'BTW I'm autistic' / 'For context, I have ADHD'

[easytoremember]

Sorry. But I'm seeing these precursors on a lot of posts. Why? It's slightly grating. We're all complicated people living the crazy human experience, diagnosis or not.

But there is growing evidence in the scientific literature that ADHD can be caused by screens. It shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because it is unpalatable to some posters.

Its not the same for everyone ,though you can describe YOUR autism however you you want you dont get to tell others they are NOT disabled by their autism.

Source?

Yes, some aspects of autistic processing can absolutely be disabling for some people; that’s completely valid.

My post just refers to professionals in the field suggesting that autism itself doesn’t automatically need to be framed as a disability, as that can reinforce misunderstandings and stereotypes neurodivergent people already face.

Of course, autistic people who do experience their autism as a disability are just as valid in describing it that way.

Exactly this! Also in order to get a diagnosis you need to reach a threshold of significant impact on life so I’d like to know how it’s anything but a disability.

Which professionals say this? All my children have autism and a lot of contact with professionals as do I. I’ve never ever heard this, quite the reverse .

DS had one too. She couldn't recognise an autism diagnosis on a sheet of NHS letter-headed paper.

He's the classic, shy, intelligent with a penchant for niche details type. The shorts every day of the year was the most obvious manifestation of his sensory processing disorder. Understandably she couldn't see the restraint release meltdowns at the end of the day, the termly cycles of exhaustion, the patterns of unusual behaviours since he was a young baby before he'd even seen CBeebies or before we owned smart phones or tablets. I don't know how she managed to insist that he enjoyed the music lessons with the shrill glockenspiels because the video panning the class showing him face down on the desk with hands clamped over his ears made him look pretty miserable. He wasn't allowed reasonable adjustments for his SATs because "he was doing well enough" despite 3 diagnosed conditions affecting his processing and writing speeds. (Oops, he didn't meet his targets because he was "anxious"... err... that why reasonable adjustments are supposed to be avaliable 🤦‍♀️)

Naturally months after the event too late to do anything he told me that his teacher didn't know that he's autistic and was surprised that he said he was...she was the fucking SENCO at the point he was diagnosed and I'd exchanged correspondence with her on the matter 🤦‍♀️

So yes, unfortunately I can believe that there are teachers this ignorant out there.

At school in the 90s, I hung out with the cluster of quiet, quirky "geeks". Some are now getting diagnosed in their 40s, others with the hindsight of better knowledge had clear traits of neurodiversity that were overlooked at the time which has meant that when people have struggled, those situations have been managed from the wrong angle. DH's family is full of older men who tick many autistic traits, and a younger generation meeting diagnostic thresholds. It's always been there, it's just being recognised more now, and modern living can often expose areas of difficulty in a busier, more complex, chaotic world with less routine and familiarity.

Putting a revelevant diagnosed difference or disability into an OP is often relevant because it makes more of the responses appropriate.
Recently diagnosed adults can often "special interest" or hyperfocus on their diagnosis too due to the nature of ND conditions.

This is complete utter rubbish. I notice you don’t include any links.

Such nonsense didn’t seem to be part of the recent robust NHS taskforce report.

www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1/

I'm in fairly regular contact with different Educational Psychologists and also Clinical Psychologists involved with assessment; it's a really interesting discussion to think about the points of disability vs difference.

Isn't that why it's a spectrum disorder?

We’re talking about people who have reached the threshold for diagnosis ie have traits that significantly impact life.

it also varies massively depending on what else they have going on.

i have both ADHD and ASD.. i don't necessarily view my ASD as 'disabling', mostly because my ADHD runs the show, i don't generally 'notice' my ASD as such... it just tends to impact a little on my bluntness, especially on here.

However, i did try ADHD meds, and they worked REALLY well.. so much that my ASD was catapulted front and centre and i realised it did not know how to drive... that was fun. not.

It was like having an emotional toddler suddenly in control of everything. I stopped the adhd meds. I prefer being random and absent minded, and living with the background internal noise of 100 tabs open in my head, to being in constant emotional and sensory overload.

This makes total sense and I have ND family members as well. I think OP is talking about when people seem to mention it where it does seem irrelevant. I understand people (inc family) use it to try and help others understand them.

But I do see it used sometimes where it seems the poster isn't trying to use it to be receptive to feedback, including the difference as context, but rather like a defence to any criticism of their actions.

It's so interesting with the overlap; it explains why so many who are autistic are late diagnosed as their ADHD masked traits so well.

My ADHD was diagnosed a long time before my autism was!

Neurodiversity is not a medical condition. And categorization for autism and ADHD have changed wildly in the last 70 years so I disagree with 'clear criteria'.

IBS symptoms have biological markers that are not wholly reliant on self-reporting (they rule out other conditions using colonoscopies, for example), despite not having a single blood test.

And depressive symptoms often have many and different causes, so treatment is varied. It's why the use of SSRIs for depressive symptoms work for some, are disastrous for others and not effective for many.

It's not shameful to question the science behind labels and diagnoses. Questioning is a cornerstone of science. With mental health diagnoses increasing, and treatment success not keeping pace, questioning popular narratives is critical to helping people. Putting one's head in the sand and trying to control the narrative can be cruel.

My understanding of the spectrum is that is a collection of many, many traits. To be diagnosed as autistic, you need to have a certain profile of these traits. You can be neurotypical and have some of these traits (in fact, most people probably do) but that doesn't mean you are on the spectrum or 'a little bit autistic.'

Yes but I thought I was normal until I got diagnosed with ADHD 4 wks ago at the age of 47. I just assumed everyone thought the way I do. Most of my my friends and colleagues assumed I already knew I had ADHD because it (or something!) was so obvious to them. So it's quite difficult to know what's normal and what's not, as I'm just me being me.

I so agree, OP. Always said as if the rest of us are perfectly functioning robots with no issues.

I’ve never seen it said like that. Maybe you could give some concrete examples?

This. I find it's often invoked as a shield too. You see this a lot on threads where a poster is blindingly self-absorbed and really, really wants you to believe a factor beyond their control is making them act this way.

They're not an arsehole! It's the autism / ADHD / audhd / anxiety! 🙄

I don't believe half of them even have the conditions they claim to. It's just a way to ensure they get treated with kid gloves. It makes me quite angry on behalf of the people who really do live with these conditions every day, often without telling anyone. They're the ones the backlash will fall on, when people get tired of hearing the words and stop wanting to make accommodations.

Sadly there are many teachers who are this ignorant and incompetent.

It’s one reason why autistic pupils are subject to immense and systemic discrimination by the school system and that over 90% of children with long term absences are autistic due to the teachers and school system refusing to provide appropriate learning environments for them which don’t cause long-term trauma:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37810599/

School Distress is a story dominated by complex neurodivergence and a seemingly systemic failure to meet the needs of these CYP

😔

(From source above @LivingInMinecraft thank you)

It's not just certain traits - it's a way of processing information and how that processing impacts you, and how your executive function is affected.

can you describe the different ways information is processed in people?