know by meeting him that he's autistic. His little brother on the other hand has autism that is much more severe on the scale, to the point where a stranger would pick up on it almost immediately, and it effects his life in a much bigger way.
It's the same diagnosis, it's still autism, but there is a sliding scale of severity for sure.

That's different to random people who DON'T have the disorder saying they identify with the disorder because they have a couple of the traits. Sometimes people just have personalities and preferences and anxieties without it having to be linked to disorders.

Not for all the conditions mentioned above, but with ASD or ADHD, if diagnosis is made on say scoring 50 on a diagnostic test and you score 49, your lived experience is likely to be more similar to that of someone who scored 51 and got a diagnosis than it is people who scored 20 or below.

There are probably a lot of people who live in a sort of grey area where they don't feel like "normal" humans and don't fit in with various expectations but wouldn't necessarily meet criteria for a diagnosis.

I find it interesting that people get so wound up about this issue.

If I had a very severely autistic child, non-verbal etc, then yes, I would be very annoyed by NT people saying they're 'a bit autistic'

However, I'd also be annoyed about people with 'an official diagnosis' but yet not particularly severely affected (e.g didn't even realise till they were 40) going on about their difficulties and generally claiming to be on the same bus, just because they had their 'official' diagnosis.

No you can't because to be autistic by definition is to meet all the diagnostic criteria. That's what autism is, so you either meet the criteria or you don't.
all people are different, all people have difficulties and quirks and some people will have some in common with autistic people but that doesn't make them a bit autistic it just makes them a human person.
Being a bit ocd doesn't even make sense. You can have I suppose mild or severe ocd but again you either have it or you don't. I do and sometimes it's severe and other times not but it's always ocd.
usually people who say they have a "bit" of adhd/autism/ocd only mean the quirky stuff, it doesnt ever seem to have any significant negative impact on their life and they are talking shit to make themselves feel special

It's a dick move because it simplifies the significance of suffering people go through. It normalises it which implies people with those conditions should get on with it because people without those conditions manage

^^ yes, this! Having parented two kids, both with ASD and ADHD plus a load of other co-morbids who were diagnosed at the start of primary school, I can safely say a lot of people who are 'a little autistic' just have no idea how bad it can get.

Yes, I understand they're trying to empathise sometimes, but it's like someone having a bad day trying to empathise with someone with long term clinical depression. Just don't.

Yes and you can say I'm a bit arthritic if your hands feel stiff or a bit ocd if you like a tidy rooms or a bit cystic fibrosis if u have a chesty cough

But surely you can (for example) be a bit arthritic? Arthritis can make your joints a bit swollen and painful but manageable, or it can mean that you can hardly move.

Edited to add quote.

Can someone give an example of what 'a bit OCD' looks like in practice please?

Being bothered by...

Having all the felt tip pens packed away in a coherent sliding colour scale but with the red and pale green swapped over.

Having all the books in a box set the right way up except one upside book.

Seeing a pattern of tiles in a wall or a floor but there's one odd one of a different colour in the pattern.

These are all examples I've seen before of people who are perfectly fine but they're a bit ocd because they're uncomfortable with the above.

You can, and most people do, exhibit traits of multiple disorders. That’s a huge reason as to why personality disorders for example are so hard to diagnose - because all the symptoms are traits found in entirely normal personalities. What differentiates between normal and abnormal is the severity of the traits, which ones occur together, and the interplay between them.

It goes without saying that having a specific trait is very different from having a disorder, but ‘a bit…’ is just shorthand for having the trait.

But having some of traits of OCD isn't the same thing as having enough traits to have a formal diagnosis. And having a diagnosis isn't about semantics, it's about getting support. So how does someone with some OCD traits benefit from saying they're "a little bit OCD"? They don't, maybe it makes them feel special to label themselves? How does them saying it damage people with diagnosed OCD? Well it massively downplays the significance of how OCD can totally fuck up your life, make it look like the support OCD sufferers seek isn't really warranted etc. So it's harmful basically.

We all have cells in our body that are constantly mutating but I don't have "a little bit cancer". When I had a chesty cough I didn't have "a little bit cystic fibrosis". In both cases I share some minor traits but they don't adversely affect my life or outcomes to a significant degree. So I'd be pretty stupid to compare my relatively trivial ailments to people with a formal diagnosis, wouldn't I?

It's like the medical equipment of "all lives matter". Yes, all lives do matter but let's focus on the consistently and significantly fucked over groups first, eh? Yeah maybe you do share some traits with someone with an autism diagnosis, but maybe rather than try and claim part of that label for yourself to no real benefit for anyone, leave it for the people who need it to try and get the support they need to live.

IME the people I hear who describe themselves as 'a bit' OCD are solely anal personalities. I've worked with people with true OCD and it was so, so disabling
The people who describe themselves as 'a bit' ADHD often have something similar to a personality disorder ? EUPD
Having had children who were neuro typical and now having a GS who lives with Autism ( high functioning) I am adamant there is such a huge difference in the way they are that there could be no 'a bit' Autistic.
Some years ago EUPD was discussed here much more, now it's so many posters declaring they have ASD or ADHD without a diagnosis

You either have a condition or you don't.
If you don't then you don't.

If you do then you may have more or fewer challenges or be affected in different ways.

This post shows how little you know what you're talking about. I am one of those people who was diagnosed late in life and from the outside you would probably say you don't think I'm autistic at all, but my life has been really really difficult because of being autistic and particularly because of being undiagnosed, and it has been absolutely life changing to be diagnosed in my 40s and to understand myself and to be able to ask for the accommodation that I need in order to help me function better in a neurotypical society.

Your whole thread feels very goady because you really don't know what you're talking about and you're making that clearer and clearer with every comment you make. You would be better off going away and learning from neurodivergent people what it is like to be us rather than making assertions that everybody can be a bit autistic when they really can't, and aren't, and have no idea what it's like to live our lives.

What you're describing is the difference between having mild arthritis and more severe arthritis though - not having a bit of a sore wrist for some unrelated reason and saying "oh I'm a bit arthritic".

Also, the idea that there are different functioning levels with people being less or more autistic is a neurotypical creation.

Generally, what is meant by somebody being low functioning is they don't cause neurotypical people many issues, but that doesn't mean that we don't have issues. It just means that we are hiding them and masking and struggling at home and feeling suicidal inside but not telling anyone about that because nobody wants to listen.

You cannot tell how well somebody functions just by looking at them because you do not know their reality.

You might see me speaking at a conference and scoff at the idea that I have any issues but you aren't seeing me hiding away in a quiet room in the lunch break so I can try and recalibrate and you won't seeing me taking the next 2 days staying in the house quietly so I can recover and struggling to manage day to day activities.

you still have arthritis

I work with autistic teenagers, and some are fond of saying ‘I have a touch of the ‘tism.’

I find it refreshing that they are totally okay with it and don’t get hung up on semantics.

I have OCD, the much-debated ‘pure’ kind that manifests as intrusive thoughts. Sometimes debilitating, sometimes more under control. I don’t classify myself as as badly affected as people I know of who can barely function, but I still have it and it’s horrible and exhausting.

I’m reserving judgement about this. I have an autistic child and there is evidence emerging that their brains do function differently. If that is the case it may genuinely be a binary thing. On the other hand personality traits which result in a diagnosis are obviously a matter of degree. You could have qualities short of the threshold and have similarities.
So for now, I’m waiting to see what neuroscience teaches us.