Another prominent T claiming to be a little bit autistic

[Autisticappropriation]

I know this is my sole topic of conversation but it’s so bloody important that biological women are not erased from the autistic spectrum by biological men claiming to be autistic. It’s hard enough to get diagnosed if you’re female without having diagnostic criteria appropriated and dictated by males. It took decades for the male brain aspect of autism to be binned.

A prolific twitter transperson is now claiming to be “a bit autistic”. The fact this person is an absolute walloper doesn’t really help and it’s entirely wrong to claim you’re a bit autistic - you either are or you aren’t. Just like sex you don’t get to pick and choose which bits of autism you get to experience. It forms your entire experience of the world. You cannot be a little bit autistic just like
You cannot be female with a penis.

I can’t talk about this on autistic twitter as so many have been brainwashed? Manipulated? I’m not sure what, but a certain contingent of trans & autistic advocates get very aggressive and persistent if you disagree with them and I can’t face the onslaught of trans and autistic hate that would ensue.

Just needed to rant about this.

"LM has previously claimed to have been involved in a study that compared the brain patterns of trans adolescents. Wouldn't Lily's various conditions have skewed any results?"

Maybe, if either the study or the conditions were real...

I have known someone like this in real life, who lied repeatedly and inconsistently, and constantly 'reinvented' their history, with seemingly no concept of objective reality. I actually felt quite sorry for them, as it was clearly coming from some insecurity and desperate need for attention, but it was extremely difficult to deal with as a friend.

I suspect this 'Lily' person has something similar going on. If so, engaging with them is only going to lead to doubling-down on the victim narrative and ever-wilder fantasies.

The management plan he has posted is incredibly similar to the management plans that are given as part of a crisis plan after a suicide attempt.

I think this kid is proper messed up. Stable people don't behave the way he does. And the Labour party are utterly contemptible for putting him in this position.

I am now going to be staying well away from LM tweets and posts and recommend that we all do the same. Starve him of the oxygen of attention because his unstable behaviour will continue to escalate.

I am seriously concerned for his safety and I am also concerned about where the blame for his irrational actions will be placed.

Is this self diagnosed?

Does LM have official diagnoses?

Why is someone with so many different mental health diagnoses, working in such a stressful position?

Heh. I once had a manager who would trill 'Ooh I'm a little bit autoimmune' whenever she got a slight rash...'

Since I have systemic scleroderma and RA, this would cause me much murderous rage.

My laywomans guess would be...

Person is hospitalised for depression and delusional thoughts. Put on low dose of risperidone for violent reaction resulting from these thoughts.

During course of treatment, schiz-something (could be any of them) is mentioned as a possibility, along with possible asd traits, but neither diagnosed. Hell, this might even be where "transgender" comes from...?

Person latches onto both, despite no further diagnosis, and then laters claims to be both "schizo" and "a bit autistic".

Fgs whatever next!
Suspect he does have a mental illness.
I dunno if I feel sorry for him or not just seems to want to draw attention to himself in every single way possible.

Thanks @KerplunkChampion and @SpartacusAutisticus. That makes a lot of sense.

Autisticappropriation

I'm really interested in what you said about the male aspect of the brain having now been binned - I didn't know that was no longer current thinking (having recently bought a book called 'Blame My Brain' in which the theory that autism is an extreme form of brain maleness is quite prominent). Is there any reading you could kindly point me towards on this? Thank you.

Imherefornow I completely agree. I won't be engaging with threads about this anymore - I really don't think it will end well. LM comes across as extremely unstable and ill and it makes me uncomfortable when people engage and debate as though LM is sound of mind.

I cannot believe the Labour party can't see this.

Madigan lies every time their mouth opens.

We’ve had flip flopping on everything from schizophrenia status to passport details. By definition, half of it must be untrue.

Apologies, MissMoneyPlant. I mis-read your post from "I'm diagnosed myself" to "I diagnosed myself". Will ask MNHQ to delete my post.

The problem is that letting this person - or anyone with a degree of political sway and a profound lack of suitability to wield it - continue without challenge is quite troubling.

I totally agree that there's something distasteful about putting someone with precarious mental health under pressure, but the fact remains that LM has put themself in a relatively high-pressure position that invites scrutiny and demands high standards of behaviour. If LM is allowed to go on, making dishonest and misleading claims, manipulating data, accusing people they don't like of hate crimes etc, while hiding behind numerous identity labels, it's worrying to think what damage could be done, to individuals and women's causes, before this runs its course.

Having seen the massive fight families go through down the diagnostic pathway to get the right label, and how in this era of cuts the gatekeeping for resources is getting tighter and tighter so the labels really do mean the difference between getting access to a service or not, casually 'identifying' into that category is a snatch and grab raid on more vulnerable, more disadvantaged people with a side order of stupefyingly selfish disrespect for them.

With the evidence of Lucy at Deptford, nothing new there then.

It should not be allowed for anyone to 'identify' into a category unless everyone can at will also identify out of it. I'd love to be able to just opt out of being disabled today, but sadly it isn't in my life to try and make it a bit more special and interesting, it's a bloody millstone around my neck.

'but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd done an online test or something that led to that statement... ie. they are autistic but not actually diagnosed.'

Or presented in a similar enough way to have been put through the diagnostic process, just not been over the threshold in enough things to have come out with a diagnosis at the end of it.
We have no idea.

SusanBunch

Between Tuesday and today LM has gone from having schitzophrenia to schitzotypical.

LM's Autism has also gone from Autistic to a bit.

It's certainly not up to me to question a diagnosis, but I think that when terms like autism and schizophrenia are used by a public figure it should be clear that a formal diagnosis has been made.

Didn’t the last thread on this topic get pulled?

I contributed to that thread, and, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t ‘in the spirit’. Aside from anything else, we can’t truly know if someone is autistic or not, unless they post their diagnostic paperwork.

Maybe a more general thread on the appropriation of autism by public figures would be worth doing - rather than speculating on LM’s specific neurological makeup and mental health?

waves at fellow autistic Spartaci

As an aside, anyone else feel that gender-crit is becoming their Special Interest?

DH may have moaned about that once or twice, sporadic...

^^ agree.

Can I ask why is is harder to be diagnosed if a woman? Is that the case worldwide or is the UK lacking in providing the ability to diagnose equally?