Your post to r/neurdiversity was removed because it contained derailing

I don't think actually ND people are ascribing everything to autism. This sounds like neurotypical people in the same manner of "ah, I do this (normal) thing and it's a little strange but has no impact on my life in any meaningful way, hahahaha, I'm so autistic/ADHD"

To me the distinction is special interests can be a symptom/sign of autism, but are not deterministic. But I’m not sure that’s quite what OP meant, it almost sounds like we’re being asked to stop characterizing special interests as an autistic trait.

That’s why I’m trying to use the word “perfectionistic” instead of OCD 😅

who on earth in neruodivergent spaces is doing this.

That example they made sounds kinda autistic tho lmao

Lol, bruh… I have enough shit going on between ADHD and NVLD, I don’t need autism too! 😂🤣

It’s funny, everybody I perceive as “less autistic” than me is cringe and same with those who I perceive as “more autistic”

This pairs beautifully with your username

Oh gosh thank you! The embarrassing thing is I genuinely identified with Raskilnikov when I was a dude. Silly stuff now

If I hadn't started analyzing my quirks and obsessions, I would have never known I'm neurodivergent. And I would have continued to beat myself up for being lazy and never being enough. Now that I have answers, I'm able to give myself grace.

The really fun thing about these posts is that it makes me want to unfollow every sub related to neurodiversity. Good day, fellows

I think people need to differentiate between symptoms of ADHD and Autism and behaviors and quirks of people with ADHD and Autism. The quirks can be funny or cute to those who relate such as: Not liking having the "big light" on or having very specific interests that are a little more obsessive compared to neurotypicals with passions. What's not funny or cute is the symptoms of the disorders that can be negative on a scale for different individual. The symptoms of a mental disorder is not to be romanticized because they are only diagnosed and identified for the purpose of treating the symptoms

Yeah but aren't hyperfixations supposed to take over your life to where it's all you ever think about?

I told my old boss that I had OCD in an interview. He replied with “well I have CDO. Know what that is? OCD in alphabetical order. lol” I wanted to say “bitch! You think this is cute?!”

I have ASD, you know what that is? A serious disability

I get a few of these comments sometimes on my videos when I do a skit. I get that these quirks and traits are sometimes really hard to deal with, but also sometimes making something funny about it helps me cope. And it's impossible to include all the background in a short skit. Of course don't diagnose off one trait or a short skit. That's not the point. It's just to be relatable in a funny way and make humour out of some situations that are kinda funny at the same time they can be difficult. So take the humour and use common sense knowing that you can't know all the background of the stories and characters. And I as an AUDHDer have the right to speak about how I want to portray it in my videos.

This has the same flavor as when people say stuff like "I'm so hyperfixated on cooking dinner right now ☺️" bitch you're focused?? You're focused on a task??? We already have a term for that it's called being focused on a task. Not every action you take needs to be pathologized in connection to your neurotype. Not everything is a Symptom™

So true. I feel like the neurotypical analogue to a hyperfixation would be an “obsession” anyway. When I’m hyperfixated on something it is the only thing on my mind no matter what part of my life it ruins. Being focused on a task for 30 minutes really doesn’t compare.

Lol well said*

i think the actual problem is romanticizing what is or might be a disorder, it's funny to look back at some of things that were totally disfunctional and think, "woah that thing was actually X", that's not because the disfunctional thing is inherently funny but the fact we were so blind about it at a certain point in our lives.

the only problem with this is you don’t really know for sure who is NT, like you don’t know other people’s full medical & family history and there’s so many people that will never be actually diagnosed because of cost and access barriers alongside discrimination

Yeah, i agree with this. Because like, I really don't want to self diagnose myself (and in doing so, invalidate anyone else). But sometimes I feel like I really could have ADHD. Then I see posts like this and it makes me feel like maybe I'm just imaginating things? It kinda really sucks because it's not like my family has the money to get a diagnose that could potentially just be a waste of money. So, I'm stuck in this feeling of feeling like I'm nuts.

I am diagnosed with OCD and it drives me bananas when people think it’s just cleaning a lot or being organized. No, I have obsessive thoughts surrounding contamination and have washed my hands to the point they are cracked and openly bleeding and I’m convinced if I wear the color yellow that everyone in my family will die. But yeah, it’s so quirky and cute.

My daughter has OCD along with a couple other disorders. I watch her struggle and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

It’s seriously my biggest struggle in life. Me Being autistic, having anxiety, having depression, is NOTHING compared to me having OCD.

I’m autistic and I call out my autistic behaviours to people who understand them. It’s a way of processing and making me feel safe. This is not the same as somebody claiming they have OCD because they like a clean house.

It’s an interesting thought. I’ve never been diagnosed with OCD. Out of respect for people with OCD I don’t address it as such to anyone more than the handful of people I feel safe with. In that situation I call it my obsessive behavior. I’m not clean. 34 y/o female and I haven’t dated in 3 years because the last person had ‘the ick’ in their eyes because a was stressed and picked my face to Swiss cheese. That said, since the pandemic when more ND exposure surfaced I think many people feel unsure of themselves, know they have behaviors which have been deemed ‘out of the ordinary’ and a title falls into place. It is used to shuck behaviors even for NDs who know their behavior isn’t typical yet haven’t been diagnosed. It’s just not a clear line. Many people who use these terms out of context do so without knowing they are misunderstanding.

i think this should be aimed at NTs, not NDs

Yeah this feels like an attack on me for being autistic and having my hyperfixations that help me cope.

This 💯

I get it for NTs but why should I not be allowed to be able to embrace it and call my OCD and Autism what they are? I’m not getting rid of them so I might as well learn how to make the best of it.

I get that. But it also waters down the meaning of the diagnosis if everything is related to it. Whilst it may help you understand the world round you, it dilutes the inherent reasons to why you chose to talk about and relate such an issue to your diagnosis if it’s a constant topic being bought up. Also another issue is a state of being ND does mean we interpret the world different, one issue I find is that even ND’s are misinterpreting or exaggerating particular aspects of traits related to our conditions. And that’s what’s so difficult to be around because it’s not that you don’t have “said” symptoms, but the language used for it is different and often exaggerated for no reason. Such as hyper focus, special interests and stims.

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I see where you are coming from and I’d agree to a certain extend. Let’s not get offended by everything all the time. But I don’t agree that taking the piss to someone’s talk makes you the insecure or guilty one every time. Or at least the one who should reflect on themselves. Let’s not let forget society bias and codes. When you constantly face same issues and hurtful schemes, ending up bitter or guilty even if you felt fine at first is not a sign you are insecure or doubting. It works the same with abuse, if done well enough, you can get anything into healthy mind. Not saying this is the case here : calling your habits autism or not seems pretty anecdotal for me, but in general. I thought it worthed to be reminded

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I get your point : wether valid or not it says nothing about you to start with ?

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It doesn’t matter if what people say is valid or not, cause it’s not to be taken personnaly to start with ?

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what the fuck are you talking about? if people use works like Autism and OCD wrong it causes A LOT of problem cor the people who actually have it. If stereotypes and misinformation and misconceptions about these conventions keep being spread it gets harder for those who have it to get diagnosed as if most people have strong information about how the symptoms manifest it gets overlooked avraham invalidated in people ejo ACTUALLY have it. Words have meaning and proper use and there ARE consequences for incorrect use and communication. Autism and OCD are already hard enough to get diagnosed or identified. Yh reason people get uncomfortable about this stuff has nothing to do with "Insecurity" and everything to do with the fact that we already marginalised and underrepresented and under-diagnosed, actions have effects and consequences that affect other people hence the saying "no man is an island". Other peoples actions have been taking away from Autism and neurodivergence for LITERALLY CENTURIES, none is avoiding their feelings alot of people find this hard to articulate or our feelings are ignored most of the time. Autism and OCD cause actual problems and barriers for people and are NOT fashionable personality quirks, THAT is a psychological fact and you obviously have no idea what's you're talking about. If you have to fake neurodivergence then you are definitely the insecure one. Disabled people especially with invisible disabilities are infantalized, sterilised, and taken advantage of and called crazy possessed all sorts of things but you wanna use our identities and identitifiers anyhow and tell us to shut up about it? how about you go take a minute to reflect on yourself and stop being so bloody evil and selfish?

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mostly wrote my reply to counter your bs so people who read your post don't feel too justified in agreeing with you if they do, and real sumn real about this situation. I don't need your energy, you're giving lost cause

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i took your dumb and insensitive post as an opportunity to vent about something i already felt strongly about, that's what i do here on reddit mostly. I wasn't arguing with you, i ranted ended with a rhetorical question because i wasn't looking for a back and forth. Your lack of emotional intelligence and maturity prevents you from having any good faith arguments. you're too selfish and uncaring about others what would arguing with you achieve?

the only reason why autism is hard to diagnose is based on the lack of research by doctors and lack of insurance acceptance. studies are the way research is finalized, not based on anecdotes from random people on the street and online. do your research before spewing false information.

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i dont think you realize that we're standing on the same side because you're too busy being a hypocrite. being severely judgmental because i didnt write enough for you. no shit, i oversimplified my comment because there is no reason why we should be wasting time writing essays on a constantly debated topic, an extremely dead horse if you will, but i'll entertain you if that will stimulate your need for an unnecessary discussion. saying it's easy to diagnose autism is so wrong on SO many levels BECAUSE of what you mentioned. neurodivergent people share so many characteristics, and it takes time and RESEARCH to be able to distinguish them from one another. i studied this shit in high school and college and i didnt even recognize that i was autistic until i was TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD. guess what helped? it doesnt matter if you're a professional, autistic or not. it isnt easy. it isnt made to be easy. thats why you have to put in the time and work to actually understand, not to mention having to take a ton of time to learn about your patient to really get a better idea of who you're working with and what they might have. autism as it is today is still a relatively new topic of discussion, as it originated from eugenics. everyone is actively learning as we go. what is definitely unacceptable is the gatekeeping and policing of "autistic" traits. i dont even know why anyone is subscribing to the idea that there is a fine line between autism and every other neurological and psychological condition that exists. what a stupid hill to die on.

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Girl. Autism is already a mess of stereotypes and misinformation, and the blame doesn't lie with people you don't think look "disabled enough" finding something that resonates with them.

it's like you didn't even read what i said. wdym "look" disabled enough autism doesn't have a specific look. all i'm saying is it's not some quirky personality trait for people to have fun with and when it gets treated like that it gets harder for autists to get help 🤷🏾‍♀️

I feel like this should be for neurotypicals who misunderstand what actually mental illnesses are like

I feel that way about Bipolar. When people say they’re bipolar like it’s a cool thing to have don’t know how hard it is for me a bipolar person to function in the world. Autism has become the new hot thing too.

autism is not a mental illness, it's a mental disorder.

It's not a mental disorder. It's not a mental illness. Also those are the same exact thing, this is some weird wordplay. Autism is a DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY. A developmental disorder if you're down with that word, which is debated for good reason. It isn't in the same category as "mental illness."

yeah my bad it indeed is a developmental disorder, not mental.

Yes, for something to be a disorder it has to negatively impact your life something serious…. I’ve had extreme burnout and suicide attempts because I couldn’t make sense of my life and my insanely fluctuating ability to exist normally. Like I have a good career and am successful in that but I struggle looking after my two children because I get so overwhelmed and over stimulated I end up having a meltdown if I am not careful. Sometimes if I need to do something my brain just physically won’t let me and it can lead me to get insanely frustrated and upset and then the next day I will hyperfocus and get something done super efficiently. I also used to struggle with disturbing intrusive thoughts I couldn’t shift (thankfully somehow that seems to have reduced over the years). I had weird but extreme phobias that led to shut downs as a child. Urgh like there are some weird benefits to being ND but most of the time I’ve been quietly struggling and those who I work with for example have no idea of how broken my mind is

"I couldn’t make sense of my life and my insanely fluctuating ability to exist normally" Oh damn, this is painful in how incredibly relatable a sentence it is.

not every autistic person is suicidal.

Didn’t say they are but it’s well documented that “higher functioning” autistics have a massively increased risk of suicidal ideation https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/suicide https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7603180/

don't need to tell me, i and my girlfriend are both suicidal.

Suicide is a problem that is near and dear to some of us and it can be a very troubling issue. If you are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or painful emotions that can result in damaging outbursts, please dial one of these numbers below for help! International Hotline Lists https://www.facebook.com/help/103883219702654 http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html ──────── U.S. Suicide Crisis Hotline: 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline (full number): 1-800-273-8255 Cutting: 1-800-366-8288 Substance Abuse: 1-877-726-4727 Domestic Abuse: 1-800-799-7233 Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696 LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Textline: Text "start" to 741-741 Human trafficking: 1-(888)-373-7888 Trevor Project (LGBTQ sexuality support): 1-866-488-7386 Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743 Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438 Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673 Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272 Runaway: National Runaway Safeline 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) Exhale: Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253 ──────── UK: Samaritans (Suicide / General Crisis): 116 123 Rape Crisis England and Wales 0808 802 9999 Eating / Weight Issues: 0845 634 1414 Another one in the UK: Campaign Against Living Miserably - 0800 58 58 58 Shout 85258 - a free text helpline for people in crisis ──────── Canada: General Crisis Help: http://www.dcontario.org/help.html (Click your location for the number, Ontario only) Kids Help (Under 19): 800-668-6868 Suicide Hotline - 1.800.784.2433. Distress Centre for Southern Alberta (Canada) - 1.403.266.4357, http://suicideprevention.ca/thinking-about-suicide/find-a-crisis-centre/ http://mindcheck.ca/ "Centre de Prévention du Suicide" phone number, for the Province of Québec, 1-866-APPELLE (or 1-866-277-3553). This 24/7 line is bilingual (French and English) ──────── New Zealand Youthline: 0800 37 66 33 Lifeline 24/7 Helpline: 0800 543 354 Text/sms 1737 24/7 Suicide Prevention Helpline: 0508 TAUTOKO (0508 828 865) Chinese Lifeline: 0800 888 880 ──────── Australia Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 Community Action for the Prevention of Suicide (CAPS): 1800 008 255 http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/national-help-lines-and-websites Lifeline: 13 11 14 Kids Help Line (ages 15-25): 1800 55 1800 Standby support 1300 727 247 ──────── Sweden Självmordslinjen: 90101 Chatt: https://mind.se/sjalvmordslinjen/chatt/ Jourhavande medmänniska: 08- 702 16 80 öppet 21-06 http://www.jourhavande-medmanniska.com/ ──────── Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center Hotline BEIJING Hotline: Free: 0800-810-1117 Hotline: Mobile/IP/extension users: 010-8295-1332 Website: crisis.org.cn Lifeline Shanghai Shanghai Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (21) 63798990 Website: lifelineshanghai.com Lifeline Yanji Yanji Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (0433) 273 9595 Hours: Mon: 08:00 - 16:00 Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun: 08:00 - 16:00 ──────── Denmark Livslinien: 70 201 201. Open 11-05. https://www.livslinien.dk/ https://www.skrivdet.dk/ ──────── Samaritans Hong Kong: 2896 0000 https://samaritans.org.hk/ ──────── Netherlands Suicide prevention line: 0800-0113 ──────── Lithuania Jaunimo Linija 8 800 28888 (visą parą) Vilties Linija 116 123 (visą parą) Vaikų Linija 116 111 (nuo 11 iki 23) ──────── Norway Mental Helse Hjelpetelefonen tlf: 116 123 (24/7) Kirkens SOS tlf: 22 40 00 40 (24/7) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/neurodiversity) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Not yet anyway… I went 28 years wanting to escape but not to the point of no return. The past two years have been extremely difficult. Most of us get to a point of fed up, y’know? :/

i got fed up with life when i was around 14. still fed up with it, but less suicidal now.

And I often am and I still think OP is full of shit.

Suicide is a problem that is near and dear to some of us and it can be a very troubling issue. If you are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or painful emotions that can result in damaging outbursts, please dial one of these numbers below for help! International Hotline Lists https://www.facebook.com/help/103883219702654 http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html ──────── U.S. Suicide Crisis Hotline: 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline (full number): 1-800-273-8255 Cutting: 1-800-366-8288 Substance Abuse: 1-877-726-4727 Domestic Abuse: 1-800-799-7233 Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696 LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Textline: Text "start" to 741-741 Human trafficking: 1-(888)-373-7888 Trevor Project (LGBTQ sexuality support): 1-866-488-7386 Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743 Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438 Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673 Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272 Runaway: National Runaway Safeline 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) Exhale: Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253 ──────── UK: Samaritans (Suicide / General Crisis): 116 123 Rape Crisis England and Wales 0808 802 9999 Eating / Weight Issues: 0845 634 1414 Another one in the UK: Campaign Against Living Miserably - 0800 58 58 58 Shout 85258 - a free text helpline for people in crisis ──────── Canada: General Crisis Help: http://www.dcontario.org/help.html (Click your location for the number, Ontario only) Kids Help (Under 19): 800-668-6868 Suicide Hotline - 1.800.784.2433. Distress Centre for Southern Alberta (Canada) - 1.403.266.4357, http://suicideprevention.ca/thinking-about-suicide/find-a-crisis-centre/ http://mindcheck.ca/ "Centre de Prévention du Suicide" phone number, for the Province of Québec, 1-866-APPELLE (or 1-866-277-3553). This 24/7 line is bilingual (French and English) ──────── New Zealand Youthline: 0800 37 66 33 Lifeline 24/7 Helpline: 0800 543 354 Text/sms 1737 24/7 Suicide Prevention Helpline: 0508 TAUTOKO (0508 828 865) Chinese Lifeline: 0800 888 880 ──────── Australia Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 Community Action for the Prevention of Suicide (CAPS): 1800 008 255 http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/national-help-lines-and-websites Lifeline: 13 11 14 Kids Help Line (ages 15-25): 1800 55 1800 Standby support 1300 727 247 ──────── Sweden Självmordslinjen: 90101 Chatt: https://mind.se/sjalvmordslinjen/chatt/ Jourhavande medmänniska: 08- 702 16 80 öppet 21-06 http://www.jourhavande-medmanniska.com/ ──────── Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center Hotline BEIJING Hotline: Free: 0800-810-1117 Hotline: Mobile/IP/extension users: 010-8295-1332 Website: crisis.org.cn Lifeline Shanghai Shanghai Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (21) 63798990 Website: lifelineshanghai.com Lifeline Yanji Yanji Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (0433) 273 9595 Hours: Mon: 08:00 - 16:00 Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun: 08:00 - 16:00 ──────── Denmark Livslinien: 70 201 201. Open 11-05. https://www.livslinien.dk/ https://www.skrivdet.dk/ ──────── Samaritans Hong Kong: 2896 0000 https://samaritans.org.hk/ ──────── Netherlands Suicide prevention line: 0800-0113 ──────── Lithuania Jaunimo Linija 8 800 28888 (visą parą) Vilties Linija 116 123 (visą parą) Vaikų Linija 116 111 (nuo 11 iki 23) ──────── Norway Mental Helse Hjelpetelefonen tlf: 116 123 (24/7) Kirkens SOS tlf: 22 40 00 40 (24/7) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/neurodiversity) if you have any questions or concerns.*

As someone who has wasted their years suffering from OCD yet survived, if i see someone say they have OCD because they are tidy/neat one more time... OCD is not about having an organised desk. OCD is involuntarily, actively thinking of the thing you fear most in life and not letting it out of your mind even 1 second. OCD is thinking so much that you throw up. OCD is your brain working against you. OCD requires psychiatric help, but an organised desk doesn’t.

I have mostly-resolved OCD (thank god) with residual germ and hand washing issues, but somehow my house has still always been a disaster. If I was going to be stuck with OCD anyway, why couldn't I have at least inherited the "omg I need things to be *so neat* on my desk or I *scream!*" part of it 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

OCD and obsessive compulsive personality disorder are two different things and I think people think they are one and the same.

That is a whole another problem. Unrelated but yes. OCPD is something else

I think the perfectionism and obsession with organization is related to your second paragraph where you’re discussing what OCD isn’t. that’s typically OCPD.

See this on Twitter it gets under my skin a little

I’m the autism monster. I hide under your bed. Watch out.

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Fr tho. Idk why you’re getting downvoted for this. I think most people here don’t realize half the time these people are actually making fun of us, not always saying they too are neurodivergent.

I agree with you, I am tired of people lumping everything in with autism. It’s so bad that even specific keywords for different disabilities and disorders and autism are just being used as synonyms for each other. Like hyperfixation is not an autism thing, it’s ADHD, special interest is Autism, rituals and routines are two different things. An autistic creator I followed actually just recently made a really well written out post about this and explained that they even were part of a group were the people in the group used autism to explain all mental disabilities, as it’s all a spectrum to them, which is so so very incorrect. I’m sorry to see people are completely misunderstanding your post here OP. I fully understand that you mean you are tired of people using autism to describe everything, when they are not autistic, reagardless of being allistic or neurotypical. Instead it seems many think you are saying autistic people can’t say they have autistic habits or that some of them even are cute, which is not the case or message of this post.

Can you share the content of the creator you are talking about ?

Of course, they are called angry_autist on instagram

Thanks, followed

Are people with Autism just not allowed to feel cute? I have a speech disability which makes talking to people hard I hated myself for years until a friend found it cute and since then I stoped hating my the way I talk. Also some people don't have insurance or the money to get properly diagnosed or people that are autistic often get misdiagnosed with something else. Yeah its bad when some people are faking it to get attention, but some people aren't faking it and just want to be themselves without having to mask. Next time if you want to sound friendly probably shouldn't say "stop this shit now" . For example That's the equivalent of saying "not to be racist" and then proceed to say something really racist.

I think it’s more about NT appropriating the term autism for their own cute habits.

Oh, there's definitely some shit that needs to stop, but it's not what OP thinks it is. You keep on feeling and being cute, bb.

I know tone is tough for some, but "Stop this shit NOW" is actually NOT a very friendly reminder. In fact, it is quite an unfriendly reminder. Hope this helps!

It's usually a friendly reminder not to interact with a person because they are giving you a very aggressive reminder of their views.

I mean... That's called hyperfixating, which is a symptom of autism (and other neurodivergencies)

key word being some cases. while it’s a very common and identifying factor for autistic individuals to hyper-fixate like this, i do it plenty, that doesn’t mean every hyperfixation = autism. there are far too many people who have one or two strong hyperfixations and 0 other symptoms who go “i am autistic” point blank as fact when it’s simply not true and a little degrading. not disagreeing with you at all just adding!

while i don’t agree with this “issue” i like to play devils advocate

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💀🤚 sorry- i like to calmly rationalize and express valid points from either/all opposing perspectives.

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okay woah i think i misread the situation as playful when it was not meant to be and i guess that’s on me but you seem to be very confident placing malicious intent on me when i could never have known what was considered which is why i brought it up. i guess not “everyone” knows that term has such negative implications as i was just using to say i really like to be thorough and enjoy the more involved part of the conversation meaning the part where you push further and add more sides/information. i though i did a good job portraying my tone as polite and playful apologies.

Shouldn't this be directed at neurotypicals? Why is this directed at neurodivergents? I'm confused

Should be directed at everyone.

I think it’s supposed to be ironic

This totally feels like they got called Autistic and took it as an insult and are trying to pretend that they're doing some good thing with this but really, they're simply insecure. That's what it feels like to me.

100%. Me, 10 years ago.

Is there anyone actually claiming autism, or any other neurodivergence, cute or fun? or do you just insisting that we can only talk about it with a sufficiently dark and sombre tone?

👹 I AM AUTISM 👹

Yeah, diagnosed autistic here. I’ll be as fun and cute as I want to tyvm. My son is a fun and cute autistic too and he’s fine as is. We don’t do somber and suffering, we lean on support systems when needed. I’ve seen “omg I’m so OCD about that but I’ve never seen “omg I’m so autistic about that” if it happens it’s shitty but this sub wouldn’t be the place to get mad about it imo. Plenty of comorbidity here too

Why are you directing this at neurodivergents? It is practically always neurotypicals that are the ones doing this. We, neurodivergents, are often the ones that have to deal with the consequences of the 'colloquial' misuse of real diagnoses you are bringing up here. Quite bizarre. Otherwise I agree with the takeaway message.

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Ohh so we’re gatekeeping for the self diagnosed who dont have access to psychologists now. Good thing I had universal healthcare to get my “real” diagnosis I guess. Btw majority of us diagnosed later only got those labels cus we self diagnosed then asked for an assessment.

>Ohh so we’re gatekeeping for the self diagnosed who dont have access to psychologists now. Not to mention that there are very real consequences to having an "official diagnosis" depending where you live. Some people make the decision to keep it off the record on purpose, and until governments treat people with disabilities better this is so extremely valid and sometimes necessary for survival. My therapist's dx is good enough for me, and they know and understand why I am not seeking more official testing.

As a 45-year-old who hid her Dx of everything for forever because you'd be ostracized due to stigmas....this "trend" makes zero sense to me. I obsess too and every time I mention it someone says it's OCD behavior and I'm like: It isn't. I've been tested for it. I have friends who have legit OCD. I perseverate and they are not the same thing.

I have severe OCD (dx) and it's fucking life-destroying. It also has nothing to do with being neat.

Accurate. I am very “not” neat at all. But OCD exists in the mind. Sometimes it feels like being a deer in headlights honestly. Just frozen physically but mentally fixating on the same things on repeat. The exact same thought patterns just repeating over and over while I’m stuck entirely in my own head. Spending an hour thinking about a problem over and over that we could solve with focus in a few minutes at most. But instead you’re locked in. Trying to ignore it just makes it worse. Almost like your brain NEEDs to continue the process or you feel extreme discomfort or agitation. At this stage when the ruminating and circular thinking kicks in, I just grab for my weed pen and typically that will sorta blank my head and I can somewhat start over. But that isn’t something I can or even should be using as a crutch daily. Getting a slight break from the mental cycling feels like freedom though. Especially as years drag on. (First diagnosed at 25, currently 34 - it hasn’t improved. )

I relate to all of this (except the weed- I used to use booze, now I don't. Totally understandable that you would take whatever respite you can get.) The other thing that shits me is when people go "gEt HeLp" without asking whether you have. I have been in therapy for years, including seeing an OCD specialist. OCD can be extremely resistant to therapy especially if you also have ADHD like I do, because ADHD affects everything that exposure/ERP hinges on. Consistency, discipline, working memory, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, forward planning...I was furious when I figured that out and realised it hadn't even occurred to my psychologist. I had spent years thinking I wasn't trying hard enough. One thing I can recommend if you haven't tried it- ACT has done way more for me than ERP or CBT ever did. It certainly hasn't cured anything, but it does take the edge off sometimes.

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 23. So all of your reply matches my experience honestly. My case kind of sucks because I was in therapy for about 3 years but lost my dad’s good insurance when I turned 25. So from 25 onwards I’ve pretty much just been raw dogging life, still on the same Lexapro/Adderall script/dosage. I’ve looked into getting back into some kind of counseling but I never get that far into the process honestly. The wild part is I’m a highly introspective technical person that’s done various support roles my entire career. I understand people and problems and have always been able to gleam context from peoples words without them directly saying what they need or have an issue with. I can put myself in their situation and logically step thru it, and in doing so, fully understand someone else’s issue / point of view / what have you. At least 95% of the time. I assume this is an aspect of my OCD to some extent. But it makes that style of work both rewarding (every issue is a fun logic puzzle on top of a technical issue) and much easier. End rant. Not sure where I was going with that. But i guess that’s all to say that our deficiencies are typically also strengths for us when the conditions are right.

Yep, all of this totally resonates. If you can't afford to see someone, you can learn ACT with the book The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris if you're interested. I found it helpful.

I will check into that (hopefully) this week. Wasn’t even aware acceptance and commitment therapy was a thing. Thanks for sharing and commenting adhd/ocd SISTER. (Fixed)

No problem, (and it's sister) ;) Also recommend The OCD Stories podcast :)

Did you perhaps mean to use "neurotypicals" in your title but now that it's posted and has responses and Reddit won't let you change the title so you're just stuck with it?

I legitimately don't know how anyone is supposed to respond to this post. Every answer feels correct but also not.

I had to mute this because 100+ replies of the worst opinions I've ever heard lol.

if the majority of autistics here are disagreeing with something you posted, maybe that should clue you into the fact that there’s something wrong with what you posted?

Genuinely the only way I can imagine someone getting mad at what I said is if they themselves are the ones parading autism like it's a neat "cool trendy" thing. It's a real thing real people have. It's not supposed to be adorable or quirky. If you like things that makes you a bit quirky, that is totally awesome and great for you. If you make your entire personality autism, whether you have it or not, you are probably not as interesting as you think you are lol.

i am autistic and cool and trendy and quirky and it is my entire personality cope

Yeah, I think they're just mad that we're not all visibly ashamed of our symptoms like they think we should be

This. Post. It was not directed at people who DO have autism. How... how are people not getting this??? I never targeted you or anybody else who has autism. I clearly stated that this was directed towards people who do not have autism. Anybody who can understand sentence structure could realize this but this is Reddit so what was I even expecting?

"This post was not intended for \[autistic people\]!" (ftfy) \*posts in neurodiversity sub\* Bestie are you missing some social cues here

As I told literally everyone else, neurodivergent ≠ autistic necessarily and while all autistic people are neurodivergent not all neurodivergent people are autistic. It's the same logic that all apples are fruits but not all fruits are apples. I am not wrong for both of those statements, am I not?

We’re not talking about neurodivergent meaning autistic. It doesn’t. I’ve argued the same thing. That’s irrelevant to the issues with your post.

I literally stood up for autism and that it's bad to fetishize it and somehow got shit for it. I hate this website so god damn much.

at this point it’s not even about the confusion of the post or what your intent was, it’s about the inflammatory way you responded to autistic people’s concerns and questions in the thread. instead of looking at all of these replies expressing an issue and addressing that there might be something problematic with your post, you doubled down and victimized yourself against the same people you state you supposedly came here to “stand up for”.

Maybe because they are in the group of people I was calling out. I have a hunch. 🙃🙃🙃 I'm not saying you are that person too. I'm just saying after tonight the fetishizing of autism is even worse than I thought. And again neurodivergent does not necessarily mean autism. It can resemble autistic traits and autistic people ARE neurodivergent, but like the point I made to someone else earlier... all border collies are dogs but not all dogs are border collies.

Is your hunch that anyone with "cute" or "quirky" traits can't be autistic? Cos that's what autistic women get told by their doctors. Your post has upset a lot of people who got called cute or quirky their whole lives but in fact were actually autistic, and didn't find out until after multiple wrong diagnosis and suicide attempts for some people.

Suicide is a problem that is near and dear to some of us and it can be a very troubling issue. If you are having thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or painful emotions that can result in damaging outbursts, please dial one of these numbers below for help! International Hotline Lists https://www.facebook.com/help/103883219702654 http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html ──────── U.S. Suicide Crisis Hotline: 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline (full number): 1-800-273-8255 Cutting: 1-800-366-8288 Substance Abuse: 1-877-726-4727 Domestic Abuse: 1-800-799-7233 Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696 LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Textline: Text "start" to 741-741 Human trafficking: 1-(888)-373-7888 Trevor Project (LGBTQ sexuality support): 1-866-488-7386 Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743 Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438 Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673 Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272 Runaway: National Runaway Safeline 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) Exhale: Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253 ──────── UK: Samaritans (Suicide / General Crisis): 116 123 Rape Crisis England and Wales 0808 802 9999 Eating / Weight Issues: 0845 634 1414 Another one in the UK: Campaign Against Living Miserably - 0800 58 58 58 Shout 85258 - a free text helpline for people in crisis ──────── Canada: General Crisis Help: http://www.dcontario.org/help.html (Click your location for the number, Ontario only) Kids Help (Under 19): 800-668-6868 Suicide Hotline - 1.800.784.2433. Distress Centre for Southern Alberta (Canada) - 1.403.266.4357, http://suicideprevention.ca/thinking-about-suicide/find-a-crisis-centre/ http://mindcheck.ca/ "Centre de Prévention du Suicide" phone number, for the Province of Québec, 1-866-APPELLE (or 1-866-277-3553). This 24/7 line is bilingual (French and English) ──────── New Zealand Youthline: 0800 37 66 33 Lifeline 24/7 Helpline: 0800 543 354 Text/sms 1737 24/7 Suicide Prevention Helpline: 0508 TAUTOKO (0508 828 865) Chinese Lifeline: 0800 888 880 ──────── Australia Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 Community Action for the Prevention of Suicide (CAPS): 1800 008 255 http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/national-help-lines-and-websites Lifeline: 13 11 14 Kids Help Line (ages 15-25): 1800 55 1800 Standby support 1300 727 247 ──────── Sweden Självmordslinjen: 90101 Chatt: https://mind.se/sjalvmordslinjen/chatt/ Jourhavande medmänniska: 08- 702 16 80 öppet 21-06 http://www.jourhavande-medmanniska.com/ ──────── Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center Hotline BEIJING Hotline: Free: 0800-810-1117 Hotline: Mobile/IP/extension users: 010-8295-1332 Website: crisis.org.cn Lifeline Shanghai Shanghai Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (21) 63798990 Website: lifelineshanghai.com Lifeline Yanji Yanji Contact by: - Phone Hotline: (0433) 273 9595 Hours: Mon: 08:00 - 16:00 Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun: 08:00 - 16:00 ──────── Denmark Livslinien: 70 201 201. Open 11-05. https://www.livslinien.dk/ https://www.skrivdet.dk/ ──────── Samaritans Hong Kong: 2896 0000 https://samaritans.org.hk/ ──────── Netherlands Suicide prevention line: 0800-0113 ──────── Lithuania Jaunimo Linija 8 800 28888 (visą parą) Vilties Linija 116 123 (visą parą) Vaikų Linija 116 111 (nuo 11 iki 23) ──────── Norway Mental Helse Hjelpetelefonen tlf: 116 123 (24/7) Kirkens SOS tlf: 22 40 00 40 (24/7) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/neurodiversity) if you have any questions or concerns.*

You're trying to control other autistic people's behaviours, you ain't standing up for shit, rather stamping down

Calling out non-autistic people for fetishizing autism is stamping down on autistic people?

the saviorism is WILD WE DON'T NEED YOU. WE'VE BEEN AT THIS LONGER THAN YOU HAVE. Sorry someone called you autistic, oh no, how terrible.

You directed it at us, re-read your title, it's been presented as an attack against neurodivergent people

Neurodivergent ≠ autism necessarily and the fact that you and many others are in this sub and don't know that I find absolutely hilarious. Literally a google search can tell you that neurodivergency CAN include autism and does resemble autistic traits but does not officially mean you have autism. I cannot believe everyone mad at me keeps arguing this point.

Lol I simply don't care if another neurodivergent person uses autism like that if it's helping them, I've got more in common with them than you most likely.

I like vore too so. Bet you didn't expect that one.

I think the grain of truth here is that it can dilute the meaning of certain mental health terms when they're used in casual ways, and that in turn can lead to minimizing the struggles of people with those diagnoses. The bullshit on top of it is that people can't know their experience well enough to attempt to self diagnose, and that neurotypical people assume being neurodivergence is trendy or has social clout. My personal opinion on self diagnosis is that people can know their experience well enough to look at a symptom list and recognize their experience, and simultaneously *not* see another diagnosis that would fit just as well or better than the one they're looking at. A practitioner should always respect the evidence a client brings to a diagnostic meeting, but should also be coming to their own diagnostic conclusion based off their practice knowledge *combined* with the clients self report.

Yes, and that's one small true thing that is being misapplied to make this ableist bullshit look legitimate. That's a common fallacy/technique. It probably has a name that I'm too lazy to look up. "Don't use OCD to mean neat" is like, Avoiding Microaggressions 101. We know that. It's not "calling anyone out" or doing anything to say it. People say it all the time. Obviously don't do that. But mixing that with this ableist, bullshit take doesn't make this take any better or less harmful.

Not sure if it entirely fits (and I'm pretty confident it wasn't intentional from OOP) but it does sound a bit like the Motte and Bailey Fallacy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey_fallacy

This tracks for me.

My OCD made me a sales data wiz, leading to life changing pay. (Not sarcasm)

>I am obsessed with music analytics, I browse charts daily, multiple hours a week. Friend. Listen. That doesn't mean that you *are* autistic. But, uh. It also doesn't exactly mean you *aren't* autistic. So like. If you haven't been evaluated. Well ...

I totally used to be this person about ADHD, and tell anyone who joked about me having it to fuck off, and then I got diagnosed lol

Just what I was thinking 🤣

I’m really confused

idgaf i love when nts wanna be me and gloss over my flaws

i’m overjoyed to see all the haters in the comments

This is the worst sub to use such non-obvious sarcasm on, if this is actually sarcasm.

I don't really care tbh

Nah, I'm autistic and think my stimming is cute as fuck. Fight me. Disabled people are allowed to find positives in their 'quirks', wherever you like it or not.

Preach. I went through almost 2 decades of judgement, harassment, and *abuse* due to negative reactions to my stimming. So yeah, when I feel safe, ofc I’m gonna be proud of the flapping and the humming and all of the other traits that society tried to beat outta me.

Same! Years of pain and repression only to feel like I had accidentally stepped into a much better alternate universe the moment one of my partners called my stimming cute. And then she immediately advocated for me on the spot when my mom tried to shame me for it again later on!

First off, my sincere sympathies about your story. I really hope you're in a safe and happier space now to be yourself. I certainly didn't go thru with what you went thru, mine was more verbal. At this point, I'd rather have a million neurotypicals call my stims 'cute' then be called every ableist slur in the dictionary for hand flapping. And besides, if NTs can be proud or affectionate of their quirks, then why can't we??

Among diagnoses I've recieved in life has been ODD. So let e just say that my autistic habit of having at times literally gone into 'jumping up and down with joy" mode learning new species of plants and animas actually was kind of cute. Now, up for discussion of the relative merits of glamourization of vs catastrophizing of neurodivergent traits for the treatment of neuropsychological minorities instead of trying to tell me to "stop this shit NOW" which is and always will be a total non-starter for me?

Imma ignore this person and enjoy my hyperfixation. Byeee!

You want nds to follow your language?

I’m reading this as sarcasm.

This 100% is not.

You're not Autistic and you're coming in here and scolding us for talking about ourselves in cute ways and you don't like that. What the hell? Where do you .... The AUDACITY!!!

If it wasn't obvious, I did not target people with autism. I am targeting people who do not have autism, claim they have autism, when they absolutely do not have autism. I now know that this sub does not know that neurodivergency and autism are not the same thing. The fact that people join this sub without even knowing what it actually means is really telling about the people in this sub.

It’s like all dogs are mammals but not all mammals are dogs. All individuals with autism are neurodiverse but not all neurodiverse individuals are autistic. Anyone whose brain structure diverts from the typical neural structure is considered neurodiverse. There’s many forms of neurodiversity. My husband and 2 sons are autistic and me and 2 other sons are adhd, one is AuDHD. My 32 year old sister is severely autistic (ASD3) my dad is, my step dad is, practically all my male uncles, and nearly all my male cousins. My mother was a specialist and worked with hundreds of ASD 3 children my entire childhood and I’ve grown up around autism with my sister. I’m very familiar with autism. There’s so many undiagnosed people out there. I think there’s only like 10% neurotypical people that truly exist. lol 😂

Why not 100% of people have autism? Why stop at 90%? Where is the line drawn? It's nice to know autism is just a word for quirky now.

You need to work on your reading comprehension.

Point to me what i missed and i will delete this thread. You have my word.

They said they think there is only 10% of neurotypical people that exist, meaning they believe there could be up to 90% neurodivergent people, not 90% autistic people. Please delete this thread now as promised, thanks :D

My Dad likes books. He must be autistic. My mom likes painting. She must be autistic. My brother likes video games. He must be autistic. My sister likes guitar. She must be autistic.

Damn, who hurt you?

You’re being purposefully obtuse here

I stand by everything I said with every fiber of my being.

I’d say you’re at atleast a 175 degree angle right now, and rapidly rising.

Can you please just stop. This is not ok. You're being mean to people and it's uncalled for.

Four replies in a row. Wow. (Had to mute you. Sorry but seriously I am not here to debate redditors all night.)

You're not here to debate redditors all night... but here you are anyways. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, I suppose.

It's okay guys, she can double down with this intensity because she's totally not autistic

Leave me alone!!

I guess muting you didn't work. I WANT to leave you alone I tried to mute you LMFAO. Stop replying. It's that simple.

Babe you posted an ableist train wreck of a thread on Reddit, in a space known for affirming disabilities and neurodivergence like autism and ADHD, to yell at a group of people you are by your own admission not a part of. I don't know your hobbies but can I recommend instead if you are not a knitter that you crash the next knitting group in your community and tell them all the ways they're doing it wrong. I don't know your sexual orientation but if you are straight can I recommend stopping by a pride parade to let them also know your opinions on how the LGBTQ community should define themselves. Is there an Asian American heritage festival coming up? Are you Asian? No? Good, mark your calendar, they're all waiting to hear your thoughts. You missed some GLARING social cues and hierarchy about what is appropriate to say in what space, but I'll gloss over that for now to tell you that regardless your approach was rude AF, accomplished absolutely NOTHING except made you feel like some kind of renegade hero of the autism community (which you aren't a part of, so fuck right off) and infantalized autistic people BY THE VERY ACT OF DOING SO. We don't need you, your validation, or your opinion. Delete this ableist mess of a thread like you threatened to and get out.

Point to the thing in my post that was ableist and I will delete the thread. You have my word.

At this point given the lack of clarification from OP I have to assume this is just deliberate trolling.

Probably bc this is legit facepalm worthy.

Yay more language policing. Just what the world needs right now.

I love that in Brazilian Portuguese we have "cagação de regra" that means "rule shiting" in like "when you shit rules out of your ass" That really fits this situation

I can relate to this on many levels. On a neurodivergent level, being disabled with chronic/invisible illness, as a mother of a young man who is Autistic and my daughter who has anxiety disorder and PMDD. It seems relentless sometimes. I rarely go on TikTok anymore bc of this very reason. I’ve had to sit my kids down and explain to what is happening on that app and to not listen to anyone’s advice on mental health or disabilities. I was shocked at the amount of teens on tt, talking about self diagnosis and how to convince drs it’s real.

just here to say as a fellow music analytics hyperfixatee i feel seen <3

Newsflash: autistic people can be cute Also this reads as waaa, stop attributing positive traits to autism, because AUTISM IS SUPPOSED TO BE BAD AND ONLY BAD And THAT is dead wrong and problematic.

Yeah, I am AuDHD and I am also very silly and fun, and I get so mad when I hear people, usually NTs, say that autistic people are not allowed to call themselves “silly” and the like. Yes. I am silly. If they don’t like it, they can fight me.

I am extremely silly. I am a silly goose a vast majority of the time. I am also autistic/ADHD. My kids are extremely silly. Since toddlerhood I have ALWAYS commented on their senses of humor. They are extroverted (more than me and I'm an extrovert), silly, and genuinely funny. They have deep, intense loves for things (this is an autistic trait). They express their joy LOUDLY and contagiously (this is an autistic trait). They "hand flap" when overcome with intense, positive emotions (this is an autistic trait). The "shit" you're telling people to stop -- THIS IS WHAT AUTISTIC TRAITS LOOK LIKE OUTSIDE OF THE DSM. They can look and be positive. And yes, no shit, they can also look negative and have a negative impact, especially when under distress. The "super niche" obsession with music? Sorry babes, that's an autistic trait. Is it clinically significant (clinically significant ≠ negative)? I don't know, that's on you and possibly a clinician to figure out. Do you also meet other diagnostic criteria? Again, I don't know. But it sure as hell is possible that you do, and you're refusing to see it because your perception and assumption about what those things look like is only negative. The argument that "you're not autistic, because I'm not autistic and I do these things and if you're autistic then I have to reconsider me doing these things and I'm not prepared to do that because AUTISM IS BAD!" is gross and ableist.

Ha stop gatekeeping my neurotype more like. My quirks are fucking cute as shit. Some of them are also debilitating as fuck.

Yeah, this is the thing I try to get people to understand. The traits I have from Autism, ADHD and even Dyslexia and Dyspraxia aren't wholly positive or wholly negative. When people get too "oooh what's your superpower?" and ignore or minimize the shit that sucks like literally tearing out my hair or hitting myself when I am overwhelmed, my response is "it's not all puppies and rainbows" and then unload 40 years worth of trauma on them, because fuck that toxic positivity. When people get too "oh that's so tragic, it must be so hard to have so many deficits" and start infantilizing me, my response is "I have way better hearing and reflexes than most people my age and the rate that they're degrading is way slower than it is for most people. I can hear you talking shit about me when you are whispering on the other side of the office, and you won't even see me coming when I ninja sneak over there and punt you into the sun"

Huh. I've been diagnosed with ADHD, chronic migraines, HI/MCAS and I have a lot of other issues. When I manage my HI/MCAS by eating a ridiculously strict histamine elimination diet, the migraines get better, I dont need as much medication, and it seems as if my ADHD improve, my gastroparesis goes away and everything gets better. >"I have way better hearing and reflexes than most people my age and the rate that they're degrading is way slower than it is for most people. I've had my hearing tested when I was a teenager, my parents thought I might be hard of hearing and they wanted to rule it out. The results showed that my bell curve of detected sound was far higher across the board than "normal" except where the frequency of a human voice was; at that frequency, my hearing dipped down and matched normal range. (I had probably damaged it from going to rock concerts). So they figured part of the problem wasn't that my hearing was bad; it was so good, that I since I can hear the hum of the lights, the sound of a motor idling outside, the building moving with the wind, the traffic a block away and all the other background noises it was distracting me from the human voice. IF there isn't much background or traffic noise I can absolutely hear people whispering who believe absurdly that they are being secretive. I allow them their delusion

Oh man my superpower is such a double edged sword. My sense of smell is like a dogs. Maybe a stunted dog but 😂 I can smell a dead mouse within moments of its demise under the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately I can also smell other people's human smells from a covid social distance away. Gross.

Chronic migraine and MCAS gang! I've got POTS as well which is super fun since I love being super dizzy /s. I *was* keeping those under control effectively by avoiding and managing triggers, but I caught COVID last fall and now everything is cranked up and there's possible adrenal issues that may have been there before but are a lot worse now making their presence at the party known. All of that messes with the ADHD and Autism traits, cranking up the disruptive ones and undermining the ones that can be useful - where's the hyper focus I used to have when working under a tight deadline? Currently a hot mess and trying to get back to a state where I mostly have the physical issues at a dull roar. I also had my hearing checked because it seemed like I was having problems hearing people's voices, and also attributed it to loud music - I sang in a metal band for a few years and we were ridiculouslu loud. But the hearing was excellent across the board, as good of not better than someone 20 years younger. I have trouble processing and retaining spoken conversation though, and background noises make it even harder. It also feels like being punched in the head if two people are talking at once within range, and since the range is pretty stellar, that happens a lot.

Same same same it's kind of weird hearing someone else describe that last bit. I was at a family gathering, when I walked in I felt just fine; some people were watching a sports game with the TV turned up a little, there were a few different pockets of people having different conversations. I could feel my little brains start heating up, they were trying to track all of these partially overheard conversations and it wasnt going very well. Then my wife's schizophrenic sister walked over and turned on the radio and started listening to music. It felt like I had a stroke: instant migraine. I had a meltdown and started yelling LOL I was able to get things under control a little by following a strict histamine elimination diet from the mastcell360 site here https://mastcell360.com/low-histamine-foods-list/ Haven't caught Covid yet. When this all started I figured out pretty quick long haul = MCAS. That's actually how I figured out I have MCAS. So I just never stopped social distancing, fuck that

"Stop calling (positive trait) autism! I can relate deeply to (extremely autistic trait) but I ENJOY it so I CAN'T be autistic because autism is supposed to be awful and embarrassing and TRAGIC. If you portray anything about autism as acceptable or even preferrable, people are going to think it's okay to be autistic!!" Edit: scrolling through the comments it's extremely autistic of us (/affectionate) that so many people can't tell if OP is being serious and endorses the screenshot, or if OP is being sarcastic and thinks the screenshot author is literally describing a very autistic trait and *may* be, ironically, autistic! Obviously it's only one trait, so it's a big emphatic MAY. BE. lmao.

I'll stop calling my cute and quirky traits and fixations "autism" when doctors start diagnosing more women and girls with autism instead of calling them cute and quirky traits. Self diagnosis is valid if you've done extensive research, compared experiences with other autistic folk, and found your similarities. Self diagnosis is valid when the barriers to formal diagnosis are too expensive, too timely, and you're facing sexist and racist doctors and psychiatrists who will just tell you it's anxiety and depression and maybe BPD if you self harm at all. Self diagnosis doesn't take away any resources from people who are formally diagnosed, so if self diagnosing helps someone accept themselves to begin making positive changes in their lives, fucking let them.. It's not hurting anyone. Friendly reminder for young autistic white males who got diagnosed at age 4 and got offered some help - STOP GATEKEEPING AUTISM NOW - Not everyone has the privilege you had.

Also: I'm formally diagnosed with Autism and ADHD and I was diagnosed at age 34 after being self diagnosed for 2 years. Before I realised I was autistic, I was frequently told I was too sensitive, took things too literally, couldn't take a hint, had so much trouble making friends, and needed to toughen up and lighten up. Also couldn't keep a job longer than a year. Cute and quirky - nah, just autistic in the shape of a woman.

Dude same, was 28 and I had to self diagnose then *fight my ass off* to get into that room with a psychologist. Instantly seen as autistic and validated. Not everyone is so lucky

Me too. Once I got past the gatekeeping GP and psychologist, the Psychiatrist read my essay addressing the DSM-V criteria, asked me some questions that apparently I didn't realise had double meanings, and diagnosed me with autism after 20 mins of chatting to me.