Anyone else noticing the uptick in open hostility towards people with ASD?

[FFSakeDrinkSake]

As the title says. It feels like it's open season recently. In the last few weeks alone I've seen many threads questioning the validity of Asd, the credentials of those diagnosing the condition, the 'explosion' of diagnosis', the 'fact' that you qualify for extra benefits if you are autistic and/or have ADHD, the apparent drain on resources kids with ASD have on the educational sector depriving others and most recently the idea that someone (self diagnosed) can 'outgrow' autism. Most of which contain the worst misinformation about what we're trying to deal with on a daily basis and making it sound like we're just trying to .. i dont even know tbh.. scam our way through life?

Disclaimer NATAAT.

I think it's difficult. A lot of people with these conditions will struggle with working yet aren't considered disabled enough to qualify for benefits either.

Only going off of what DP has said. 16K also would not be enough, even for a year unfortunately. Competitive courses would certainly make it more difficult too. It’s a shame.

This is so important.

Especially that recognition every child, diagnosis or not, may need differing support or struggle with different things

Because we are at risk of creating a binary when it is just so much more complex in real life.

Children (and adults)without any diagnosed condition can still struggle and need adjustments.

This is so important.

Especially that recognition every child, diagnosis or not, may need differing support or struggle with different things

Because we are at risk of creating a binary when it is just so much more complex in real life.

Children (and adults)without any diagnosed condition can still struggle and need adjustments.

You can't say it does nothing to help the individual diagnosed. For me, it has meant I get support workers for 11 hours a week.
And has made me hate myself a little less for being unable to do things.

With raised awareness comes backlash (always). People are challenged to consider if it's their own beliefs and expectations that need work. Not everyone responds well to that, some become defensive of what it means for them (and their sense of self) based on past behaviours/experiences, others resent accountability, and some try to profit from division. It's human nature sadly.

The difficulty with the 'experienced psychiatrist' train of thought is that, one psychiatrist may see a situation very differently. Wrong or misdiagnosed? Right and correct diagnosis?

If you have worked with children who have had several assessments over time, and they all come to different conclusions, you might understand that at the moment, an assessment and diagnosis is not something you can measure and say for certain.

Ive had psychiatrists tell me that now that the child has grown up and they can see how the child developed, they wouldnt have made that diagnosis years ago. I think thats fairly honest and realistic. Any condition like this where it cannot really be tested for, is going to have margin of error and it doesnt do anyone any favours to pretend it doesnt.

And that applies to many physical disabilities too.

There has to be a cut off I guess (I am disabled enough that my quality of life is very affected but i don't meet the criteria for a blue badge/benefits)

Thank you. Teachers like you are making an immense difference to children like my daughter. She has a brilliant teacher in Y2 who has taken this approach, and dd has absolutely flourished as a result. So I just wanted to say that what you're doing works and makes a tremendously positive difference to the lives of ND children and their families.

I work with kids and a lot of behaviour, attributed to ASC or ADHD, is sometimes trauma.

Diagnosis has been life changing for me. I understand myself and have been able to get to know myself, and understand the way I relate to the world.

I also know that I am not defective. I am neurodivergent. I’m not failing, I’m functioning exactly as I should be.

I do have access to a support worker, accommodations at work etc and I feel confident to advocate for myself whereas before diagnosis i didn’t even understand why I struggled or what I struggled with.

Accessing diagnosis is so important for ND children and young people.

Are you speaking from experience? Where do you live?

Where I am, only a paediatrician can diagnose but even then it is only after input from an Educational Psychologist, OT, SaLT, Camhs, home and school. My child never saw a psychiatrist.

This is absolutely true. I think ND assessment though is more of a developmental assessment than a snapshot.

It’s also tricky because one assessment won’t cover everything.

Diagnosis these days, and at the age my DC is at would need contributing evidence from many different professionals including a paediatrician, portage, SALT, setting (pre-school or school), ed psych etc etc

It would not only be diagnosed by one individual in isolation.

My son had a diagnosis of autism while in year 3. I was assured by the senco that going to senior school would be fine so he went to the local senior school.

Week THREE they called me in to discuss him and their words were “what is he doing here?” They knew immediately that he was in the wrong setting, they knew immediately that he wouldn’t cope but they then had to spend time evidence gathering prior to applying for an ehcp. It took over 2 years to get him in a more suitable setting by which time he was completely broken. I was broken and my husband was broken. We’ve recovered but our son won’t.

secondary school is far too late for their needs to be assessed. Far too late for any child’s needs to be assessed. My other child is dyslexic and I insisted he had an ehcp before secondary and it was the absolute best thing for him, no failed setting.

@Anonym00se
I'm sorry. You are quite correct. I was speaking from the point of view and experience of adhd. I didn't realise ASD assessments are different.

Absolutely, I think DD's needs could be met in a well-resourced, functioning education system. But we don't have one of those, so we're having to seek an EHCP so there is legal compunction on the LA to provide her with an education and can't be taken away on the whim of a head. We currently have an excellent SENCO, we might not always be so lucky.

Likewise, we wouldn't have had to claim DLA if the OT she needs was available and we didn't have to pay at £85 a session.

Lots of us, by the way, are constructive and work well with the school, even when that's frustrating. I'm not marching down there shouting at teachers. DD has been impacted far more by regular old crappy behaviour in her class than anyone has ever been impacted by her.

These statements - riddled with hearsay, gossip and degrading language are part of the problem, 'a friend says' 'every person and its dog'

Private diagnosis honestly is not hard to get if you are willing to pay. Several friends of mine have spent thousands because specialist no. 1 & specialist no.2 have said no, so they've kept on finding doctors til they get to one who diagnoses asd.

There is no way around it, the criteria involve a degree of:

• self reporting of symptoms and behaviour
• parents (who are never objective) reporting
• judgement based assessment

As long as this is the case, there will be scope for an ever broader range of people to be diagnosed.

The trouble is the system is set up so if you aren’t pushy you get no where. I’m not a naturally pushy person but I’ve had to become that parent to get my child support so he can actually attend school. He showed slight signs of asd early on but it all came to a head in year one where he was getting so dysregulated he was throwing chairs, ripping things off walls etc. School wouldn’t get Ed psych or autism services involved as if costs them money and they said they couldn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. I paid privately for Ed psych in the end. School managed things by sending ds home and eventually when I refused to collect anymore without it being an official exclusion by using fixed term exclusions. He got an asd diagnosis but we were initially turned down for ehcp. To cut a long story short I went to appeal, he got ehcp and is now in specialist placement about to do some GCSE’s. I know parents who had children at same primary school that weren’t pushy, school managed the children by sending them home constantly, putting on part time timetables etc. the child then goes up to secondary with no ehcp/ no support plan and those children are now out of school completely, barely leaving the house and have no life chances.

I totally agree. Some parents just cannot accept that their child is anything less than brilliant and wonderfully behaved, and want a label to explain it away.

Hatespeak? What is this, "1984"?

In reality a diagnosis of ASD does nothing to improve the lives of people with it. What a ridiculous statement. Who are you to present your clearly uninformed opinion as a fact?
Diagnosis can absolutely improve life, helping with self-knowledge, self-acceptance and information about what might be able to help with particular challenges. You clearly know very very little about ASD.

One aspect of this I personally find upsetting is the assumption that my children behave the way they do because I'm a shitty parent. I suppose it stings because I'm constantly second guessing and criticising myself as it is. And yet, they are both diagnosed. The youngest only in P1/P2, because she was incapable of sitting still and even absconded from school more than once.

The idea that ADHD and similar disorders are overdiagnosed isn't new.

I think it's absolutely the case that children are being diagnosed with disorders due to presentations that are actually resultant from their environment (rather than anything physiological).

So the question is how prevalent is it? I'm afraid I think it's more prevalent than is socially acceptable to admit. Society requires schools and healthcare providers to shy away from even acknowledging inadequate parenting, much easier and far less socially awkward for everyone involved (except the child, and genuine sufferers) to just label/pigeon hole/manage.