Are You Autistic, Channel 4, 10pm, Uk.

[staydazzling]

starting a thread ,apologies if there already is one, looks to be an interesting watch...i think its mainly about how many adults could be living with ASD undiagnosed.

@CatkinToadflax

I looked into neurological damage in not-prem but horrendous birth, infancy and early life as a cause for autism presentation in my relative, yet the neurologists have said that despite evident damage shown in scans, my relative's autism and co-morbids are definitely not neurological, they are developmental.

There are some studies published online showing some autistic people have brain damage and it's suggested as the cause of their autism and co-morbids, but other autistic people with a very similar presentation have none.

@BlankTimes

Thanks - that's very interesting and I appreciate you sharing it. It is becoming increasingly well known though that autism is a frequent occurrence as a direct result of extreme (and I mean really extreme) prematurity. This has been confirmed by various neonatologists and paediatricians that I've come across during my son's care. I don't want to de-rail the thread - just wanted to clarify that people do not always present with autism from birth.

My son was diagnosed with autism about a year ago. If he was high functioning, would he have been diagnosed as having high functioning autism or just autism?

As I understand it, it depends who diagnosed him Dolly and what criteria they used and when. The terminology of diagnosis is changing as it was thought that High Functioning wasn't a helpful descriptor as it led the public to believe the person with that diagnosis had a high IQ and could just about do anything an NT person could which is absolutely not the case.

High functioning was also used to describe autistic people who are able to eruditely express themselves, but again the deficits were never presented with that, so a false impression of that person's capabilities was presented, albeit unwittingly.

A recent dx says 'meets the criteria for Autistic Spectrum Condition' because the diagnostics involved and the person who assessed them don't use the term ASD any more. So I should probably say they have ASC, although being as ASD has been around so long and is understood by the public to mean "has autism" I usually say that because otherwise people ask what's the difference between ASC and ASD.

Some people think 'is autistic' or 'has autism' is enough terminology post- diagnosis, other people want differentiation between autistic people because they can present very differently, despite them all having impairments in the Triad.

Other people may have a different take on it.

PissMinge - Hah, no worries, it doesn't take much for anything autism related to make me "ranty." There's so many misconceptions about autism that's pretty much guaranteed to happen. I have to disagree with this statement of yours though: "So perhaps its easier for some doctors to put everything under one umbrella that hopefully more people will understand? Nothings ever perfect!! "

If a doctor does that then they are not only wrong but they are passing on incorrect information. A doctor does not get to rewrite the criteria or rules for something just becuase they feel like it. These things aren't perfect but the criteria for autism is set and does not include other developmental disorders such as ADD.
I know I'm going on about it but it's really hard for me to let go of stuff, especially factual errors.

And I'm not sure the show will help in terms of making autism more understood. But then I think negatively of any TV show that has Simon Baron Cohen invovled.

Mr Baron-Cohen is quite a marmite chap it seems I have heard him spoken off really highly, especially by those who meet him (we live near Cambridge), but read so much criticism of him on the twitter feed last night.

I watched it but I don't feel I found anything new from it. I knew almost everything that was on there. The Chris Packham one read much better.

I've never had any time for Baron Cohen's ideas, I think he is one of the worst offenders in contributing to misinformation about autism. And yes you'll find he's not very popular amongst autistic people.
There's really a long list of reasons why I don't like him but after he got involved with this trial, well then that dislike became more of a hatred: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38314421

Several points from the discussion:

I like the cartoon: I also find a radar chart a good way of visualising the spectrum, ( non linear, even in rainbow form) , but helpful to see where the person differs the norm in certain areas ( as most of us do, but to a less marked extent).

In my view, get a diagnosis if you have ever found difficulties at work, at dealing with the legal, medical or other infrastructure bureaucracies. Yes it may be associated with a stigma, the Rainman idiot savant, but actually it will provide you with protection if there is something you find hard, take longer to do, if you have a meltdown in a public place, if you need assistance. It may become more important as you age. If anyone wants to pm me about this, feel free to do so.

There is a high level of comorbidity with ADHD, not necessarily the climbing up walls type but the own world, difficult to focus, anxiety elements. Medication can help this element.

If you are a NT partner, there’s a CIC called Different Together founded by a MNr to support NT partners,

www.different-together.co.uk/

Communication between NT and AS partners is often hard in a way that goes beyond the issues at work. Expert counselling can help, there’s also a lot of guidance in books etc.

And, most of all, I am willing to bet that many/ most of the creative/scientific breakthroughs in our lives were made by people on the spectrum! There are many many positive attributes about it that are easily forgotten in the difficulties it can present in modern life.

I wish the test they used in the study was still available

"I'm really annoyed that Aspergers was diagnosed. This hasn't been the case in real life for a number of years. Ruined the whole programme as it should be true to life"

Sorry but that's totally not true. I was diagnosed with aspergers last year.

I liked the programme and the fact it talked about women and how they mask better and are generally not diagnosed. I really identified with the woman who was diagnosed (I can't remember her name now) and thought if she didn't get diagnosed then my diagnosis must be wrong! I would have reacted exactly like her in that sandwich test. It was very stressful.

Can one not get hold of it?

I was diagnosed with Aspergers last year at the age of 37. It was good to see a programme where more women are represented.

What was the sandwich making thing? I’m going to watch it at some point this weekend but I am desperate to know what the sandwich making thing was.

Me too, babyteeth. I haven't got space on my phone to download the C4 app to watch the show, and I'm away from home at the moment.

They set them up in a makeshift sandwich shop and people rang in orders which they had to make up within a certain time. Then the people rang back to change their orders. The experts could then see how the two of them coped with change.

The sandwich making exercise was to do with executive functioning. People with autism tend to have trouble doing a task and then switching to a different task and / or back again if they hadn't expected it.

I thought it was very good, especially about females flying under the radar.

My daughter is waiting for an assessment at the moment.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I am trying to learn more about autism. What does a meltdown feel like for you? Does anything help when you are having one? Or is it a case of waiting for it to pass? Tia

Thank you for explaining the sandwich scenario!
I’m looking forward to watching it all later.

I believe I am Asperger's. Undiagnosed, with a recently diagnosed, in her twenties, daughter.
I feel my sensitivity to flashing lights, stripes, smells etc has markedly increased in my 40s.
I cope by shutting my eyes a lot, holding my breath or moving away from smells.
The advert flicking between images on this page is unpleasant.
My phases of withdrawal from social are more marked. I think as I get older I can't be arsed to mask so much. Or I lapse from masking when I get used to being with the same people or a job.
Any other aspie women find this getting older?

Personally I don't like the term Aspergers at all, especially after reading questionable stuff about the man himself. "Autistic" or "neurotypical" works just fine for me.

The documentary was infuriating - repetitive, patronising, noisy, poorly made.

In terms of actual content, one of the things that annoyed me was it didn't really say what autism was or why it could be a problem or even how it's diagnosed (hint - it's not about making sandwiches, and if people at work now vaguely that's how I was diagnosed, I'm embarrassed). Every example they gave could have turned out the same way with neurotypical people taking those "tests".

The dating scenario was excruciating to watch because I felt sorry for the men being set up to look like judgmental arseholes (even though they were).

Sure, it was great that they emphasised women but they could have had a male presenter too or talked more about how the two presentations differ. In terms of how many women might be autistic, the academic interviewed didn't seem convinced (or convincing). I've never seen someone look so arrogant and uninterested in the people he was talking to.

(Also, who relies on data from a phone app where people could presumably lie, make random choices, or fill in the test over and over to see the results? As I possibly would have done. There was no explanation about the study itself or how they mitigated for these things. Or what other research is going on!)

The "lost generation" repetition was annoying too; that's a WW1 reference but if you want to use it anyway, you should talk about "lost generations" as it wasn't just one missed out.

And that aunt who hadn't apparently googled the word autism before appearing wide-eyed in a documentary about it pissed me off too - she was either lying for the camera or really hadn't bothered doing a minimal of research into it. Had her family consented to her describing everything in the way she did? A few words saying that could have helped there too. She made me really wince on their behalf.

And despite a vague "we don't have superpowers" moment in there, he documentary itself of course pushed at autism at being just fine and dandy and normal and even did the patronising "autism makes people extra-good at some stuff" clip too.

Okay fine, everyone has talents but you know what, autism makes my life incredibly fucking difficult and actually it's a nightmare. Yes I can listen out for sounds but that's also why I have problems in work, sleeping at night, you name it.

So ... sorry, long rant over, but I was really disappointed and (having heard praise about it from people at work) surprised by how cross I felt about it.

It was so reductive.

My brother is autistic (LFA) and looks like my son is HFA(as well as being Dyspraxic and having some sensory issues). Tbh looking at DH and I I really wouldn’t be surprised if we both are ASD too (both HFA)

Oh and one last point then I'll stop.

"Could you be autistic?"

Yes - on the basis of that documentary most people could.

That's the problem of not giving good explanations beyond "different brain" and "didn't fit in at school" and "a bit black and white".

Mogle I agree with every word you say. It was a reductionist explanation and SB-C seemed arrogant and bored. It was particularly difficult for anyone with ASD to watch: repetition, flickeribgs, oversimplifications and generalisations. It didn’t make clear whether s/o can “be a bit autistic” and failed to cover the issue of ageing parents and women who look after the & discover they have the condition themselves. A kiss I of rubbish. What use these tests, other than to form half-hearted hypotheses? Why are people on here even interested in the sandwich task? Big fucking deal. It measures but does not explain. The robot thing was a fricking insult. Do they think it’s as simple as sticking a kid in front of a robot? Oh yeah, why hadn’t I thought of that?!

In fact that was the problem - the prog was more about pointing fingers of identification but not explaining WHY. The marvellous Uta Frith and Francesca Happe (also hated how they referred to ‘Prof Frankie’ cringe) were in a Horizon special about autism which was a better researched account.

I am writing this on my iPhone so can’t discuss much, but the prog was a frustration and the whole week has been overwhelming.

PP who asked about becoming more socially detached with age: yes! For s few years I’ve wondered if people get more autistic with age. Certainly seems the case with my father, but in myself, too. It’s like a cancer of information processing disorder. The processing gets worse with every year that passes. I am insular, have had to quit job to work alone, and can’t handle other people much. I can smell them from a distance. It is exhausting.

The prog didn’t mention how many of us even work in this area. It’s ax though a huge proportion of ASDers webt into work in the area in order to gain under standing, both of themselves and of others.

Oh goodness I am cringeing at how many errors I made in my post. My phone is rubbish and I type too fast.