NT people don’t exist

[Montea]

I don’t think that neurotypical people exist. I think we are all on the spectrum somewhere

If they think and say that they are the only ones who e.g. struggle with social situations, then that does come across as quite self-centered. That is different to selfish.

So people with disabilities and let’s include visible disabilities who meet the threshold of disability are selfish.Wow! Do you not realise how ableist that is.

A good doctor would be able to prescribe meds for symptoms if allowed to do so without the need for diagnosis. Meds are not diagnosis specific, they have been developed to treat symptoms so it's a shame the diagnosis now needs to come first in a lot of instances. Eg. Most medications used in the treatment of ADHD are essentially stimulants. If someone would benefit from a stimulant medication and the doctor feels this would be appropriate for them, then it's a shame they have to have a label to get it. Labels are very hard to take off once they r on.

I agree that I wish a GP could access the process. Now that it is much more well known it would help enormously with wait times. I really don't get what the issue is with naming it.

A GP absolutely couldn’t. Because of the complexity of my dc’s autism and adhd they are on a variety of meds which need careful handling. It’s crucial my dc have psychs prescribing to nitrate and monitor side effects, impact on their concerning difficulties and other meds and the risk of over medication.

Also many GPs don’t even take on shared care re ADHD meds and adhd meds are controlled drugs for a reason.

You can be disabled and a lovely person, but also disabled and a self-centered person. The same goes for able-bodied people. I'd say it's ableist to insist otherwise.

I didn't say GP, although in some instances they probably could prescribe, they already prescribe sleeping tablets, anxiety meds etc.. which again would be helpful.

Debilitating by whose assessment? This is my point, it sounds like people are expecting your children, and making your children feel, like they should be something or someone else. I don't think they should be made to feel that. It's unfair to expect them to be someone they're not. That's where the troubles begin. They should be allowed to be themselves and lean into their interests and preferences without prejudice. If they don't focus for more than 15 minutes, so what?
They will find their own way and their people if they don't have to keep correcting course to what is 'normal'. Dividing people into ND/NT is so narrow and limiting. Why do you think it's a good thing?

Because we live in the real world where not having GCSEs etc makes everything a million times harder. Contrary to popular belief, not being v academic doesn't automatically mean a person must be therefore really creative or practical or artistic. Once a person is an adult, if they want to buck the system and go do their own thing that's ok, but if, with a little bit of help, my ds can get some qualifications and more importantly, stay in school with friends, I'm going to do that.

If you believe that, that's exactly how it will be. Doesn't have to be though.

Yeah sorry, this is my real kid in the real world. I'm not dicking about with his future for some head in the clouds not going to happen fantasy land.

By the very definition of a “spectrum”, being a scale between two points of extreme (poor choices of words in this context but you get the point) then everyone must be on that spectrum, with the majority in the middle of it. Therefore the people in the middle, who are not close to the “extreme” are NT.

I know plenty of people who are successful in their chosen fields because they didn't limit themselves to what the 'real world' demanded of them. They followed their skills and passions and quite often the very act of deviating from what is the norm is what made them so successful.

I mean, if everyone had always stuck to what was normal or expected we'd never have had the advances in human achievement that we take for granted now.

Out of the box thinking; let your kids get on with it, they're probably a lot more capable than you're giving them credit for.

That’s not what the autism spectrum is. How many times does this need to be said for gods sake! The autism spectrum is like the colour spectrum, not a linear scale from mild to severe.