What Should You Know About Self Diagnosing Autism?
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- čas přidán 1. 11. 2023
- Why is there such an increase in people self diagnosing as autistic? Self Diagnosis is a term that's getting thrown around a lot, but with very little discussion around what it actually means, or what it's in response to. I'm a formally diagnosed autistic adult in my mid thirties, and here's why people like me are turning to self diagnosis. #actuallyautistic #audhd #autismdiagnosis #autismawareness #autismpride #autismacceptance
The way I see it, even if I never tell another soul that I think I might be autistic, it's helpful to see the label, investigate what else it could mean for myself, and utilize recommended tools and resources to care for the parts of myself that resonate.
"ask yourself /why/ you might resonate with videos about autism" is the easiest pathway to finding where you still need support.
I still need help in getting my family to realize that I'm not just lazy, selfish, and stupid.
I'm in a diagnosis gray-area. I learned I was autistic through therapy but don't have a formal assessment. The same psychologist who brought up autism to me (after 2 years) and even helped me get some accommodations, has also made it abundantly clear that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high for the formal assessment unless I get a parent involved (I won't). Even people well within the system don't trust the system to work for adults like us.
I'm also in a grey-area as I've got both ADHD, OCD and what appears to be savant syndrome or at least something pretty funky in my memory circuits that allows me to memorize a great deal of stuff very quickly, but not know it until I need it. A lot of the issue comes down the medical community wanting to gate keep who is and isn't autistic, but being too lazy to actually address the cases where it's not as clear. So, rather than address the issue and fix the criteria, they opted to effectively throw people off the spectrum if they weren't already diagnosed and receiving help.
So, I could get a Schizoid Personality Disorder diagnosis, (Which is nearly always a misdiagnosis for autism at this point), or just about every common autism misdiagnosis, but because I didn't do enough stimming that couldn't be written off as anxiety, I don't get any sort of diagnosis or help at all other than what self-diagnosis and the community gives.
Even if you can get a parent involved, there's a pretty decent chance that they won't think anything is amiss. If they did, they probably would have pushed for assessment themselves.
Same with the parents... but I was "lucky" in that I have a sister who actually was the first one to mention a number of years ago that she thought I was autistic (I thought she was making a bad joke and didn't follow up for 3 or 4 years until my counselor told me beginning of last year that she was pretty positive this was the missing piece we've been trying to figure out.)
Anyway, this summer when I went through the evaluation process I was able to have my sister fill out a bunch of questionnaires you'd typically have parents fill out.
I was dual diagnosed with Autism and ADHD. And Generalized Anxiety.
@@chrissyjoy08 I was wondering if maybe a sibling could fill in that "parental" paperwork. My parents are almost 80, mother has dementia, father is very likely undiagnosed autistic himself, and they are immigrants from a third world country (english as a third language). My many older siblings are probably better judges of my childhood traits than my parents are.
@@jamesrempel8522 yeah I'd check on that. To my understanding it just has to be some family member who knows you well and can talk about you as a kid and now as an adult.
I'm 56. Now, self diagnosis is all I have left. My parents when I was 9 sent me to see what was "wrong " with me. In the 70s and 80s, girls did not "get" autism. There seems to be a history of this in the women in my family going back generations, the term used is "crazy". After my first test, you have no idea how clear my brain started to get. Then test no2, no3, nor, you get the picture. I have cried because it explains EVERYTHING! I have spoken with other women on reddit, it's insane. (I know funny word to use) bad enough women get dismissed more often than not, and now this. The clarity I have now has made it possible for me to actually relax 😅 I can ask my GP to get me evaluated, but I'm 56, not worth it, by the time it gets confirmed, it will be at my funeral. People are idiots. We are not morons, we are people for heavens sake. ❤❤, nice to meet you fellow autistic 😊
I am 56 hooked and self diagnosed and it made me understand me better and I am happy .
There is a life after 56years
@@jedidiahgodsbeloved6605self diagnosis is the only thing that makes sense, because I don’t believe I’m a spoiled brat. I just want love and for someone to see me. 😢
You are the reason I went in deep into self diagnosing myself and heading towards an official diagnosis. You reminded me of myself and described many thought processes and specific phrases I never talked about to anyone. I REALLY appreciate your work on Tiktok and CZcams.
I started a therapy intake session in September and my autism assessment is in December. I’m so nervous that they may not diagnose me as autistic but I need it. As someone who is a woman and a person of color, I’ve been so marginalized all my life. I’ve been self-diagnosed since September 2020 and I’ve been socializing with other autistic people, mostly through Instagram. Thank you for your video!
Its getting closer :) hope it goes well.
Yeah I realised that I began masking for other neurodivergent people to in feat I'm "not autistic enough" if I don't in a similar way I'm masking with neurotypical people to be recognised as "normal". I just want to fit in at this point 😭
@@BlertaPupu I relate most with with Audhd and PDA. but I feel like I do too well socially that I might just be deluding myself. I tend to fit in well but the socializing stresses me out.
@@raynac224sounds like you mask in social situations, which is exhausting in itself. Go easy on yourself.
My autism assessment is in Jan. Please lemme know how yours went
I'm self diagnosed but only after years of researching things on my own by scouring the DSRM and cited medical articles, talking to other diagnosed autistic people about their experiences, and then evaluating my own life experiences with all the information, comparing my life over those years, that nothing changed after finding the term - I didn't just see a single TikTok video and decided it was okay to use to get out of things or an excuse to be an asshole.
I've legitimately have had unaddressed issues since I was a child, that until like 6 years ago I thought it was because I was just broken - all the awful things people would say about me being lazy, overdramatic, stubborn, weird, etc etc. I felt shame for those things, even though the situations were things I was trying hard to do right or were things that I sincerely struggled with. Finding the autistic community and really learning what 'autism' is made everything more understandable. Helped me reframe a lot of baggage. And I wanted to be super sure with myself before I just used self-diagnoses openly.
I really hate that support, tests, and accommodations are blocked behind a paywall as a privilege - things that are inherently apart of me will just never get help.. I don't have the money or support system to live that experience. And many other self-diagnosed people don't have those resources either. If I did - I'd be going in with a full report on myself to hand to the doctor and hopefully get some help from a therapist or something. It's not going to happen but idealistically I wish it could...
Sharing this with my Clinical Mental Health Ethics Class. I am presenting with a peer, the Ethics of Diagnosis. THANK YOU for this fortuitous info drop!
I figured it out at 60 years old. I'm so autistic, it's not funny. I didn't know. My parents knew and didn't tell me. I know other people knew, it's just people don't talk directly to you about these things; as it's not polite. (My work even had me listed as disabled in H.R. When I found out, I made them change it. How dare they! lol.) They took me to a specialist who told them to let me rock, but redirect the head banging. Told them I was holding in my anger. (PDA). I didn't know why I was different, but knew I was. My parents put forth a concerted effort to train me up to mask and be able to work. It was not talked about. I just moved on and didn't worry about it. I've got lots of comorbidities, dyspraxia, etc., and unmasked... I am so obvious. I've seen so many doctors, for my issues, the closest anyone got was PTSD - but that's because a masked autistic person without ID can appear to have PTSD. (That made me mad and I had an outburst. I was more concerned with the memory issues. I thought it was early onset dementia and anxiety.) It's so important that clinicians get it right. I may have a higher IQ than some, but my daily struggle to do mundane things you do daily takes such focus (I'm absentminded/ADD short term/working memory issues or whatever and with PDA the amount of sheer will and determination it takes for me to force myself to do ANYTHING is exhausting). I never really had the time or energy to get deep enough focused on me to figure it out. My folks finally admitted it, when I finally figured it out and took screening tests then confronted them. (In a joking way. My Mom doubled over and couldn't stand up for laughing at the fact I'd finally figured it out.) I burned out at work and had to stop working, at 59. I had to retire early and am living off of a small pension and a small 401k. If I'd had a proper diagnosis, maybe I could have 1.) Received full retirement age pension. 2.) Received some sort of other social program help. 3.) There may be some sort of benefit to social security if you have that sort of issue. As an autistic, I can't figure out what's going on with other people, let alone see it in myself. It's how I've always been. Oh. I play world of warcraft. I'm pretty sure I don't need to see anyone else to tell me I'm autistic, and I surely don't need to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket to do so. I also don't want to have to mask like a performing monkey in front of people anymore, so I'm staying home for the most part.
I hope you have/will take the time to talk about how doctors allow their personal stigma around disabilities to prevent them from providing patients with the care they need.
A friend of mine got assessed and was told he met *all* the diagnostic criteria for autism. Everything. He was still denied a diagnosis for *having too many friends.* The fact that all his friends belong to oppressed minority groups and more than half of them have mental disabilities was deemed irrelevant.
I have also spoken to people who were denied diagnosis simply for: being married, having a job, wearing denim or anything other than loungewear, not having a caretaker, making any eye contact at all even for a fraction of a second, already being diagnosed with ADHD, BPD, or PTSD, not feeling comfortable doing big, obvious stims in front of the doctor, able to communicate verbally, kept the conversation on topic, did not engage in any self harming stims during the appointment, looked/acted "normal enough", etc.
I could honestly keep going, but the list is MASSIVE. Autistics will not start trusting their doctors until these internal biases about autism that have little to no bearing in the diagnostic criteria are kept out of the diagnostic process. As professionals, it is your job to keep these biases to yourself and base diagnosis off the actual medical criteria.
@@LilChuunosuke yep. I am definitely a neruo divergent advocate.
I'm realising more and more exactly how lucky I've been in my diagnosis. I made my appointment at the start of the year. I sought out a dx for ADHD, identifying with that for reasons and basically self diagnosing there. But I asked my psych to ALSO double eval for autism because alongside relating to ADHD content I'd periodically see autism content and relate. But I never went down that rabbit hole (mostly lack of curiosity and probably some internalised ableism). My evals came back as true for both conditions.
But my journey to getting the evals was simple and thanks to my work offering what is very good health coverage, no more expensive for me than my usual annual health care. And I'm very privileged and lucky. Your videos and others are very eye opening as to the costs and challenges so so so many others face with this. And to say that getting the dx has been helpful is an understatement. Having the label and the language to start piecing together all these "oh so THAT'S why this [insert X thing]" is so valuable. But my ADHD brain and other issues really would have made it a challenge to just DO that for me without the diagnosis first I think.
Personally I went in concerned about ADHD and came out with an NVLD diagnosis, so that first part, I kinda feel that 😅 That feeling when they're just like "well actually..."
He lives! Not gonna lie, I was getting worried - good to see you’re back!
Came for the mustache. Stayed for the convo 🫶🏾
Thank you. If I had known I was on the spectrum, it would have changed my entire life. There needs to be more support.
Thank you for this video! I definitely don’t want or need any social services involved in my family! I relate so much to the experiences of autism that others describe, that I already accepted myself as HFA but as I already mastered ways to cope with this world I think there is nothing that could possibly help me at age of 35. But the knowledge of what’s actually “wrong” with me and why it happens and how to avoid some certain situations and communicate my needs is a really powerful tool.
I'm not deaf or hard of hearing but have family that is, and I think it's really awesome that you captioned your video so well!
Thank you so much for this video, I really appreciate the validation and caring attitude. ❤
After years of considering my behaviours and challenges, I finally decided to tell my doctor that I think I'm autistic and that I felt I should see someone for a formal discussion.
Imagine my shock when he rounded on me and accused me of trying to milk the system for financial gain! (In Australia, there is help available - the NDIS). I was totally confused and thrown by this as it had taken me a LOT of courage to bring it up and money did not even come into my mind.
He then said to me that I could not possibly be autistic because I'm a social person. I quickly ended the conversation and left, distraught.
I almost didn't want to go back to him again but got an ear infection that saw me return. He didn't apologise but brought the subject up again. Thankfully he was nicer about it and we talked about masking and a few other things.
I then dropped the whole thing. I have not brought it up since.
So now I identify quietly to the few who are closest to me as neurodivergent and leave it at that.
I'm a 52 year old woman.
As someone who has been recently considering if I may be autistic, this video resonates with so many of my concerns and questions around self diagnosis. It's quite validating to hear especially as someone who didn't have access to formal diagnosis at a young age. Thank you!
I'm somewhere between self diagnosis and formal because I go to therapy for it. But I can't get official testing because insurance/US medicine will never pay for it due to (1) being in a committed relationship, (2) being able to hold down a job and, (3) having and maintaining friendships. This has done high masking/lower support needs autistic people such a disservice. Depression and autistic burnout can be so difficult to tell apart. Being able to advocate and better understand myself would have helped me so much in my teens, 20s and even most of my 30s. Thank you so much for making these videos.
I am 49 and was diagnosed with ADHD (wasnt called that back then) in the early 80s. Did lots of things as a child such as hand flapping, jumping on the spot in excitement and self hugging, which I still do when alone and excited about something. Spent the last year researching, talking to others on the spectrum, did all the usual tests etc... My friend (one of a few close friends on the spectrum) was formerly diagnosed last year and he suggested because I resonate so well with him and my other friends on the spectrum that I might want to look into it a bit more. I work in biotech and I spent the last year trawling scientific literature, and the more I learn, the more and more certain I am an autistic person. It literally explains the majority of my life experiences, the bullying, the social exhaustion/struggles, being labeled weird/odd, the meltdowns/burnouts.
Honestly, I doubt I will seek formal diagnosis due to the huge negatives, high costs, waiting lists and stigma. It can put my job options at risk, lock me out of emigrating to certain countries, increase insurance costs etc... I am just going to learn more, continue to participate in the community, and make the accomodations I need to function better.
This video should be required viewing. Thank you for this.
I just learned a few weeks ago that my recent burnout may have actually been autistic burnout. At 29 it was … unexpected? But it also felt like the weight of the world is no longer on me? I’m so glad these videos are out because I’m learning as much as I can and these especially have spoken to me in such a deep way. Very thankful on this thankful holiday
An important topic succinctly put into a great video, well done!
I am late self-diagnosed, and I view an official diagnosis as an absolute privilege. In Eastern Europe, where I'm from, the view on mental health, let alone neurodiversity, is still archaic and very much taboo in the society, therefore, getting a professional diagnosis is quite literally next to impossible. That's due to there being almost no professionals specifically trained to work with autistic people and the place being generally economically challenged. I imagine I'm far from being alone in a situation like this.
I love your expression about self-diagnosis as a gateway to discovering more about oneself and learning how to make your life easier, rather than simply putting a label on your actions and calling it a day.
I self diagnose as Autistic. there are many reasons but I'll stick with one huge I've noticed "normal" people dont do these things.
I have some "tell tale" signs like cant make eye contact or I get like physically uncomfortable, "stimming" by playing with my hair and fabrics. I hate certain texture that make me lash out angrily when I touch them especially if i cant get away from it. I have safe foods, I struggle to do "adult" things that im told are so easy people get frustrated with me bc I "cant do the simplest things" like phone calls are terrifying to me. new social situations im forced into arent "annoying" they are actually straight up scary. and if its ripping me away from my special interest I even have full melt downs and cry and yell and lash out. there's much more but I wanna mention the big one before my comment gets insanely long.
I always get remarks like "oh everyone is a little autistic, everyone has fictional crushes, everyone has a hobby they are passionate about ect" but for me, a character from a show/game becomes a special interest to a degree that my entire existance becomes about expressing how much I love the character. often to a degree people will harass/bully me, tell my behavior is "conserning" and "not healthy". I have been this way my entire life. it was shrugged off when I was a kid but as I got older, I continued to get very very attached to specific characters. my most recent special interests are Bede and Kieran from pokemon (sword and shield, teal mask/indigo disk) as of late, Kieran has absolutely consumed my thoughts. I DREAM ABOUT HIM, I wake up, he's if the first thing on my mind. through my day I will look for new videos/artwork of him, draw him, pretend I'm cuddling him while hugging a pillow, replaying the teal mask which involves hours of pre-game play to get the the point that I need to be at to see him, spending literally hours (4-6 hours) just taking selfies in the game with Kieran's NPC, I can listen to his battle theme's on a 2 hours + loop. when I see new things about him or discover something new I didnt know about him I get extrememly excitable, I jump and wave my hands around and giggle which feels really good. I get EXTREMELY upset when Kieran is attacked as a character like when people say he is a bad character or they try to tell me somethign about him that I know is false , i get extremely defensive of the character and I will spend hours defending him from people online. spreading false information about my guy REALLY gets to me. I literally cant help any of this. and some people even try to use these behaviors to claim I'm "creepy". but the character sets off a happy response in my brain and I dont know exactly how to describe it. but he is literally all I want to think about, draw, ect I have even been often forgetting to take breaks from him to shower and eat.
yet some people will me in the eye and say "everyone has a fictional crush". yeah not like me you dont.
I just had my follow up appointment where the evaluator was amazing. The only reason I didn't get an official diagnosis is because my mother didn't play ball and misrepresented everything about my childhood and quite a bit about me as a person because, "You don't have autism. You're perfect." Since the symptoms have to have evidence of presence before the age of 7, my mother's report tanked the possibility despite everything else having extremely strong indicators. I was offered "Avoidant Personality Disorder" as a consolation prize, but I declined. So the doc recorded everything and all the indicators and traits in my chart in case a new DSM changes the potential outcome.
I'm working through my comfort and feelings around self-diagnosing out loud to others, but in my heart of hearts, I know.
Love your videos, you are my favorite autistic creator and have helped me a lot in my own journey, and as a self diagnosed autistic person who's hoping to get an official diagnoses eventually, thank you so much and keep up the amazing work :)
Love it man. I go back all the time to the conversations we've had, both recorded and not, to remind myself that I'm valid. Keep it up, you make a difference for people. Cheers.
Trying to get assessed and the people around me are completely un supportive, what should be a time in my life of understand rethinking forgiving and change for the better, is nothing but a depressing stress inducing foggy hell.
I love having all of those thoughts so well organized. Great video!
I really appreciate the effort you put into these videos. Great work!
47 years of heavy masking took its toll. That's a long time pretending to be someone else. I'm self-identified and working on self-diagnosis now. The wait times for "official" diagnosis are just waaaay too long where I live.
I feel you. 43 years here.
It’s been exhausting.
I've been seeing a therapist for about a year now, initially going in for trauma and she's kind of flagged me as potentially having ASD (I've already kind of suspected it since about 2019) and she specializes in ND evaluations so that was super reassuring to me. Now at this point she wants me to take a screening next visit I have (in about a week's time) to see if going for a proper diagnosis would be a good idea. Bless her, she's already "wink wink nudge nudge"d me as well that if I pass her screening it's highly that I'm Autistic (although I also have a suspicion that I'm AuDHD, that's for a later date lmao). The only issue is that SHE can't do my *actual* evaluation if I go get one because of conflict of interest with her already knowing me... Which honestly seems like a really stupid practise tbh 💀Yeah, just put me in a room with a stranger so I mask and hold eye contact instead of letting out all my stims and regular mannerisms - sounds like a solid idea
There's nothing comfortable about showing up for an evaluation with a stranger for hours, I DID mask a ton which led to them thinking I wasn't autistic. I joked to my friends that I 'acted too normal' but honestly I did.
@conductor_dee I'm still worried about that honestly but I think my main therapist has my back and might say something. I think she's already pretty sure but she just can't legally say so. As far as I'm concerned no one in my family has ever been diagnosed Autistic either so while it shows up in my family the lack of diagnosis might hurt me too.
I'm going in for the screening literally tomorrow now though so I suppose I'll get closer to answers one way or another
@@Popper_DropI hope it goes well 🙏 And I'm glad your therapist has your back too
Thank you for your support & validation. Very much appreciated
Thank you for this video. My partner is autistic. I’ve had many long conversations with them about this, and I’ve done the research. For years, I’ve thought I was autistic. I’ve just never tried to get an official diagnosis, because of how difficult it is. In my opinion, self diagnosis is okay, when you do the research, because you know how you feel and know your experience better than someone else.
This is excellent, and, speaking as a clinical psychologist who specializes in diagnosing children and adults with neurodiversity, I absolutely agree with you.
As a child, I was diagnosed autistic, I was non-verbal until age 4, I worked with a speech therapist, I didn't have name recall, or make eye contact,I preferred to be alone, I rocked, spun, bounced and walked on my tippy toes, I self-injured, I banged my head repetitively, I punched my legs and pulled my hair, , had special interests, dogs still remaining. And still have claw hands if I'm not mindful. but I have to say from all of my developmental behavioural therapy over the years and my gifted strength in pattern recognition, which is totally transferable to people(sheeple). . I can't help but think that now at 36 if I took the DSM-5 for autism I might not be diagnosed... which raises the question of whether my social learning as an autistic child cured my autism and maybe the lack of social learning of others has created autism in their adulthood
I am a 65 year old woman who discovered the term "Highly Sensitive Person" a few years ago. That came about due to a major panic attack that I had, so I did a bit of research and I felt a bit of relief that there are others out there who deal with the same things that I do. Fast forward to autumn 2023 ~ within a 2 week period I had both my therapist and the gal who prescribes my therapy meds mention "high functioning Autism" to me. I tried to think of it as a mere coincidence, but I couldn't. I mean, really, what are the odds? So I started doing research and watching videos from both Autistic people and doctors who are on the spectrum. I have found many examples of my life-long behaviors that are not included in being an HSP. So to say that these past few weeks have been interesting and kinda scary at the same time is an understatement. Not sure where to turn next, particularly since I believe I have just lost my counseling "privileges". I do know one thing though, I will not stop learning about Autism as long as I feel there is something there of value for me. As I recently told a friend, "I'm not doing this for a title, I'm in search of tools". Thanks for listening!
This is ausome! Many of our group members are late-diagnosed, or still self-diagnosed, because of financial barriers or accessibility barriers. Most of us have gone through experiences similar to what you are sharing here. Thank you for addressing this!
There's a lot of barriers and even if you clear those, you can still get denied because they shrank the spectrum when they released the DSM 5, and there hasn't been the sort of widespread acknowledgement that people who previously would have been diagnosable get no diagnosis of any sort under the current set of criteria.
I've personally received just about every common misdiagnosis for autism other than BPD and PTSD, but somehow I don't get the diagnosis even though I've got something that's clearly neurodevelopmental going on, I just didn't stim enough in recognized ways early enough to get a diagnosis, apparently.
Thanks for making your content. Your approach to this topic is developed and thought out in a way that is unique and very helpful for me.
Anyone else having audio trouble with this video watching from a TV? Audio works great on my phone, but dies out within 10 seconds on BOTH of my tvs. 🤷🏻♀️
The University of Washington wrote and article about how self diagnosis is valid. Since they are foremost in autism, I'll take their word.
I enjoy your content. I havent self diagnosed nor have I been concerned to snd i think that says enough about it for me because I have my own personal neurodivergent cocktail. But I have some friends who will be like u sure. And I'm like yeah. But when you got to the end, talking about the roadmap. That's how I explain things. Because I've also told them if I were to gave such a diagnosis, the label doesn't matter. Having the help and understanding of how to better manage and understand myself is what matters. But all in all, it really just makes me wish health care professionals listened to my friends more. Not about their peer-diagnosis for me. But for themselves. More compassion for people is needed.
Really needed this validating perspective- thank you 🙏🏻
You articulate this sooo well. Thank you. Not to mention that you can be diagnosed or diagnosed and assessed for disability. Two processes, two journeys.
I'm officially diagnosed with GID now GD and self diagnosed with autism and I feel like there is a lot of overlap in peoples hysteria around the idea of "faking it" to gain some sort of advantage in life when the perceived advantages are grossly outweighed by stigma, marginalization, and negative bias many people have towards us. I think the best approch to dealing with people who self diagnose is to believe them and trust that they've done their research and know more about themselves than I ever could because there isn't really any material incentive to faking that doesn't come with hefty social penalties.
This is an amazing explanation. Thank you for this video and all of your content!!
brilliant video, so well expressed. this needs more views!
Yup I am one of the lost generation, 50, basically mental health was mostly not a thing as a child, you were walking wounded you were ignored. Lost people in my school year and around to all sorts of things....so it makes sense (but makes me angry) that my rather obvious signs were ignored...and I was made out to be broken and the 'black sheep' of the family, regardless of whatever I did to try and please people. It seemed weird that the nicer and passive I got, the less people liked me? I realised increasingly in my 40's that I couldn't go on with that and pushed back. I did the early tests and scored borderline - those tests ignore people with PDA, or high masking or 'spiky profiles', I think I picked up my masking from my mother, who I highly suspsect was undiagnosed too, so it became an automatic behaviour. Natural even?
Lockdown broke all of this, and I started to realise how much I was masking and how I couldn't actually rely on those tricks anymore. Since then, I just can't deal with group social situations and struggle with basic ones sometimes even 1 on 1. It's like my masking abilities just evaporated?
I have done a LOT of research in the last year and it all points to me being a lot less borderline, but like some women on the spectrum I seem to have been overlooked. And it makes me angry.
This was very well put. Thank you.
As someone who has more or less self diagnosed, I would argue strongly that the main danger of innacurate self diagnosis is distorting peoples ideas of what neurotypicality entails and blurs the lines between the autistic and the non autistic which like...feels like something that autistic people feel is important to highlight when theyre trying to stand up for their needs and differences. If we want to highlight that we have differences and are definitely NOT neurotypical, then I would imagine we would not want neurotypicality being conflated with autism, which is so easy to do when overdiagnosis of people who are actually painfully normal think that their experiences amount to any degree of autism when perhaps they are just looking for tribalism to fit in with and society calls typical traits weird out of stigma. Its hard to summarize here what I mean but im tired of typing paragraphs on youtube to get my ideas across so itll have to suffice like this. If you want more clarification you can engage me and I'll respond.
But why would a neurotypical want to be seen as autistic/neurodiverse? It's hard enough in the world without being 'othered' and discriminated against.
@@sally-annllewellynartist9362 yes - research studies has shown that over 90% of those who self diagnose are on the spectrum. It massively correlates - a NT would not do that level of fact-finding and research. There was a resarch paper recently that had self and formal diagnosis groupings - they pointed out that the SD groups something like 90-95% of them met the formal diagnostic critera for a formal diagnosis.
My thing is people easily self diagnose anxiety or depression. There was a time where those were not taken seriously but now they are so common it’s socially acceptable to self diagnose.
Thank you for legitimising me!
I am very happy with my self-diagnosis (I am one of the happy bunch who gets along relatively well without assistance) and I worry that the job I aim at (teacher) might have some reservations against me if there was a diagnosis in the picture.
It might make my father stop doubt my autism (I give him the label of peer-reviewed autism - we are way to much alike for him to be NT) but that's NOT worth it.
Thank you for talking about this!
thank you!!! this video is so important
Great video, thank you! 💚💚💚
Pretty good vid, well presented thoughts 👍 im 44 undiagnosed, 6 months of seriously looking into this and 100% plan to go for a formal diagnosis (asd and adhd). I have gone back and forth, yes i am, no im not. There is fear for both getting diagnosed with either or both, and not getting diagnosed. And if i do get a diagnosis, i for sure know i will need to digest it and will have feelings of maybe they're wrong (probably for whatever outcome 😅). I have never felt like i fit in and have stuggled a lot! But other people dont really see that side of me because i internalise as much as i am capable of. Untill i crack. The interesting thing listening to you is that at 44, i feel like if i did not look into this myself and take it as a serious posibility, absolutely noone would tell me they think i have it, no doctor would tell me to go get tested and i would continue wondering why about my life. Which is why i am sogratefull for the content created that shares the experiences and knowledge. As far as the formal diagnosis, i feel, will at least partly come from sharing why i relate and think i might be... As in it took me a while to remember things from my childhood, growing up years and realising, oh, that's not normal, i just thought everybody went through these things. Everyone has foods they hate, and love. Everybody gets angry. Nobody likes school... etc. I hope that makes sense. I think I've written enough, thanks dude 😊
I'm waiting to get diagnosed with ADHD, but I also relate very much with autism. I have taken formal tests online to confirm my doubts and they all confirm I have high chances of having autism. The thing is, I tried talking about ASD back in 2019 but my therapist at the time said it was impossible for me to have it. Fortunately, I will meet with a specialist of ADHD and ASD soon.
Thank you for this video
Neurotypical health professionals with little exposure to or interest in adult autism are obviously the best gatekeepers to providing diagnosis and support. Kind of like hiring the visually impaired to act as artillery observers. >.<
If you want something meticulously investigated, give it to someone on the spectrum with a vested interest in the topic. If they have survived undetected into adulthood, it is reasonably safe to assume their cognitive functioning is intact!
I’ve asked my gp for a referral for diagnosis, but first I have to get “therapy”. Meanwhile, my kid has an autism diagnosis, and I have to help her, while I can’t help myself? I’ve had no choice but to self diagnose and move on; time is a factor here!!!
I'll be 58 in a couple years, and I just self-diagnosed with the help of my therapist and online testing. I've looked into a formal diagnosis, and even though I live in a large metropolitan area, I can't find anyone who works with adults, takes my insurance, or is taking new patients for assessment only. It seems like very few therapists or organizations even work with adults.
Considering how much it costs to get evaluated for autism as an adult who got missed is insanly expensive and insurance tends to refuse to pay for it.
Many adults make autism their special interest when a child in their family is diagnosed with autism. Then while doing the deep dive into autism, find themselves. Good luck convincing others though. Sometimes I think it’s enough for me to know. At least now I can understand myself better.
Great video, but audio cut out 6 seconds in while casting. Could only hear it by stopping the cast and watching on my phone.
Did the audio cut out within the first five seconds for anybody else?
I have an awful lot to say about this, but I'm having a hard time consolidating my thoughts because there's been issues with my ADHD meds and sourcing them - because of course lol I'm commenting so I can remember to come back, hah, yes I know, improbably gonna forget but I'm trying!
Really interesting talk. It’s the first time I’ve come across you. I will be watching more.
Just one negative: I found the background music intrusive and distracting - is it necessary?
Otherwise, top content. Thank you 😊
Na escola aos 11 depois 16, cogitou se autismo, ou dislexia...psicoses, esquizofrenia, tspt tpb. As partes que levaram ao autismo eram as que eu nao mascarava, meio que falava normal. avho wue ela sacou de cara.ela era uma boa psicologa.
Engraçado que as parte que eu tava sendo normal foram as que rla disse "ele tem esses traços aut>lististicos mas pode ser uma superdotação etc rtc.
So it could be said Gen X was missed? I'm 48, gen x. I have 2 degrees in psychology & only now seeing the traits in myself after my brother suggested it. I got goosebumps when you said "medical gaslighting." That hits in many ways for me for various things. I have no intent of taking resources. I can't afford what's required for diagnosis. This is simply for my personal understanding, even if/when my spouse blows it all off.
It is much safer for your career and job prospects. Ask me how I know!
I'm 34. A few days ago i would have said i'm not autistic at all. Today i have no problem saying that I am because i actually learned what it is. I assumed it was all 100x worse than it was. I also wouldn't have said I'm ocd and then i realized i see parallel and perpendicular lines everywhere on everything that i can't step on on low and behold that's pretty fucking ocd. I took the AQ test, i got a 35, and the fiction question is bullshit, who doesn't like some good sci fi? All of a sudden literally everything in life made sense.
Sound cuts out at (0:06) for me 😢
I don't want to distance myself from them by referring to them as other. You are literally othering other people, and claiming that you are not. There may simply be a language problem, but there is you (who you rightly can refer to as I), there is you with a literal group of other people, who you can refer to as we, then there are groups of people who you are not with, whether you identify with them or not, they should probably be referred as them. At least if you are not wanting to other some other groups, and consider other groups as belonging. But I'm still only a minute and a half in. So maybe you make a solid enough point to actually make it clear that the level of othering is simply for distinction, not as you consider them somehow other, and probably lesser than yourself/your group.
... is that tsuro on your shelf?
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This was really difficult to watch with the music bed :(
I'm having issues with the audio on this video. It cuts off very suddenly at 7 seconds.
Unfortunately professionals don't have a clue.
Professionals cost money and just because your not certified doesnt mean your wrong.
I can't find any support groups I can go to online to talk to others let alone this mythical online Austism community.
Smash
I don't see the benefit of an adult diagnosis. I have Asperger syndrome. It's quite obvious, but not if you're NT, since they know nothing about it.
recently it's so popular to be disabled and to have some kind of disability to feel special that every second person declares themselves as acoustic...
i feel like i need to earn money before going to psychiatrist because it costs MUCH, but at the same time...if i were able to earn money like everyone else does i wouldn't need an official diagnosis at the first place 🥲
buuut at the same time, we don't have any accomodations for autistic adults in my country so idk, it feels like it doesn't matter if you self-diagnosed or officially-diagnosed here
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