Diagnosed Autistic - Blog Posts
Question for other autistics. How soon is too soon to tell a possible friend that I'm autistic?
I'm so tired of the idea that autism isn't a disability. I'm aware that some people aren't too affected by their autism but I am disabled by mine. I've been in and out of different therapies since I was nine years old and that was even before I was diagnosed at age twelve. I have frequent meltdowns and shutdowns over the littlest of things and combined with my ADHD and GAD it's quite frankly a miracle I get anything done. I've been exhausted since school has ended since I have to prep for University and I keep having mini meltdowns over all the uncertainty ahead. I barely know how to keep the friends I still have and everyone I'm close with is going to different schools so I have no friends as a safety net come Fall Semester.
It's tiring being Autistic because everything is so much more difficult. I can barely write legibly unless I think about it and even making friends is a game I barely know how to play. Yet when i tell people that I'm autistic they are shocked as if it wasn't obvious by my difficulties with peers.
I just hope that University is better but fuck I don't even know anymore.
But to my main point. Autism is a disability. Deal with it
Teachers constantly call me high functioning and I have level 2 social communications and level 1 repetitive behaviors autism so I'm always wondering what a level 1 across the board autistic person is like if I'm considered high functioning
Figured I may as well discuss this matter since I see it come up a lot - high support needs autistics often say that the talk of lower support needs is framed in such a way as to invalidate them.
Firstly, before I get into this, I think what I've heard is reasonably true, and a conversation around it is needed. I feel that I need to declare this, because I feel these groups aren't communicating (much at all), and while I'm trying my best, its likely that how I'll say things is still bad, and everyone's constantly up in arms about the due and proper virtue signalling.
To be clear, we're considered "Mid support needs". It seems to be the category of folk who are actually clashing with high support needs autistics the most, although we are wondering if the diagnosis may be in error, likely with the original diagnosis that was 'upgraded' to autism and then mid support needs autism being correct instead.
The primary purpose of this post is to bring clarity to what others are trying to go on about, as communication errors are entirely too easy, especially as so many people are using slogans rather than more words, and for many of those cases forgetting and not forgetting is distinguished by at most three words in a larger sentence.
The most commonly upsetting topic, about support levels in the autism diagnosis, has two reasons behind it, which combining frustrates understanding.
The one I suspect will be more relevant to most high-support needs folk is that by placing support needs in the autism diagnosis, one sometimes avoids labeling the overall person's support needs, and sometimes rolls other conditions, deserving of their own labels to target treatment, into the autism diagnosis.
As a consequence of these two factors, many folk at all official autism levels fail to receive the supports that they need.
The other one is - the official boundaries of "Mid support needs" Just Sucks. Its being visibly autistic and sufficiently accommodated.
As a consequence, firstly, it ranges from 'stims with chair texture and otherwise just quirky' all the way to 'significant support needs being handled by family'.
And secondly, its possible to fall below it onto low support needs through a wide variety of measures that have nothing to do with support needs at all, such as having of been traumatized out of displaying overt symptoms, or, if the doctor isn't paying enough attention, or isn't asking the right questions and you stim less than displaying other symptoms, having of developed social skills due to an applicable special interest, such as psychology, or a major aspect of society.
This is getting a little long (and I don't recall how to do read mores), so I'll end it here for now, although I expect to come back to these matters.
A message to my fellow undiagnosed / diagnosis complicated autistics:
It’s sad that I even have to say this but please do not just say “Glad I never got diagnosed” and abandon the autistic community. Even though you are not put on the registry, you are still a part of the community and you can’t just “check out” because it will affect you either way. Even if hypothetically it somehow never affected you, just ignoring what is happening and potentially going to happen to autistic people is allowing fascism to continue. You know it’s eugenics, and standing by and watching them strip the privacy rights of people without doing anything, betraying your fellow autistics and allowing them to face eugenics while you do nothing for “comfort” will cause extreme harm. Staying silent is not being “neutral” or “staying out of it”, it’s death. We must stand with and fight with our diagnosed autistic siblings, especially those with high support needs. Now is not the time to ditch the community for “safety”, now is the time to fight.
One thing you can do right now is contact your representative and express your opposition for the registry and the taking of medical files from diagnosed autistics without their consent.
