of we're all quite of, so no need to read this. Which is why, when I was trying to get a diagnosis I had a lot of conversations that went:
"You?"
"Me."
With friends, with the GP I went to for a referral, with the psychologist he referred me to the first time. I went back with the name of a specific psychologist, and she agreed with what I'd worked out for myself.
Which was good, because once I had a label, I could find out more about what was going on in my head and find works to work with it.
And it bad because, with all the doctors and psychologists and counsellors and teachers I've dealt with over the years, WHY THE FUCKING HELL DID I HAVE TO WORK THIS OUT FOR MYSELF? If I'd known twenty years ago, things would have been different for me :(
Once of the things that finally made me realise I was on the right track was an article that said autism spectrum disorders are often misdiagnosed as depression or anxiety. Not to mention schizophrenia, OCD and probably a host of other stuff. Why does it matter? You can't deal really deal with something unless you know why it's happening. For me, the anxiety comes from a lifetime of being I'm doing things wrong, wrong, wrong, when I'm really just doing them differently.
So, in the past couple of years I've obviously been doing a lot of reading, and I have learnt lots of things. Like health professionals, like most other people, don't know much about ASDs at all. They certainly don't associate it with people like me who chatter and make eye contact (and very well, I was told the other day. Yay. It's only taken a few years to learn.) and don't do whatever they assume I should do/not do.
If you spend any time reading about autism, you'll come across the idea of "faking NT". NT=Neurotypical=ordinary people, so faking is pretending to be ordinary or trying to fit in with the everyday stupid world that can't handle anything a bit different. It's actually a bit of a controversial topic because it often comes with the assumption that NT=better or non-NT means "broken". And then there's the reverse idea that NT=disadvantaged.
Along those lines, have a look at this: The Discovery of "Aspie" Criteria (it's a PDF).
Figure 1: Discovery criteria for aspie
A. A qualitative advantage in social interaction, as manifested by a majority of the following:
1. peer relationships characterized by absolute loyalty and impeccable dependability
2. free of sexist, "age-ist", or culturalist biases; ability to regard others at "face value"
3. speaking one’s mind irrespective of social context or adherence to personal beliefs
4. ability to pursue personal theory or perspective despite conflicting evidence
and so on. A different, positive approach.
On the subject of Tony Attwood, if you haven't already, I really recommend his conversation on Radio National. I wish there was a transcript so I could underlines things. The focus is girls & Aspergers, but his approach is positive (see above link) and he talks about why girls are missed, the schizophrenia thing & imaginary friend, that it's not a "lack of empathy" but an inability to realise empathy is needed, and other things that make a lot of more sense to me than many "experts" do.
"You?"
"Me."
With friends, with the GP I went to for a referral, with the psychologist he referred me to the first time. I went back with the name of a specific psychologist, and she agreed with what I'd worked out for myself.
Which was good, because once I had a label, I could find out more about what was going on in my head and find works to work with it.
And it bad because, with all the doctors and psychologists and counsellors and teachers I've dealt with over the years, WHY THE FUCKING HELL DID I HAVE TO WORK THIS OUT FOR MYSELF? If I'd known twenty years ago, things would have been different for me :(
Once of the things that finally made me realise I was on the right track was an article that said autism spectrum disorders are often misdiagnosed as depression or anxiety. Not to mention schizophrenia, OCD and probably a host of other stuff. Why does it matter? You can't deal really deal with something unless you know why it's happening. For me, the anxiety comes from a lifetime of being I'm doing things wrong, wrong, wrong, when I'm really just doing them differently.
So, in the past couple of years I've obviously been doing a lot of reading, and I have learnt lots of things. Like health professionals, like most other people, don't know much about ASDs at all. They certainly don't associate it with people like me who chatter and make eye contact (and very well, I was told the other day. Yay. It's only taken a few years to learn.) and don't do whatever they assume I should do/not do.
If you spend any time reading about autism, you'll come across the idea of "faking NT". NT=Neurotypical=ordinary people, so faking is pretending to be ordinary or trying to fit in with the everyday stupid world that can't handle anything a bit different. It's actually a bit of a controversial topic because it often comes with the assumption that NT=better or non-NT means "broken". And then there's the reverse idea that NT=disadvantaged.
Along those lines, have a look at this: The Discovery of "Aspie" Criteria (it's a PDF).
Figure 1: Discovery criteria for aspie
A. A qualitative advantage in social interaction, as manifested by a majority of the following:
1. peer relationships characterized by absolute loyalty and impeccable dependability
2. free of sexist, "age-ist", or culturalist biases; ability to regard others at "face value"
3. speaking one’s mind irrespective of social context or adherence to personal beliefs
4. ability to pursue personal theory or perspective despite conflicting evidence
and so on. A different, positive approach.
On the subject of Tony Attwood, if you haven't already, I really recommend his conversation on Radio National. I wish there was a transcript so I could underlines things. The focus is girls & Aspergers, but his approach is positive (see above link) and he talks about why girls are missed, the schizophrenia thing & imaginary friend, that it's not a "lack of empathy" but an inability to realise empathy is needed, and other things that make a lot of more sense to me than many "experts" do.
