As one diagnosed in 2002 without a speech delay (to me, the most significant differentiator) under the old version of criteria, I see it this way: Am I subject to autistic meltdowns? Yes. Extremely rare, not totally absent. I know how to self-regulate, and I may have a useful side-effect of extremely hyposensitive sense of smell that gives my window of tolerance a larger range. Am I subject to autistic shutdowns? I know of one that may have actually gone as far as catatonia, 30 years ago: that was spectacularly theatrical. I’ve tried to avoid pushing myself into that state ever since. Am I subject to autistic burnout? Found out last year that what I’d read about as “autistic regression” in autistic children, as described by parents, isn’t limited to autistic children. Found that out by firsthand experience. Derp! It can possibly leave me more disabled than when I started, is a scary thing I learned: it also put me in extreme risk for employment reasons. It appears in my observation that regardless of where you are on the autistic spectrum that you are subject to those 3 issues. You may know how to self-regulate well enough they’re not usually problems, if you have enough control over your environment in all aspects: I learned about the last one as a result of not having enough control over my environment, over a long enough period of time. Each of those 3 common issues can leave one disabled from self-protection and functioning in general while experiencing them: that’s being autistic, and that’s clearly disabling, by all sane logic I can muster. It doesn’t even matter what support level you’re categorized as.
that makes a lot of sense, thanks for commenting! i agree it doesn't matter what support level you're categorized as. there are definitely advantages to being assigned a level, although people that don't take the time to think about it as thoroughly as you may jump to the conclusion that one level is beneath the other. i appreciate you sharing, this is a great way to see it.
I'm a 47m and I was recently diagnosed. I haven't even told anyone outside of my family and my dr. because I know people's opinions about autism, and people have had so long to get used to me just being my quirky self. I feel like I would have to justify my autism somehow. My dr. raised his eyebrows when I told him but didn't say anything--I definitely got a suspicious vibe from him, but at least he didn't try to argue. Thanks for the videos!
re: co-occurring disorders, the psychologist also diagnosed me with OCD. I didn't even remotely suspect that one 😂 It's been good to learn about and I totally see it now.
@@j-ivey i'm so glad this could be helpful for you! my neurologist also was surprised but then she said it made sense. thanks for sharing your story with me, i hope you know that you're so valid regardless of when you got diagnosed or who doesn't believe you.
yes i'm definitely considering it! it was the last class before break and i had a class 15 minutes after so i was rushing to leave, but after break i might! i think i was more surprised at first and wasn't sure how to react. at the same time, he's a psychology professor and i don't feel as though it's my job to educate him on what he's teaching us.
Recently received diagnosis of level 1 autism, requiring support - I felt the weight of imposter syndrome a lot the last few weeks before the assessment and still struggle with it from time to time, as I went 58 years before being diagnosed. Turns out, my sister's daughter, HER daughter and two of her sons are also. :)
no way didn't hearing about family members having asd help you? i feel you with the imposter syndrome and i can only imagine how bad it would be with such a late diagnosis, but you are still so valid. i hope knowing this information can be helpful to you fully understanding yourself in the future.
@@beyondthespectrumpodcast So the kids with it are my grandnephews and I only just found out that their mother, my niece, is also asd because she never said anything about it. It's cool tho because it's like I have another reason to relate to my sister's kids :) Pretty sure my own kids are as well. So more journeys to go on, but they'll have an easier time b/c I took the time to do this and so it was as much for them as for me.
Ten minutes through- hi there! Thank you so much for your great podcasts. I love how you present all of this very personal experience. It does sound like the disability lady perhaps has autism herself if she is struggling to understand and taking things very literally? Just a thought... I found your other talk really interesting about Auditory Processing disorder. I use subtitles and also have a hearing aid - to give me more of a chance of understanding what's going on. I even went to an audiologist and said I feel like I have a learning disability and he said I was too capable for that. I really feel I have autism and am awaiting an assessment for it. I had an autism assessment with my husband there over zoom. They said they felt I have traits but not enough for a diagnosis? Perhaps because I have a job and a husband and children. I am very coping - but I need a lot of space to regulate my overwhelm and exhaustion... Please pray that I get the diagnosis of autism... I am 41 and so many of my life experiences can be explained through autism Xxx
first of all, i really appreciate your positive feedback and it means a lot to me! i never even considered that she herself may be autistic, but that is a super interesting way to see the situation and it's totally possible. also thank you so much for sharing your personal story! i had never heard of an auditory processing disorder until i was diagnosed with one and i feel that it may be more common than we know! it's definitely something to look into especially because it seems to be common alongside autism. as for your assessment, i'm so sorry you didn't feel like you got the results you were anticipating. i can imagine an exam over zoom would be much more difficult for evaluation and unfortunately there's still so many expectations of what an autistic person "should" look like (biologically male, high/moderate support needs, etc.) which makes it easy to feel overlooked if you don't fit into that description. i hope that even without a diagnosis you are able to continue finding coping mechanisms that work for you to manage day to day life the best that you can! i will keep you in my thoughts and i hope you are able to get the validation/clarification that you want!
I agree that correct terminology is important for Autistic persons to assert our validity and Asperger’s is a designation that’s no longer useful under the current paradigm. On the other hand, it does have a long legacy of use that many people identified with until recently, so I to think a good way to consider it is as a construct that was used to describe a particular manifestation of ASD. When I was diagnosed my therapist said, “I would have called it Asperger’s at one point, but that’s not how the diagnostic criteria works anymore.” I think your professor might really not have been acutely aware of the current preferred nomenclature. I’d respectfully encourage you not to hesitate to bring something like this to someone’s attention in the future. Bear in mind that he is an academic, after all, and should have a vested interest in representing the subject correctly. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work!
From my understanding of the term Aspergers. In previous DSM manuals it was a seperate diagnosis from Autism. I think the main reason it's frown upon these days is because the guy who coined the term held some false and negative beliefs. And he had some cruel practices towards individuals he was studying. Basically he wasn't a good person so people don't like to use the term he is known for. Rather they want to shun and abandon that way of thinking in a sense. Also the DSM eventually dropped the Aspergers diagnosis and just combined it under the newly termed Autism Spectrum Disorder that was more inclusive of other diagnosis. But Many individuals were diagnosed with Aspergers. And I think a large amount of the community still accepts the term for some individuals if that is what they were originally diagnosed with and have been using the term for all these years. I don't see any harm in those individuals using the term towards themselves if that is what they are used to. Others may disagree with me. I think part of why I feel imposter syndrome is I may look very different and have less support needs than others who from an outside perspective it's much more clear that they are on the spectrum. But it's much more believeable to say to myself that I have aspergers or something. That way I am not comparing myself to someone who has higher support needs and that their needs are much more visible from an outside perspective. But at the same time I am able to say that my struggles are real and I am able to acknowledge that there is something real or a reason for why things are so hard for me.
As one diagnosed in 2002 without a speech delay (to me, the most significant differentiator) under the old version of criteria, I see it this way:
Am I subject to autistic meltdowns? Yes. Extremely rare, not totally absent. I know how to self-regulate, and I may have a useful side-effect of extremely hyposensitive sense of smell that gives my window of tolerance a larger range.
Am I subject to autistic shutdowns? I know of one that may have actually gone as far as catatonia, 30 years ago: that was spectacularly theatrical. I’ve tried to avoid pushing myself into that state ever since.
Am I subject to autistic burnout? Found out last year that what I’d read about as “autistic regression” in autistic children, as described by parents, isn’t limited to autistic children. Found that out by firsthand experience. Derp! It can possibly leave me more disabled than when I started, is a scary thing I learned: it also put me in extreme risk for employment reasons.
It appears in my observation that regardless of where you are on the autistic spectrum that you are subject to those 3 issues. You may know how to self-regulate well enough they’re not usually problems, if you have enough control over your environment in all aspects: I learned about the last one as a result of not having enough control over my environment, over a long enough period of time.
Each of those 3 common issues can leave one disabled from self-protection and functioning in general while experiencing them: that’s being autistic, and that’s clearly disabling, by all sane logic I can muster.
It doesn’t even matter what support level you’re categorized as.
that makes a lot of sense, thanks for commenting! i agree it doesn't matter what support level you're categorized as. there are definitely advantages to being assigned a level, although people that don't take the time to think about it as thoroughly as you may jump to the conclusion that one level is beneath the other. i appreciate you sharing, this is a great way to see it.
I'm a 47m and I was recently diagnosed. I haven't even told anyone outside of my family and my dr. because I know people's opinions about autism, and people have had so long to get used to me just being my quirky self. I feel like I would have to justify my autism somehow. My dr. raised his eyebrows when I told him but didn't say anything--I definitely got a suspicious vibe from him, but at least he didn't try to argue. Thanks for the videos!
re: co-occurring disorders, the psychologist also diagnosed me with OCD. I didn't even remotely suspect that one 😂 It's been good to learn about and I totally see it now.
@@j-ivey i'm so glad this could be helpful for you! my neurologist also was surprised but then she said it made sense. thanks for sharing your story with me, i hope you know that you're so valid regardless of when you got diagnosed or who doesn't believe you.
@@beyondthespectrumpodcast thank you for saying that!
Omg! I got a shout out! Thanks, Sydney! 😊
With respect, you should have taken this up with the lecturer after the lesson. Advocacy starts with the individual. Thanks for the video.
yes i'm definitely considering it! it was the last class before break and i had a class 15 minutes after so i was rushing to leave, but after break i might! i think i was more surprised at first and wasn't sure how to react. at the same time, he's a psychology professor and i don't feel as though it's my job to educate him on what he's teaching us.
Recently received diagnosis of level 1 autism, requiring support - I felt the weight of imposter syndrome a lot the last few weeks before the assessment and still struggle with it from time to time, as I went 58 years before being diagnosed. Turns out, my sister's daughter, HER daughter and two of her sons are also. :)
no way didn't hearing about family members having asd help you? i feel you with the imposter syndrome and i can only imagine how bad it would be with such a late diagnosis, but you are still so valid. i hope knowing this information can be helpful to you fully understanding yourself in the future.
@@beyondthespectrumpodcast So the kids with it are my grandnephews and I only just found out that their mother, my niece, is also asd because she never said anything about it. It's cool tho because it's like I have another reason to relate to my sister's kids :) Pretty sure my own kids are as well. So more journeys to go on, but they'll have an easier time b/c I took the time to do this and so it was as much for them as for me.
Ten minutes through- hi there! Thank you so much for your great podcasts. I love how you present all of this very personal experience. It does sound like the disability lady perhaps has autism herself if she is struggling to understand and taking things very literally? Just a thought... I found your other talk really interesting about Auditory Processing disorder. I use subtitles and also have a hearing aid - to give me more of a chance of understanding what's going on. I even went to an audiologist and said I feel like I have a learning disability and he said I was too capable for that. I really feel I have autism and am awaiting an assessment for it. I had an autism assessment with my husband there over zoom. They said they felt I have traits but not enough for a diagnosis? Perhaps because I have a job and a husband and children. I am very coping - but I need a lot of space to regulate my overwhelm and exhaustion... Please pray that I get the diagnosis of autism... I am 41 and so many of my life experiences can be explained through autism Xxx
first of all, i really appreciate your positive feedback and it means a lot to me! i never even considered that she herself may be autistic, but that is a super interesting way to see the situation and it's totally possible. also thank you so much for sharing your personal story! i had never heard of an auditory processing disorder until i was diagnosed with one and i feel that it may be more common than we know! it's definitely something to look into especially because it seems to be common alongside autism. as for your assessment, i'm so sorry you didn't feel like you got the results you were anticipating. i can imagine an exam over zoom would be much more difficult for evaluation and unfortunately there's still so many expectations of what an autistic person "should" look like (biologically male, high/moderate support needs, etc.) which makes it easy to feel overlooked if you don't fit into that description. i hope that even without a diagnosis you are able to continue finding coping mechanisms that work for you to manage day to day life the best that you can! i will keep you in my thoughts and i hope you are able to get the validation/clarification that you want!
I agree that correct terminology is important for Autistic persons to assert our validity and Asperger’s is a designation that’s no longer useful under the current paradigm. On the other hand, it does have a long legacy of use that many people identified with until recently, so I to think a good way to consider it is as a construct that was used to describe a particular manifestation of ASD. When I was diagnosed my therapist said, “I would have called it Asperger’s at one point, but that’s not how the diagnostic criteria works anymore.” I think your professor might really not have been acutely aware of the current preferred nomenclature. I’d respectfully encourage you not to hesitate to bring something like this to someone’s attention in the future. Bear in mind that he is an academic, after all, and should have a vested interest in representing the subject correctly. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work!
you're right, this makes a lot of sense! thank you for commenting and i will definitely consider telling my professor next time if it happens again.
From my understanding of the term Aspergers. In previous DSM manuals it was a seperate diagnosis from Autism. I think the main reason it's frown upon these days is because the guy who coined the term held some false and negative beliefs. And he had some cruel practices towards individuals he was studying. Basically he wasn't a good person so people don't like to use the term he is known for. Rather they want to shun and abandon that way of thinking in a sense. Also the DSM eventually dropped the Aspergers diagnosis and just combined it under the newly termed Autism Spectrum Disorder that was more inclusive of other diagnosis. But Many individuals were diagnosed with Aspergers. And I think a large amount of the community still accepts the term for some individuals if that is what they were originally diagnosed with and have been using the term for all these years. I don't see any harm in those individuals using the term towards themselves if that is what they are used to. Others may disagree with me.
I think part of why I feel imposter syndrome is I may look very different and have less support needs than others who from an outside perspective it's much more clear that they are on the spectrum. But it's much more believeable to say to myself that I have aspergers or something. That way I am not comparing myself to someone who has higher support needs and that their needs are much more visible from an outside perspective. But at the same time I am able to say that my struggles are real and I am able to acknowledge that there is something real or a reason for why things are so hard for me.
I mean, children are just little people.....? or as they're called nowadays 'tiny humans'