As a career educator, I've noticed this over the last 20 years. Autism has gone from a severe and debilitating disorder to anyone who's a little quirky and has an intellectual ability. I also think, generally, it says something sinister about our larger culture that having an intellectual ability is popularly considered a disorder.
Yeh, I was diagnosed as an adult but to be honest I'm handing in my Autism card 1) because I don't meet the level of impact on my day-to-day life 2) because I'm fed up with the political crap that comes with it - neurodiversity, language police, not being allowed to have a dissenting narrative without people infighting, 3) Preferring alternative none medicalised descriptors 4) because most of what has actually helped me move forward with my life has not come from the Autism community or autism-specific interventions, 5) because there no way to evidence that I have significant neurological difference beyond normal variation.
I agree with you 100%. There are so many videos designed to "diagnose" adults with autism. Basically, everyone who's a little bit quirky is actually autistic! 🤪 Which is completely ridiculous, and takes the focus away from individuals whose lives are actually impacted by the condition. I do not believe I have autism just because I play songs in my head and dislike sudden changes in my schedule. But by their standards, everyone who's not a literal cyborg has autism.
I completely agree, since when too many people self diagnose themselves with autism just because they're a little bit quirky, it makes autism seem like purely just a label rather than an actual condition, which can cause harm for those whose lives are actually impacted by the condition. I have autism, and it greatly impacts my ability to be an independent adult, since I need social security disability income, and reasonable accommodations at a job, and it's hard to find a job that is accommodating towards employees with autism, and employers are even less likely to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with autism if autism is viewed as just a label.
My little brother also named Ian was diagnosed with severe autism when he was 5yrs old. He had all of the classic signs of Autism. He would have really bad meltdowns, stim a lot, and he is nonverbal. I was just recently diagnosed with Autism as well. I think that my brother having more symptoms than I did made our parents look at his issues more than mine. I am not saying that they did this on purpose but when Ian was put into an adult treatment center and I started to go to therapy we as a family started to notice my symptoms though less severe were still prevalent. I do think that it is a mixture of both people being over diagnosed and under diagnosed. My family has gone through both. When I was diagnosed my parents thought it was a good idea to get my other siblings tested as well. They were diagnosed with high functioning Autism by my family and friends. They all thought that if my brother and I had Autism than my other siblings would have it too. When they, on their own, went to get formally diagnosed the professionals said that they do not have Autism. So I think it is interesting how genetics work and I would be interested if anyone knows any sources that talk about why it effects some in the family and not others.
Functioning labels are not used in any diagnostic manual. They are ableist and offensive so if a functioning label was used with a diagnosis then they are incompetent. The use of 'symptoms' is also harmful because it perpetuates the disease and deficit rhetoric
See the diagnoses for autism has changed a lot. It had become a huge umbrella term and is no longer what it use to mean, which is insane to me. Autism 40 years ago, you would not be able to write out the paragraph you just wrote. I think doctors need to stop thinking there is something wrong with everyone.
I'm really tired of people "self-diagnosing" or mistaking their narcissism or social anxiety disorder for ASD. I'm also tired of people saying it's not a disability. Those are clearly misdiagnosed or confused individuals.
I know someone who comes from a family with many people with NPD. He uses narcissistic coping mechanisms as well. Need to be seen as good, kind, perfect and lashing out if you don't mirror this back at him. Tgen he twists it around that you are a terrible person. He is now telling everyone he is autistic as well. Self diagnosed of course.... He is really good at cognitive empathy though.
I think if you have enough evidence it’s okay but when you just use it as an excuse to be a jerk that’s bad. And it’s why autistic people like me get a bad name. Because of people like that.
I think that it mostly has to do with more understanding of females on the spectrum, as well as Asperger’s. In the past, Asperger’s was a separate diagnosis from autism. In the past, little was know about females on the spectrum. I was diagnosed at 29, but have had very significant social and sensory issues my whole life, even as a baby. Doctors didn’t know how to look for autism in females back then unless a child was non verbal. I wasn’t even diagnosed with ADHD until I was 19. I think what we are seeing is a lot of people who have suffered addiction, abuse, and social rejection from their families due to misdiagnosis or lack of dx. Many “aspie” females were DX with bipolar, bpd, and other stigmatized disorders, that sometimes led to more trauma. Sure, there are some attention seekers and confused kids out their misdiagnosing themselves. But more importantly, there are a lot of people learning how and why their experience has been what it has been. This understanding is saving lives and changing things for future generations.
I agree so much!! In a way it reminds me of boys being over-diagnosed with adhd and girls and women tragically being under-diagnosed. At the same time I also struggle at times with the lumping of all types of autism into one category. We are still in rhe infancy of understanding the variations in autism I feel, how so many autistic people can have such varied experiences, even when considered to be at the same severity or impairment level. There are even types of inattentive (non hyperactive) adhd that I sometimes wonder about overlapping with aspergers or otherwise on the spectrum. I just feel like when people with one form of autism speak for people with another form we run into problems. And I would love to see things like nonverbal (or who used to be nonverbal during most of childhood) autistic people forming a community online (as I know typing is a possibility for some people) and talk about their specific experiences and needs I’m inattentive adhd, but autism runs in my family. I work with nonverbal autistic children for a living and I do relate to many of my clients symptoms, just in a very reduced way, especially when I was little or under a lot of stress. I sometimes wonder if I could be on the spectrum, or simply have a shadow of autism, basically at a non-clinical level, due to genes and things. At the same time, I can’t speak for what my clients really need and go through. And even though I’m not aspergers and I think all autistic people can give incredible and invaluable insight. I feel that the aspergers or “high functioning” community is still not enough to represent what nonverbal or similarly highly impaired or disabled autistic people specifically experience and need. I’d like to hear more from them directly
I wasnt diagnosed (w aspergers) until 39, after leaving a Harvard grad school program because I had problems with deadlines/timing. This was already a long shot second career. Anyway, ultimately, not enough resources or time so now, in defeat, I just do menial labor; but maintain heavy debt
I seriously respect you and your whole family for putting yourselves out there, especially in this time where autism is, unfortunately, commonly faked on sites like TikTok. It's so hard to explain that yes, autism is a spectrum, but even spectrums have boundaries and you can't go around labelling everyone as autistic just because they show some minor signs. One of my old friends after finding out I had an ASD diagnosis started copying my behavior, which kind of backfired because my behavior was masking my actual symptoms. It's really sad how a lot of teenagers and young adults feel the need to label themselves with something, not realizing that when they throw around diagnoses like ASD and ADHD and OCD and Tourette's, it actually hurts people.
@@ps.6023 see, these kind of comments really irritate me…. Masking autism?? If you had what autism use to be and not what is is today… you would not be able to mask it….
@@diaryofarealmom3264 uhh huh? it irratates you that i have to mask my symptoms especially my meltdowns and learned it due to fears of how i would be treated? Autism of previous times is the same as today. thanks for trying to denouce what I go through everyday with peole like you trying to tell me what experince and you never have.
The problem with the stereotypical "signs" of autism, is they they are all _descriptive_. They describe the outside. They are also created from a neurotypical perspective. Now, there is a connection between the autistic perception of reality and how it manifests itself in actions of autistic individuals, but it is not hard link. We are human after all, and our behaviours are not pre-programmed into us. So how to know if a person is autistic? As far as we know right now, neurodiverse brains light up differently on the scans. This seems like a good starting point for developing a set of objective criteria.
the video that promotes and justifies self-disgnosing autism: 500k views; this video that contains truly educational content: 16k views. People would hear what they want to hear.
I was very happy to heart you acknowledge that people can be shy or socially awkward without being autistic. I know someone who's painfully shy and I've heard people label her as autistic. She may be. Never been diagnosed. But to my eye she behaves normally except that she's only comfortable with people she knows well. I wish people would stop jumping on every diagnosis and labeling themselves or others with the condition of the week. It helps *no one* .
I don't think people are being officially overdiagnosed with how thorough the process is, but there are definitely a lot of people who self-diagnose themselves with lots of things with no good reason, or just don't take disorders seriously and just say they have them to be special
I think the process can be thorough, but I think it relies on the professional you see and the age you get diagnosed. My son was diagnosed after 2 hours w/ autism level 3. As an adult female the process included the DSM-5 along w/ several sessions w/ a psychologist. They also interviewed my mom to discuss my childhood because she knew me best at that age. I have mixed feelings about self diagnosis myself. In areas where someone is too poor or will be persecuted based on a diagnosis I understand, but to do it for attention is wrong.
@@beanj580 If you mean the very short preliminary test that many doctors ask parents/children to determine if further investigation is needed, then yes, that questionaire is about ten minutes. I've never heard of a diagnosis taking less than two hours - one hour of observation and interaction, and another hour of interviewing the parents and child.
It is not the “Label”, it is the “What’s next?” There was a study that investigated the fallibility of mental health diagnosis. Although the implementation of the DSM improved things, it was still found that only 61% of the time you will get the same diagnosis from one Psychologist/Psychiatrist to the next. (The study also looked at the root causes of the inconstancy, but I could go on for FAR too many paragraphs on the subject findings) Suffice it to say, diagnosis in the Mental Health community is extremely "opinion" based. Unlike the medical community where there are physical tests and evaluations, Mental Health is very much "Observation and Opinion." The "Thorough" evaluation and subsequent diagnosis has far too many potentially biased aspects to declare any diagnosis as 100% The parent is putting a very high degree of faith in what is presented to them and (unfortunately) far too often neither understand what is being said or take the time to challenge (verify) findings. There is no getting around it takes a very long time and a large amount of work before a fair "opinion" can even come close to being accurate. There is a reason why Autism is one of the more often misdiagnosed disorders. Self diagnosis can work (to a degree), but only after a very extensive effort that can take a very long time (years?). Even then, a self diagnosis will only narrow things down. You are not going to do much better than the "professionals." Finally, there is the "Trendy" issue. When ADHD was (re)defined, there was a massive flood of people who suddenly were diagnosed with ADHD. It was the "IN" thing; if you could not put your finger on a diagnosis, then it MUST be ADHD! ANY behavior issue was labeled "ADHD." Sadly, many people were misdiagnosed and suffered for it. Autism is going through the same process. So I tend to disagree with your assumption of "thoroughness" of the Mental Health communities diagnostics. Given the inherent ambiguities of the DSM and the fallibilities built into the diagnostic processes, I may go so far as to say, given a person who takes due diligence and effort to "self diagnose" (which take a lot of time and work), the self diagnosis can be as close to the mark as the "professionals." The final caveat being; if a person does the exhaustive effort to attain a self diagnosis and works with a professional with the results, the percentages are greater that both the diagnosis and subsequent path for assistance will be more on the mark.
Well you're wrong. My son has had 2 evaluations. First appointment our total time was about 35 minutes, diagnosed in the first 15. Our 2nd to confirm that diagnosis was less than an hour appointment, and once again confirmed. There are many more like me. With that being said though, dependent on case and doctor sometimes that's all they need.
Thank you for this. There's real autistic people who should be respected. I've been attacked by my ex boyfriend, he said he was autistic.(he's always on the internet, and he's woke as hell.) Honestly, I was fine with that. quite childish. But I at least wanted an apology and I wanted him to know that it's still not right. He said, "I'm autistic." And never apologized. I was always the person to apologise to him even when I was attacked. I broke up with him now. Autism shouldn't be a trend to gain attention or a shield to protect you from getting attacked.
Thank you for the insight. Your message has been clear from the beginning, me being a parent of an autistic child (5y.o. son) can tell you're honest, transparent and well-wishing people and your advice is helpful. Your videos are proffessional, interesting, and I'm very grateful for the advice you give, it proved right every time. Keep up the good work, God bless you Autism family.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying in this video, but I just can't denounce "self-diagnosing" as an inherently bad choice. I was professionally diagnosed with ASD at the age of 19, but I actually realized I was autistic years before that, at the age of 16. Before this realization not only did I feel like a failure and terribly inadequate, but I also had no clue why despite my high IQ did I seem completely unable to be even remotely functional, why did I feel like an alien all the time, why there was this constant conflict between me and the world itself in all its facets is settled. This lack of an explanation was the most dangerous aspect of it: the only thing I could come up with was that there was something terribly wrong with who I was as a person; in other words, it was my fault. But all that changed when I realized I was autistic at 16. Suddenly, I did know why. It all made sense, for the first time ever. And since I finally knew, I also knew it wasn't my fault: there wasn't anything wrong with who I was as a person, and there was everything wrong with how miserably I had been wronged by the medical and educational institutions for the last 16 years. I could start making peace with myself, treating myself fairly, completely rejecting the totally unreasonable neurotypical expectations that had been forced upon me, in a way neither me nor other people had ever treated me before. If starting to conceptualize oneself and one's traits through the framework and lenses of autism despite lacking a diagnosis (I didn't start coming out to people as autistic though until three years later when I finally was professionally diagnosed at the age of 19, completely terrified nobody would take me even remotely seriously until I had a professional diagnosis to back it up) is "self-diagnosis", then I totally did "self-diagnose" myself. And I have no regrets. If I had had to wait other three years (until finally being diagnosed) to embrace myself as autistic, I totally would had ended crushed by the self-deprecation, the alienation and the bewilderment and sense of being a failure produced by my inability to handle most tasks, even the simplest ones, and socially conform. I agree many people "self-diagnose" for the complete wrong reasons and/or in a very risky way. But these kinds of realizations can also say lives; it might have saved mine. I don't think people in these situations should wait for months or years until managing to receive a diagnosis to start validating all this to themselves and make sense of their lives for the first time ever.
I was diagnosed with autism and learning disabilities by two different doctors as a very young child. After the first doctor diagnosed me with autism my mom was like you in denial. Even my grandmother could see I had autism which caused my mom and grandma to fight for a while. My mom was in denial for months. But she told me after the second doctor diagnosed me with autism and learning disabilities she came around to accept that I was not like other boys. But she tried to raise me to where they didn't rub it in my face that I was different. They didn't treat me different. She said it was hard for me to learn stuff but I did. Even after growing up people think I am normal till I talk to them. Then they say they know that something is really wrong with me. But I don't care this is normal to me and it's the only normal I know. I am proud of who I am.
Autism in my opinion is likely being watered down because if someone has autism, they have a disability. The word disability is very in important, a disability is a hindrance in one's life and if the hindrance that someone has is so minor it is barely noticeable, they don't have autism. So, I that the statistics I have seen are 90% misdiagnosed. But I can have gone mad I don't know but I do know that I my so happy I wrote so much, hopefully it make sense.
Watching back on this video, I have one thing coming to my mind. Someone told me "I love having autism!!!" And I got upset because it's a disorder. And they started saying that autism isn't a disorder, it's a way of thinking, a personality trait, not something that impairs life. I quote their words "Everyone is a little autistic, it's not that autism is a disorder, it's that society won't accept people with autism" I stopped talking to them. It's just all these teenagers self diagnosing with autism because they cry when they're sad and jump when they're happy and claiming autism is awesome. Autism isn't awesome, it has good traits for sure, but it's ultimately a disorder.
It is a disorder in so much as society 'wants' it to be a disorder. While your friend seems to be a little overzealous, self-love by saying 'I love my autism' is pretty darn fantastic in a world where autism is treated as a curse; Where there are parents who refuse to give life-saving vaccines to their children for fear they might 'become' autistic. Autism is a disorder because it disrupts society; it makes people feel uncomfortable that not everyone thinks like they do. That people don't make eye contact, that they flap their hands when excited or stressed or are nonverbal and communicate through groans and other methods. ABA therapy emotionally, socially and sometimes even physically abuses children to get them to 'act' in a way that makes them 'seem' normal, rather than make accommodations, plans and improve the quality of life for the child. Autism isn't about having 'good traits'; Autism is just BEING who you are. Autism is having hyperfixations and being passionate about things you like; Autism is the anxiety you feel when it comes to social situations. Autism includes all the good and bad that comes with it and your friend saying 'I love having Autism' is not trying to downplays those who are dealing with the bad things but rather that they are accepting their differences and are proud of those differences despite years of being forced to hide them.
Until root causes (genetic, epigenetic, developmental, and situational) for Autism--and other neurodiversity conditions and their "symptoms"--are better defined and diagnosable without simply using subjective, external behavioral criteria, the mental health professionals are going to have continuing confusion. Until the mental health professionals figure out things better, families & individuals on or near "the spectrum" will continue to struggle with problems of even getting accurate diagnoses. Until mental health is taken as seriously as physical health by society as large, we'll all be stuck with the dualistic viewpoint that you either are diagnosable--or you "don't meet the DSM" criteria. I'm in the 99th percentile for height for males in the US. I can reach things easier on top shelves than on bottom cupboards. Some clothes are sometimes hard to find in my size, most car seats slightly uncomfortable to fit in, etc. But most Big & Tall selections don't work for me, I can't dunk a basketball, and I doubt that I'm the tallest person anyone has ever met. I wasn't even the tallest in any class year I was in. Am I "tall?" Depends on your criteria. Can you "see" into everyone's brain to tell if the "have" "Autism" like you can measure height? Not yet.
And you may be right. Only problem I see is people who self diagnose sound less credible to others because so many people claim to have something or be something without official checks and criteria. It’s also possible that institutions won’t respect a self diagnosis if special benefits are requested.
@@AutismFamilyChannel Self Diagnosis isn't for anyone but yourself and possibly your friends and family. I've been Disabled my whole life but i only found out I was officially neurodivergent 3 years ago at 30. Before that I did self diagnose at 25 but at 25 I couldn't afford to pay to get assessed or the affordable option honestly wasn't available. We are in a mental health crisis there aren't enough mental health workers to go around. Being a struggling young person with autism and adhd it was overwhelming to navigate the system while also trying to worry about keeping a roof over my head. very rarely do you find someone who self diagnoses themselves for attention. Did i sound less credible? i felt so, because I was worried someone was going to call me an attention seeker. I wasn't worried about sounding credible for any other reason. I have epilepsy had it my whole life too, if someone self diagnoses with epilepsy that literally doesn't effect me in any way, so why do I care if 1 or 20 people self diagnose. If the worry is that autism itself will be less credible that's silly because the only people that matter know it's a credible, and very real thing. Of course some institutions need an official diagnosis, especially for any special benefits that's why I find it funny that there is so much worry about self diagnosis. You can't get resources without proof of diagnosis, i have navigated the health and accommodations systems a bit both for me and as a job and that's why it's important not to gatekeep the social acceptance aspect of support. If people who can't get an official diagnosis can't get structured help and resources the least that we as a community can do is make them feel less alone, not guilty and as if their imposter syndrome is real (which seems to happen to a lot people who were diagnosed in adulthood.
I think that more people are doing research and connecting the dots, as well as diagnostic criteria changing, as well as doctors being less black and white when it comes to diagnosis autism (especially in people who are born female) so it may seem like person after person is getting diagnosed but I don’t think it’s many of the attention seekers but rather a combination of specialist opening up and becoming less black and white and people putting in the research. I would also like to mention that a diagnosis is a privilege, and not everyone can get a professional diagnosis, which is where most of the self diagnosis comes in.
Hi there. I'm glad you made a video about this topic. I've suspected that I have autism for about 4 years now and the curiosity "peaked" I guess when I was in high school. I struggled with eye contact, making friends, knowing when to leave a conversation, I hated the commons area because of noise sensitivity and didn't know how to carry small talk with others. I still struggle with these issues now but, because of this "mass label seeking" behavior happening I'm kind of afraid to see a professional. My anxiety says "what if I'm doing the same thing as them?" and I don't want to take away the significance of an autism diagnosis. if that makes sense. My parents used to yell at me to stop talking with a flat tone, to stop being "so sensitive" in response to sarcasm, to look at them when I talked to them, and to stop covering my ears and stop crying at loud noises. Out of fear, I mostly did what they said and artificially changed my behaviors so that they wouldn't get mad at me. For social interactions I cycle through a mental "script" to figure out what I need to say. The scripting was more prevalent up until high school and it has gotten easier in the last 2 years. I assume this is "masking." My parents have tons of videos from my childhood. This is where I get confused. I talked a *ton* as a 3 year old. But I always used a flat tone of voice, used idiosyncratic speech and made up words to describe what I wanted to say. For example, I said "I hunna jump" instead of "I'm going to jump." The video of you talking to Alistair and him not entirely answering the question or not recognizing what you were saying is also how I'd talk at times. I vocally stimmed, physically stimmed with my blankie (I still stim with it and I'm in college now haha) and spun in circles to music. I lined up my toys in a certain way and imagined scenes with them in my head when they were lined up. The "talking a lot" part confuses me the most though because I always thought that speech regression was a defining trait of autism. Also, talking a lot implies that I was very interactive with my family and not self-absorbed. Are these just autism stereotypes that I'm thinking of? Diagnosis or not, I'm learning to love myself and I'm also learning friendship skills from my boyfriend. Easier said than done of course haha. Anyways, thank you for reading this, if you did. I appreciate the content you create about autism and I hope your kiddos are doing well.
You can go to a professional and get tested, AND share your concerns that you aren't sure if you're just overthinking it. Hyperlexia can be a presentation of autism.
As an officially diagnosed “never seen a case more obvious that wasn’t in a 5 year old boy” Autistic person, that sounds extremely similar to my own experience. I’d encourage you to seek out an official diagnosis for accommodation/ legal reasons but if that is not financially etc. feasible for you, what you describe is good enough to satisfy any reasonable doubts re: your diagnosis and I think you have the right to self-ID that way. :)
This was a really refreshing take on the discussion because it always seems to me that people completely shut down the conversation and use the same talking points ("It's not being overdiagnosed, it's just being fully recognized now!!"). While I think it's true autism is more than its stereotypes, there's a lot of nuance to unpack--for instance CPTSD has a lot of overlap with autism traits, and I think when it comes to trauma experts are much further behind in being able to successfully detect and treat it--it's not uncommon at all that people who experienced chronic trauma get misdiagnosed, because experts want to reduce who you are to a label (for insurance purposes and having a general idea what medication they can prescribe or sometimes, push on you because they don't have time for holistic care). Then it's also true that the placebo/nocebo effect exist, as well as social contagions (which are on the rise), and the effect of different cultures on the psyche. When people shut down the conversation, to me it implies there are no exceptions, no other explanations, and that experts never make mistakes--none of which is true. It happens. They're human after all. It may not even happen a lot, that doesn't mean it should be dismissed entirely or the discussion is over. It's a complex issue, and there's so much to consider. I think people get defensive because they worry if there's nuance, the validity of what they think is put into question. But in their defence of their position, they end up invalidating other people's perspectives and questions, instead of using it as an opportunity to start a conversation.
I agree so much with this video. I went my whole childhood without being diagnosed because I’m younger than my peers. My parents believed my social awkwardness, meltdowns and other things were the result of my maturity. I was diagnosed at 18, and suddenly everything made sense. But the thing is, I notice nowadays everyone is so eager to self diagnose or play up symptoms. I’ve seen people say they’re scared that they don’t have autism. I’m lucky that I don’t have super debilitating autism, and that’s why it went years before anyone noticed. I’m glad you all are noticing this pattern too, because as someone with autism, it’s getting quite frustrating to see what I and so many others deal with made into some sort of quirky pop culture trend.
One of my theories on one of the reasons why autism has become a quirky pop culture trend, is because there's been videos making autism seem glamorous, like Teal Swan's autism video, or "Asperger's, Autism, ADD, ADHD, or the indigo revolution", which makes having autism or similar diagnosis seem cool and attractive.
Hi family! Thanks for the nice video! I have the diagnose of autism for two years now. I'm diagnosed at the Leo Kannerhuis here in the Netherlands. ( Huis is a Dutch word and it means home) . I have OCD, sensory processing disorder and meltdown's. There is a possebility that my father had autism also. And I think more " yes, he had" and "no, he hasn't autism ". My father is passed away. I follow your channel for many years and learn a lot about autism. Thank you for sharing your life and keep going with what you do. A big hug from the Netherlands! 🇳🇱😃❤🇺🇲
I think it's OK to celebrate autism at an identity level it provides enrichment & compensation for time suffering for its various symptoms. Also, those families who support individuals out of necessity need community support too. My parents were busy working, being poor, so I was left in the care of my siblings 2 to 4 years my senior when we were in elementary grades. At 72, my journey was borderline tragic, & discovering my autism came as a blessing in June 2023. After & during the covid-19 lockdowns my symptoms resurfaced after a lifetime of masking & destructive meltdowns and substance abuse. With the help of internet, I was able to inquire about my depression & anxiety which led to my disbelief & confrontation with the information. I scored high on online autism tests, which I took 1) for my adult autism, & 2) for my childhood autism. 1950s was not the best time to be an autistic child as it was regarded as schizophrenia. No wonder my parents hid my wrongness.
People forget that SO many disorders can manifest traits of autism. ADD, PTSD, personality disorders (especially schizotypal), anxiety disorders, OCD, SPD, and even just people who may have grown up sheltered/isolated. None of these are bad, but none of them are autism either. The traits of autism vary under the spectrum, but they're not exclusive either. Autistic brains manifest traits. Certain traits don't make autism.
Do you think you could do a video on autism and trauma? I don’t think there’s a lot being talked about when it comes to ASD and trauma. I was diagnosed with autism by my school when I was 10, and then I was diagnosed again professionally when I was 19. And then I was diagnosed with complex PTSD a couple years later. I wasn’t traumatized by my autism. I won’t go into detail about my trauma, but people who are on the autism spectrum are more vulnerable to trauma.
Honestly I wish we knew more about trauma and autism so we will have to look into that. Fortunately our boys haven't had to face anything so life changing as that. All the best.
@@AutismFamilyChannel I’m extremely happy for you guys. Your boys are so awesome. I’m happy you guys haven’t had to face anything traumatic. People who are special needs, whether it be mental or physical disabilities are more susceptible to traumatic events. Especially bullying, abuse or neglect.
@@AutismFamilyChannel "Fortunately our boys haven't had to face anything so life changing as that. " You don't know that. This is not how trauma works, especially in the autistic experience.
If you are up for reading some academic papers, Francesca Happe is one of the leading researchers in this area. A lot of her work is available online for free. And then of course there is the established link between ABA and trauma.
@@myepictbr6968 a lot of special needs people, even people with physical challenges are more susceptible to trauma, especially abuse. I have a physical handicap, and I had people want to pretend they had my handicap too.
It's a real thing. You might be interested in a meta-analysis study published in JAMA Psychiatry about the shrinking differences between people diagnosed with autism vs. control populations. The researchers assessed seven areas, and in all of them, the difference between people with autism diagnoses and people without them had decreased in the last 50 years. In five of the seven, the difference between populations had decreased 45-80%. This is discouraging, because it makes it harder to do meaningful research and make new discoveries about autism as a disorder. The co-author of the study commented on it: "This means that, across all disciplines, the people with or without autism who are being included in studies are increasingly similar. If this trend holds, the objective difference between people with autism and the general population will disappear in less than 10 years. The definition of autism may get too blurry to be meaningful-trivializing the condition-because we are increasingly applying the diagnosis to people whose differences from the general population are less pronounced." A lot of people want a label for their neurology and one of the only ways to do that is to compare your experiences to a known medical condition. Sometimes, especially in online circles, it seems like people confuse common human neurological traits for signs of autism. Maybe we are just realizing that being 'neurotypical' is not typical? I don't want to disrespect anyone or their identity. It does kind of rub me the wrong way when the conversation seems to be more and more centered around people with milder symptoms. It's a wonderful thing that previously undiagnosed people with autism are getting the help that they need but, amidst the changing demographics, I wish there was more advocacy for the ones who are more severely affected.
By legal definition, I am Autistic, as i have carried out a $600 fully comprehensive assessment which came out with a borderline indication. 2 years later i'm regretting having paid those freaks. Not to mention, this label is very serious, and having it on you can bring some disadvantages if inappropriate. 18 was the age i became very socially withdrawn, due to severe depression (only recently acknowledged, at 21), i was put on heavy medications without a formal diagnosis of anything. This led to a lot of frustration and distrust for my healthcare team. So then my therapist recommended an ADOS test to rule out autism as i was UNDERSTANDABLY in need of a coherent diagnosis. So i took the test at 19 and just waited. I ended up going through therapies which were really pointless to me. This really bothers me as people especially adults are now seeking out these screenings, which imho are extremely biased towards positive testing, this is meant to keep the businesses financially stable by implying that they have found your issue "now pay up". This damaged my mental health further, and i truly hate what i've become. And i officially lost all trust i had in these specialists.
$600 that's daylight robbery. Another thing I've noticed is people jumping on the bandwagon and making money out of autism. Giving talks and charging hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Tony Atwood is one of the worst in what he charges. And these self diagnosed ones shoving it down everyone else's throat how great autism is, no it's not!
There is one thing I don't like about having autism. Its when people saying I don't have autism or I don't look autistic. Its a spectrum. Some people you can tell if their autistic and other people like me, people don't really know in till they get to know me and are around me a lot
Everything is a spectrum, even covid. Some people have no symptoms and others will need a ventilator to breathe and others will die of pneumonia and boiling fever. People don't need to be aware of all ranges of symptoms for all neurogical/mental disorders, even people who study it and should know it by heart will misdiagnose or do not diagnose. Doctors can't even even give a proper diagnosis of a medical condition when the have diagnosis tools such as lab and imaging tests now imagine only having a book. People stay years without treatment to autoimmune diseases such as M Sclerosis because their symptoms "don't look as MS"
Some people don't seek a professional diagnosis because it is difficult to get. When I was getting diagnosed there were places that refused to see me because I'm not a toddler. I was lucky to finally get it at sixteen after a year of waiting. I think however that for a diagnosis, whether it is self or professional, the biggest criteria should be if it impacts your life. I think it is underdiagnosed in a lot of kids, especially girls due to the bias.
That's a great point - the more severely a disorder or issue impacts your life the more likely someone is to seek treatment or assistance. There are definitely people on the spectrum who are less impacted socially yet still have real discernable issues that could be treated. If you think you or someone you love fits the criteria, get help.
This is a subject I am VERY passionate about!. Thanks to social media, I very much agree the label of diagnosis of Autism is getting not only diluted, but highly corrupted. It has gotten so bad that I think the only solution is to retire the term Autism. IMPORTANT PREFACE: I very much like this channel (and a few others). Simply put; reality is shown, no spins or unsupported "opinions" are preached as "answers", there is always the footnote to seek professional advice. More importantly, there is a presentation of things that have worked, things that have not, and sometimes solicitation for feedback on thing that may help the family. This is a true sharing environment who's mantra is sharing, caring, and helping. Any channel, blog, or site with such content I fully embrace. MY COMENTARY: Sadly, a huge portion of people with a diagnosis for some reason feel, just because they "have something" they are an EXPERT. That's nice, for those people, if they ever need surgery, I hope it is performed not by a Doctor, but by only a person who has the same medical emergency! Obviously that is very stupid and that is why the massive amount of Autistic people saturating the internet with their "EXPERT" (unqualified opinions) are doing a large amount of damage. There is a person in the U.K. that declares he "has Autism, ADHD, OCD, and Dyslexia" and runs a channel called "A......W...." (or now called TAW) For several years he has put out videos of "5 things YOU MUST KNOW......." content and other sensationalized titles, all insisting knowing these things you will know YOU are Autistic.......OR..... YOU CAN DIAGNOSIS someone else. He even made several videos in which he wanted his "followers" to use "These things to diagnosis others...." This person and this type of behavior is dangerous. Due to his financial success with his "Expert advice", others seek to follow in his footsteps. This activity has lead to a large amount of people to self declare they are Autistic. Even here in California, I have personally met two people that declared they have "Female Aspergers" based exclusively on that mans channel. SO the effects are real and the damage being done is real. My diagnosis would now be classified as ASD Level 1 (my diagnosis has evolved from 1972 to present as the DSM's have evolved) I try to champion those who are Level 3 and the families associated. WHY? Because there has been SO much false information, twists, and distortion's by Autistics, the public is starting to think the face of Autism is ONLY what is seen in "high functioning" (or Level 1) people. The self-serving egotistical people inflating their ego with their false or distorted information is sad and dangerous! I have met several families with members with more severe challenges that are disgusted and frustrated by those who try to make ALL Autistics appear to be "High Functioning". Lets get real, both the DSM-5 and the ICD (International Classification of Deceases) lay out the criteria for the diagnosis of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Yet, the vast majority of these "EXPERTS" seldom direct people to the actual documentation, but instead spin their own interpretations so much as to make much of it flat out lies or highly distorted. Few suggest you seek professional advice. The VAST MAGORITY of these "EXPERTS" will tell you they post and blog to "Help other people." It this were true, they would be sharing things they have experienced, things they have done that have made their life better, and things that did not work out. There would be open exchange where things that could make a life a litter better would be shared. Instead, the blogs and channels become a sill pit of people complaining how terrible their life is. So YES, Autism is being watered down by the very people who proclaim to be Autistic, and to great harm to those who honestly seek feedback and positive help. The "Face of Autism" has been hijacked by far too many who only seek a "Label" and "Sympathy." Hence, the term "Autism" should be retired and terms more descriptive attached to the varying degrees of challenges. And that is the key here. "We" are "Socially Challenged", yet most of our mix of challenges are unique to the individual. The "Spectrum" has been stretched so far as to distort what "needs" need to be addressed. As (some) of us know, Autistics and Neurotypicals can have similar challenges, but on the Autistic side, it is both intensity and context that separates us. So it is no wonder so many "Neurotypicals" buy into "A....W..." channels spins and say "Gee, I do that, therefor I must be Autistic!" AND YES, most of my comments are VERY long........As an Autistic, I have almost no "filters", my Executive Functions are shot, and short response are very difficult for me to put together!
@@gigischaumburg4289 It would not be polite to banter about Dan and Aspie World on someone else's channel. I will say this, across multiple videos Dan produces he repeatedly declares "5 things you must know that....." (sometimes it is little as 3). In these videos, he bullets just a few items that "will tell you that your are Autistic." I challenge anyone to take any of Dan's bulletized "diagnostic" videos and compare them to either the DSM-5 or the ICD (in Europe). Diagnosis is obviously far more involved and complex. Yet he never makes a disclaimer or recommendation for professional evaluation. When asked to cite or reference what he is basing his content on, no scientific or medical reference is provided. Dan even goes so far (on more than one occasion) to present "diagnostic criteria" to his followers "so you too can identify someone as being Autistic." REALLY? The only "Credentials" Dan cites are that he was diagnosed. (As I pressed before; Are you simply going to take the opinion of someone who has HAD CANCER for a diagnosis, or are you going to see a Specialist?) Having worked in the Biomedical field for many years, substantiation and peer reference/review is the cornerstone of credibility. Dan actually has a reputation in the Neuroscience community due to his wild distortions. He is considered "dangerous." I cite as example, Dan made a video declaring how Autism impacts older people. He of course would not cite any material or studies, yet there he was making grand declarations as "facts." I know a bit on the subject. I am a study subject in a 5 year study on how ASD/Autism impacts aging and how aging impacts Autism. (I am 70 y/o) The study is across several fields and several institutions. The study is only on its third year. So the answers are not there and still much is to be learned (there has been some surprises), yet Dan seems to be "expert" enough to declare he has the answers. Keeping this on topic, Autism is under attack by people like Dan who feel because they have a diagnosis, they know all there is. Dan only knows about Dan. Sadly, his comment sections are packed with people who quite literally watch one video and suddenly declare they are Autistic. This falls directly in the category of the question posed in this video. Far too many "False Experts' are distorting facts to the point the general public does not know what is real. Far too many are running around with an incorrect self-diagnosis. And that dilutes the credibility of those who truly are on the spectrum and truly want honest answers and advice. My comments may be long, but I refuse to turn them into bullets (like Dan) for people to just buy into without context. BTW, personal attacks never are productive to a conversation.
I have high functioning autism but I make noises at home and stim in private like I have classical autism. People in my dorm in college 16 years ago frequently asked me to stop 🛑 yelling and/or keep it down!
nowdays everyone who's not fit the mainstream narrative is labeled as "autistic". this guy elon musk the most rich person on earth and called himself autistic, give me a break
I completely agree with this video since whenever too many people self diagnose themselves with autism just because they're a little bit quirky, then it makes autism seem like purely just a label rather than an actual condition, and it can even cause harm to those whose lives are actually impacted by the condition, since I have autism, and it greatly impacts my ability to be an independent adult since I do get social security disability income, and it can be difficult to find a job that provides reasonable accommodations for employees with autism, and employers are even less likely to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with autism whether they are able to or not if autism is seen as purely just a label.
A lot of this makes me think of my daughter who was told by the Neuro Psychologist that she has traits of Autism, but in the end is not Autistic and I can agree with that in the end.
So true, I agree with you. I was misdiagnosed when I was younger. I had to mask my autism because I was told that i was not allowed to have it. I've had teachers that said I had dyslexia and I've said no. They said yes I do, I don't mix d and b. She said yeah you do. It's so frustrating when people don't believe you. But cool video guys. Appreciate your content
@@PraveenSrJ01the worst that I showed the symptoms and they refused to accept that I had it. They told me that I wasn't allowed to stim because society won't accept me I was like 7 to 10 years old when they were doing this to me through my school years. It's all because of that school therapist couldn't figure it out and just wrote what ever he thought I had. When they told my older siblings, they told him that I don't do any of those symptoms. I even had 7 teacher tell that therapist that he diagnosed was wrong but he was lazy and was like I already sent it, it can't be changed.
Unfortunately in my experience society is generally not very accommodating of difference (even though there are individuals who are accommodating). The system seems to be that diagnosis or obtaining a label is the only route to interventions, accommodations and support (although again in my experience you still have to fight for it even after diagnosis). So whilst diagnosis is the correct route to obtaining medical interventions, (particularly if there are potential side effects or a risk of harm), I have to ask, do we really need a diagnosis for all the social accommodations? I’m not sure.
It has been my personal experience, public "acceptance" can be heavily influenced by how they are exposed to an Autistic person or situation. True, a Neurotypical observing a meltdown will have a hard time "getting it." However, I always take the time (and encourage others) to take every opportunity to make an "interaction" a learning experience. I have found, when possible, by explaining how (we) Autistics process the World a bit differently, and we have just as many common traits as different, the seeds of patience and understanding are planted. I may not change a mind right away, but giving a bit of helpful information goes a long way. I cite a personal experience in which a person at work went on a "verbal attack" and (amongst other thing) kept calling Autism a "Sickness" and "Disease." Unknown personally to me at the time, a group of over 100 people came forward in my defense and spoke many positive things about Autism and Autism Acceptance. Even I did not know there were so many that are now beginning to understand Autism and welcome us. I was obviously deeply moved, especially because I keep my Autism private (I choose to be measured on my actions and interactions rather than labels). So do not lose faith in the ability for people to learn and be welcoming. There will ALWAYS be those that will attack and never accept, but isn't that true for so many things?
I focus heavily on reading research on Autism in the Neurosciences. I have a strong opinion as to the ability of Psychologists and Psychiatrists to effectively, consistently, and accurately diagnose Autism. Generally speaking; the variety of traits that signal ASD must be observable and verified. I know for myself, some traits did not present themselves (or were triggered) as I was not in an environment that presented challenges to those traits. Several of these things most definitely became an issue in different environments. This is not so much a "masking" as environmental. Likewise, I have traits and challenges that, if I am careful to avoid triggers, do not present. These are examples where a clinician can either not observe or misread behaviors and traits that can lead to a misdiagnosis. I present this information because, given the nature of Autism, I have always believed you do not treat "Autism", you treat a person for their specific challenges. This "treat the symptom" approach would afford a more effect improvement for daily life. So I am in a sense, answering your question; no, there should be services for people's specific challenges and things that have a negative impact on life, no matter what the overall diagnosis. There are many things (traits) that are common to Autism and mental health issues (such as ADHD and Bipolar Disorder). HOWEVER: One of the biggest quandaries' and debates in the Mental Health community when it comes to Autism; If you address enough challenges a (diagnosable) Autistic faces, and they no longer show signs if the addressed trait........are they still classified as Autistic? Put another way; if I help a (diagnosed) Autistic deal with some of their challenges, if they went to a different clinician, they could very easily fail to be (correctly) diagnosed as on the spectrum. THIS is a very big issue! Parents of a child diagnosed as Autistic could potentially loose services if enough of their challenges or traits are addressed as to no longer present. Move to a different city, you loose the "Autism" diagnosis, you loose the services. It is indeed a "Catch 22." You want to help a person to have a better life. You provide help to help them compensate or adapt, but then they could loose their diagnosis. This is why I concentrate on Neuroscience. We Autistics are literally "wired" differently. You can change behavior, but you cannot "rewire" the brain. Our physical uniqueness should be as much a part of the diagnosis as the behavioral. Unfortunately, science is not at a point where physical (neurological) identifiers are consistently reliable. Sadly, the popular ABA Therapy is more of a business than a service. The lack of regulation leaves the door open to a huge variation in philosophies and approach and far too many are interested in making challenges or issues "invisible." It is on thing when you self-mask, it is another when you are forced to mask. I digress. As usual, I could go on to "ad nauseam", but it is indeed a challenging environment to convince Public Services that symptom based services are needed when they are after the big grant and funding money that high profile "labels" offer. Not surprisingly, this is an opportunity for us to help each other.
I work with high school students on the spectrum, and my son (who is in elementary) has high functioning Autism too. I noticed that the higher functioning group in all age groups are a little more aware of social cues and standards and "mask" when around neurotypicals. Autistic children (on all levels) are so capable, unique, and highly intelligent. I wish there were more schools tailored to our community. We might have many students who are on the spectrum and don't even know because they mask, they may struggle socially and academically when it shouldn't be the case. We need a space and learning styles for everyone, inclusion matters.
I have a student who acts and shows all the symptoms or behaviors you mentioned in another video. In this country that I am in now (but I can't say the name because probably UA-cam will ban me), parents don't accept that their children could have neurological problems, we teachers have to do everything to keep them safe and not hurt other children. Thank you for your videos, they are beneficial.
It is absolutely severely over-diagnosed. ADHD was the trend in 90’s and 2000’s. Now the new trend is autism. It’s kind of insulting to those who actually have it and their parents who have to be their life long caregivers… I have talked to many parents with children who truly have autism how mad they are about people saying their children who are completely self-sufficient have autism. Meanwhile, they will be their child’s lifelong caregiver. It seems these days everyone has some kind of mental illness diagnosis. Like it’s kool. 🙄
Perhaps part of the reason why autism has been severely over diagnosed, is because there have been videos out there that made having autism seem glamorous, like Teal Swan's autism video, or "Asperger's, Autism, ADD, ADHD, or the indigo revolution", which makes autism or similar diagnosis seem cool or attractive. That's my theory on one of the reasons why autism has been severely over diagnosed lately.
Getting diagnosis has been a really long struggle. When I was 2 years old is was completely non-verbal and struggled to understand and keep up with anything anyone was talking about or an activity they was doing. My momma had to fight for me to get diagnosed and now at 15 years old I finally took a vigorous three week long test and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and I now qualify for an IEP which has made it significantly easier for me to learn at school. When people self diagnose it seriously rubs me the wrong way because for me it isn't really fair that I had to go through so much to get diagnosed while they out here diagnosing themself. Then go "I struggle so much" when they haven't gone through what I had to go through. Especially when I was singled out of groups with other kids for being too stupid but when they put me with other special kids they said I wasnt stupid enough. In today 2021 it's so much easier to get diagnosed than when it was 2007 so I sometimes find it hard to understand for people who self diagnose to come up with excuses when they get questioned about it online
You need to stop judging and being so disrespectful of others. . A self diagnosis is completely valid. Some of us do not have the resources to get a professional assessment. Many of us struggle more because friends and family do not believe or validate our condition without or even with a professional diagnosis. You sound very nasty and bitter. Hope you get some therapy and stop bashing vulnerable people.
My son has ADHD and autism. Some kids are able to "mask" or deal with some of the symptoms of Autism but still have sensory issues, meltdowns, and social challenges.
My oldest son will be 3 years old in a few months. During his 18 month pediatrician visit, the Dr. walked in and noticed 2 things: 1. My son didn't acknowledge him (stranger) walking into the room 2. My son spent much of the visit opening/closing cabinet doors (it was a bare room with nothing else to do) He referred us to Pediatric ENT (OK), Speech Pathologist (OK) and Developmental Pediatrician (WHAT?!) My son had several ear infections so the ENT/Speech made since but the DP did not. For weeks/months I hyper fixated on every.single. thing. my son did all because his "overly cautious Dr. indicated a need to get him seen for Autism. I still find someone questioning it over the most subtle or "age appropriate" things such as being a picky eater (not liking fruits/veggies) The ENT discovered he was practically deaf in both ears which would explain the speech delay. We got him tubes and a year later, he has made significant progress BUT because this idea of potentially Autism has been brought up, until he sees a DP, I feel on edge. I don't think he is on the spectrum and if he is, it is level 1 where he is super high functional but it really has rubbed me the wrong way that at 18 months, medical providers are so quick with labels. There is a wait to see a DP of over a year and it makes sense when Dr. are referring 18 months for autism testing when its not closer to 4 years old when most Dr. will diagnosis it. Parents, please be your child's biggest and best advocate. Do not let Dr. mis/over diagnosis your child and put labels on them because they want to be "cautious" . IF need be, get a 2nd opinion.
Wow, thank you so much. You can't image how useful your videos are. I finally understand and accept my daughters weird behavior. It feels like it's written in your sons with dark black and in my daughter is very light gray. I always wanted to change some of my daughter's behavior, now I realized I should accept it. By the way, nobody will suspect autism in my daughter, it's just one repetitive movement she does when she is tired and bored, but I can see she is a kindred spirit with your boys. Admiration and support for parents. You really doing something very useful for a society.
Thank you for opening up the topic to discussion. There is certainly alot to discuss and we are very thankful that there are tools that Doctors can use for this diagnosis. Back in the 70's, there were very few options around and it could take years to get properly diagnosed, if at all. We agree with you, that folks, Parents and care givers should seek out professional tests and not online ones for a proper Diagnosis. Its the only way to start getting whatever therapies may be needed.
Ever since the moovie "Rainman" came out, the condition became over-publicized and over-diagnosed. Before that moovie, I think almost no one knew what autism even was. Today, if you are male and shy, they want to put you "on the spectrum."
Since autism was under the schizophrenia umbrella until 2013 and the movie "rainman" came out in 1988 that seems like a very unlikely and anecdotal assumption.
@@peacefullyme848 You need to learn how to spell "schizophrenia." Anyway, I'm talking about the general public and how aware society was about autism. It was mostly unheard of in popular culture until "Rainman." Before "Rainman," "schizophrenia" was the popular diagnosis for every "strange" person.
It was not for every strange illness though many were definitely placed under the umbrella. There are multiple other umbrellas that other unknown things were placed in the same way they do today. I appreciate the pointing out the mistake. My brain herniation has been terrible for my spelling.
@@au9parsec Frankly, they want as many people as possible "on the spectrum" because the Psych Industry is just another money-making industry. The more people classified and on "the spectrum," the more "services" and drugs they can sell.
I can’t believe that autism was 1 in 10,000 in the 70s and now it’s skyrocketed to about 1 in 40 (the CDC is wrong, no surprise there), yet the medical establishment in this country is always scratching their heads and has no answers. If this trend continues, everyone in the future will have autism. And there are some very important environmental factors that need to be looked at. We are unwell because our environment is unwell. If you look into the history of Monsanto, you will see that they were a chemical weapons manufacturer. We literally allowed a chemical weapons manufacturer to seize control of our food supply. And that’s just one of so many problems. The greed and corruption are plaguing this planet and we are unwell because our environment is unwell. We gotta get the chemicals out of our bodies and out of our kids.
I guess it all depends on who you’re asking. At the end of the day someone is diagnosed with an ailment that is going to affect them and everyone else for the rest of their lives. I’m saying that in a general manner not in a negative way.
Well a friend I met 10+ years ago online. Got autism (self D) at 30. And is full of hatred how everyone MUST KNOW they have it and act according to it-family, workers in restaurants,workers who prepare them popcorn or they have meltdown meaning literally kicking, screaming, pulling hair. But was totally normal years ago. And they would write long long long stories on IG. How everyone is ableist, how everyone is wrong, how wrong is to make difference between high functioning (they are 'highfunctionin' because claiming also high IQ - but have talk disorder). Its just so unnatural how one can become like that over night and hate on everyone. Writing same things all the time, at 30yo started walk around with toys, etc., claim they are HCP because of it (don't understand danger etc) but when don't get work of babysitting it is discrimination🤷♂️ so aknowledge you don't recognize it and then blame discrimination, racism, ableism (all the people are like that) and I told this story very mildly because it is so so so obvious its narcissism, when family member dies and you (of course infront the whole gathered family) have meltdown, trash the house, scream and literally make death of a family member about yourself...idk thats just horrible and again this person communicaten 100% normally for years and then started self diagnosing, sometimes have 7 diagnosis in bio, sometimes 4 and in posts claim to have many more. I am from Europe and here it doesn't really happen (for now).
I agree with some of the comments…we took the Asperger’s diagnosis away and people do not understand the new ASD dx. I feel like if I said my son has an Asperger’s diagnosis, they would say oh yeah that makes sense but since I say he has an Autism diagnosis I get a lot of push back and people telling me he’s not autistic since he is so high functioning. These people do not live with us and see his/our struggles. It it very hurtful to not feel validated and for my son just to be looked at as a bratty child.
Aspergers was removed from the DSM (used in North America) but not removed from the ICD (used pretty much everywhere else). So a diagnosis, it's definition and the traits depends on the book.
Asperger was a Nazi doctor who worked on eugenics. Not really the best person to name a diagnosis after, is it? Also, function labels aren't generally helpful to the autistic community because "high function" and you're "not autistic enough" to have a say, "low function" and you're flat out incapable. The autism spectrum isn't a scale of 1-10 where 1 is less autistic and 10 is more autistic, it's more like a spider graph of different autism traits and how much these traits affect the individual.
Well, that’s because Asperger’s was added later anyways. And there is a lot of controversy with it because it was thrown around so lightly. It’s crazy cuz I’ve talked to many parents with real autistic children and they are mad that so many claim to have autism or autistic children when they have no idea the hardships of real autism.
I was diagnosed when I was around two and they said I was selectively mute. My wife, not on the spectrum, but she does have generalized anxiety disorder and is possible she might be bipolar but we don't know.
In 2013, when I was 31, “Asperger’s Syndrome” and “PDD-NOS” got rolled into the “ASD” diagnosis with “autism”. Also, it became possible to have ADHD and autism diagnoses at the same time, which has become more common than not in those with an ASD diagnosis. This means that many adults who never would have qualified for an ASD diagnosis as children now do. Argue that the diagnosis is too broad now all you want; it seems parents of autistic people who also have an intellectual disability or are at least minimally-/non-verbal believe these should be requirements for a diagnosis of autism, but they are not. I myself am AuDHD-PI twice-exceptional. Plenty of people don’t believe twice-exceptionality (having a high IQ and one or more developmental disabilities like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. at the same time) is even possible, even though it’s estimated to affect about one kid in 200. If you prefer to call what adults are doing before they have an official diagnosis (which I am being assessed for next month; been diagnosed ADHD-PI for 20 years now) “self-identification” to distinguish it from what a psychologist does, that’s fine. But don’t judge whether strangers are autistic or not based on TikToks! 🤷♀️
I don't know if this might be helpful for someone but, about this subject, I can say that being diagnosed as an adult saved my life. I was always different, severely bullied, great student but only on certain classes. I didn't have friends and would turn all kids against me without me understanding why. When I was a child, I was always called "too adult" for my age, I was hyperverbal and would obsess with specific subjects and called a nerd. Despite having been hyperverbal, I am dyslexic and everyone always knew that. This was in the 2000's, my teacher wanted me to see a therapist because of many, many reasons, but my parents were too afraid of me going through that because I was doing ok enough in school and was highly intelligent. I went as far as writing a "will" at the age of 8, explaining in detail what toys I would give to whom if I d!ed because I was so scared. Regardless, I got diagnosed with OCD and anxiety as a teen. It exploded when I was 18. College demands a lot of effort and ability to adjust, you have to socialize with everyone and do so much work, spend a lot of time in public transportation and I was seriously losing my mind. I was so burned out I became nonverbal, I would just stay like a statue and my family saught a doctor, who at first thought I was just depressed. The depression didn't go away, I was seeing an actually awful doctor who sedated me throgh half of college and honestly nothing helped. Then, at the age of 25 and after going to a psych ward twice, I finally got the autism diagnostic, with ADHD too. Everything finaly made sense. For my whole life I wasn't able to hold a job (would have meltdowns or be fired for underperforming). I don't even have a driver's license. The best I ever did at a job was 9 months this far, and I'm so proud of it. Honestly, had I not had been diagnosed, I would've chosen to end my life, as It was becoming increasingly unbearable to live like that. Now, I'm only on ADHD and a few anxiety meds, only doing a ton of therapy and much more hopeful about seeking a job. I know I can do this now, as I know myself and what to avoid.
You should read 'Unmasking Autism' by Devon Price; She makes a point on how autistic children often grow up with CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) even if their childhood doesn't have the 'trademarks' of many abusive or traumatic histories. It is often the result of a society that indirectly through decades of social conditioning tell us that we are worthless unless we 'justify' ourselves to society. That our hyperfixations are 'disturbing' or 'weird' and that unless they can make you money from it you should stop being passionate about these things and focus on being 'normal' and accepted rather than happy and genuine. This pressure on us is less the physical and mental abuse of ABA 'therapy' gives but more a death by a thousand cuts type of abuse. This does not mean that those who say these things are intentionally abusive or want to harm you, but rather that we should be more willing to live in a society that accepts differences and helps accomadate those differences rather than force people into boxes and make them justify their existence.
I don't if there is an over diagnosis of autism and ADHD it's hard for me to say however for me I suppected it and choose to get tested at the age of 49. With the testing received I did get a autism and ADHD diagnosis. But am I totally convinced I have these? I still have many questions? I already had a diagnosis of anxiety and depression most of my life. Was I attention seeking getting these diagnosis? I don't know. Am I a narcissist? I don't know. I do believe social anxiety is a thing, simply because I had as a young girl. I had to overcome it though. I have been on a journey to learn about why some things I have gone through happened. I often ask myself are there other explanations to what I went through besides the new diagnosis I got. If there are I don't at this point know what that would be. Was I misdiagnosed I don't know as I just got a late diagnosis. I'm still trying to work all this out.
I commend you for sharing this video. The thing people have to realize is that when you say some people may be diagnosing themselves incorrectly it doesn't invalidate everyone who is actually autistic and vice versa. People can get it wrong for a myriad of reasons. When I was diagnosed I asked my psychologist if there were people in her office seeking an autism diagnosis that did not get it and she said yes. She said CPTSD as one example has a lot of crossover symptoms and can look similar to autism. So there are plenty of people out there who are not knowingly misdiagnosing themselves for attention. But then there are a rare few who ARE attention seeking. I understand that getting a diagnosis is a privilege and I'm not saying everyone who is self-diagnosed is wrong because even the professionals get it wrong! But people need to be aware that there are increased chances of receiving a correct diagnosis through a professional understands autisim... But most of all people need to understand that when we say some people get it wrong we are not invalidating everyone.
As a woman with diagnosed autism (was diagnosed at the age of 9), I think that doctors should be very careful in diagnosing people, especially children. We need to stop pathologizing regular behavior. Some people are naturally introverted and shy. That doesn’t make them autistic. Some people (especially kids) have to burn off energy. That doesn’t make them ADHD/ADD.
I finally found a video with a comment and all I want to say is taht you are doing a good job at keeping your sons safe and helping with their needs and they don’t know how lucky they are to have people like you and even the community as well helping you with them as some parts of the world like mine treat people with disabilities badly and since I have autism I got into a lot of fights and nobody was their to help me they saw me as a dangerous weapon a ticking time bomb and at any second I could destroy the place So bassicaly I’m glad soem bits of the world can look at people with autism and want to help them Also I’m sorry for not being able to type properly it wasn’t exactly my strong suit in life
Hello I am a mother of three autistic children as well one of my kids haven't been diagnosed I kind of just think he's delayed but he shows really common traits with his brother so it's kind of hard not to throw him in there but only time will tell but I want to give you guys a very important message I want to thank you for everything that you do because there are not enough people that are brave enough to put this type of content out there for people to see and you let us in your home and an invite us into your kid's life and I deeply appreciate that the people that are offended by this just want attention please don't be upset about it and I understand this video is to address certain things of that nature but those are people that are very attention-seeking and if you can't take this content to understand that these are people that are just trying to help other people that are lost about autism because it is a lot to process then you are truly an immature person and you really really need to get off these people's back as a person that is like to subscribe your channel I am absolutely supportive of you and your family and I wish nothing but your family the best you have an amazing family your boys are totally sweet
I am autistic and was diagnosed at 38. I had a brother who had severe mental disability, but as a family we never new the word Autism. We were just us, and we were a normal family to us. When I was diagnosed I was angry at my parents for letting me struggle through life, wondering why thing happened the way they did. But now I am kind of grateful because I managed to achieve and experience many great things, like having a career as a graphic designer, buying a home and getting married. I wonder if maybe I could not have achieved this if I was labeled autistic as a child. I learned coping strategies because I had no other choice if I wanted to succeed at life. I needed the diagnosis because my mental health was deteriorating, I didn’t know anything about autism until a doctor told me that what I described is because I am autistic. Things are very different now, knowing when I am masking and when I am being me has improved my mental and emotional health in so many ways.
A good read on this question is www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-reasons-autism-rates-are-up-in-the-u-s/. That's from 2017 and things have changed even more since then. Certainly how we think about and label autism has changed a lot over time. I think a lot of people still have not internalized that the term "autism" includes what used to be called "Asperger's". Combine that with women being wildly under-recognized (recent research suggests the gender ratio may even be 1:1). I recommend the SquarePeg podcast to hear testimonials from people discovering they are autistic in adulthood. No one is taking it lightly. It is usually based on a suspicion, followed by years of research, followed by learning the stories of other autistic people and seeing how it makes a whole lifetime make sense. It really wasn't until there were self-advocates on the internet that it was possible to find large numbers of other autistic people to learn from. That's the thing that has really changed the most. Either way, consider the impact of a self-diagnosis. This assumes someone managed to reach adulthood without it being obvious that they were autistic. In most places, a formal diagnosis gets you nothing in adulthood, or can even cause you harm (examples like www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/people-with-autism-intellectual-disabilities-fight-bias-in-transplants/2017/03/04/756ff5b8-feb2-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html). Is there a downside if some small percentage (let's say 1% which is a huge overestimate) of self-dx adults are wrong? This just means 1% of people basically attending online meetup support groups would not get a clinical diagnosis but in every other way identify with everyone else there, and everyone there identifies with them. Maybe at some point they figure it out or change their mind. The "downside" of someone being wrong is... more connection.
I tried really hard to hide my autism for 15 years going undiagnosed and I never fit in with the other people until I was properly diagnosed, but even after the diagnosis I only had some close friends. Hopefully I will accomplish some things that NTs accomplish in life such as marriage, children 👦, and a high paying career but if not it is okay ✅ since everyone is unique in their own way.
You aren’t alone I’m currently 15 right now and regret hiding my autism but just seeing this really autistic kid and the high school pupils helping them made me wish I never hid it as when I was in primary they trued their best to get rid of me nobody liked me I was an outcast and only 2-3 teachers tried and help me and to understand me but going through all of that made me want to hide it as much as I can and it really damaged me mentally
It's not just about criteria, its about the underlying neuropathology and neuroanatomy that support that criteria. I.e. having social anxiety has roots in various brain circuits. Repetitive behaviors can implicate different neural circuits in OCD than ASD. Self-diagnosing is pointless unless you're a neuroscientist.
I was like you,wanted to think no my little girl didn't have it,but since she been at her school,they are starting to help her. For which I am glad, hopefully they can help so in the future maybe she can do as much as possible.
Nobody 'has autism', autism is an abstract concept. The person is Autistic, it is not something that can be carried, treated or cured. It is not something you 'have', it is a neurological difference. Language matters. Positive Autistic identity matters.
This is interesting because there are a lot of people who think you shouldn’t say “autistic.” I wonder if the autism community will ever reach a consensus.
@@AutismFamilyChannel I guess a way to find out would be asking the person in question, if possible, what they prefer, and if they don't have a preference maybe you can use either or neither. You could probably say also things like "Jill has an autism diagnosis" or just "Evgeni needs support in this area and is really good at that area"...
For example the character of Gregory House, who would have been diagnosed with Autism today, he has a lot of of ASD signs. however like you said their are some people that are just introverted or his background too. Introverted doesn’t mean Autistic.
I'm a woman in my 20s and I was recently officially diagnosed , and in my opinion i was misdiagnosed.Professionals suddenly started pushing me to get evaluated, and I got put on waiting lists TWICE (first time i showed up and told them I did not consent and wanted to leave, so they just put me on another list). My diagnosis "papers" say i fulfill all of the criteria in the DSM-5, but don't motivate why on most of them, or refer to circumstatial "evidence" they think they've found. I am somehow a totally unique high functioning woman on the spectrum with NO EXPERIENCE of having trouble interpreting social cues or debilitating sensory problems. I just experience severe exhaustion and eye contact began to hurt/take a lot of energy in my teens.Nothing i said or my family reported could change their mind. I'm considering having my medical journal wiped clean at this point.
Question: did you not have trouble with social cues because you had a lot of explicitly learned knowledge about social conventions/ etiquette/ manners in your home culture and maybe some school experience analyzing characters in literature or just because your first instincts/ snap judgements/ intuitions regarding social situations were usually right and it wouldn’t even occur to you to do anything differently? Both autistic and allistic people can be socially adept and even downright extroverted, but the WAY we GOT good at handling social situations in the first place will be different. :)
unfortunately a lot of us females are just now being diagnosed as adults, so we feel the need to talk about it. i think self diagnosing is fine, as long as it leads someone to get an official diagnosis of either autism, or something else like bpd or adhd, as the two can look very similar. i do believe that it’s not okay to self diagnose and then do nothing about it as far as research and reaching out to doctors. those are the type of people who harm the autistic community. in my case, i’ve struggled with sensory issues, communication, verbalization, non-verbal episodes, sensory meltdowns, shutdowns, eye contact, executive dysfunction, picky eating, etc for my whole life. it just went unnoticed because, for females, pediatricians find these symptoms “attention seeking.” it got to a point where i would cry and hit myself (meltdowns) every other day after school until i GRADUATED high school. so many signs missed, ignored, and abandoned. my parents didn’t care, and neither did my pediatrician. i got into therapy around 13, and it was clear to my therapist that i was struggling with adhd (inattentive) and autism. i got my official diagnosis the day of my 18th birthday. i had to hop through hoops and hurdles to get it, and it wasn’t easy. i wasn’t allowed to have an IEP until senior year of high school because i didn’t get my diagnosis until then. it was wildly expensive, and honestly quite disheartening. i went through the five stages of grief from the years of 13-18 when my feelings were finally validated. of course, i didn’t get my diagnosis till 18, but the fact that a therapist saw and validated my struggle was a good feeling. i wasn’t faking it, and i definitely was not doing it for attention. i. was. struggling. bad. she was the only one who understood. i didn’t and couldn’t tell anyone i was autistic (except for my parents of course) until about 6 months after i turned 18. i didn’t think i was allowed to at 13, because it wasn’t *official*, even though i had already been tested and it was confirmed by a licensed therapist. i hated the fact that i couldn’t get help as a child. i went through so much trauma, that i am just now healing. not having your support needs met when you’re in sensory overload or dealing with a meltdown is traumatic. many times, my parents would hold and restrain me to keep me from hitting myself, and they’d threaten to call the cops or take me to a mental institute. if only they understood what was actually going on. they thought i would give them the “silent treatment,” but in reality my brain was full of static and i was unable to form sentences. i wish people took biological females seriously as kids when the talk to you. i could go on and on about things that happened or conversations i had as an 8 year old with my pediatrician, but i digress. thank you for this video. i encourage anyone who reads this to do their own extensive research and always listen to your children.
" i do believe that it’s not okay to self diagnose and then do nothing about it as far as research and reaching out to doctors. those are the type of people who harm the autistic community." Would you please send me the $3000 I need to get a diagnosis from a genuine specialist? Since I can't hold down a job because of my executive brain disfunction?
This video is kinda useless, because you didn't specify whether you are talking about diagnosing children or diagnosing adults, because they are not the same thing. It makes me angry that you and people in the comments are saying that a self-diagnosis is useless and everyone is jumping on the autism bandwagon. Maybe that's the case for children being diagnosed? Idk nor do I care. Is there some club that we have to join to say we are "special"? I don't know anyone in their right mind who would want to claim autism or anything else that makes life difficult to the point you wished you hadn't been born! And the looks people give you if you muster up the courage to tell someone... yeah, it's definitely being over diagnosed at $3000 a test. LOL. That was extreme sarcasm... I learnt it from my dysfunctional family. It's much easier to diagnose a child on the spectrum because they have their parents insurance and parental help. ADULTS, people like me who grew up thinking there was and is something wrong with them, since everyone ridicules and criticizes them their entire lives... we hate attention and want to be left alone, but can't because we need help with certain things... want to withdraw even more when we see these kind of pondering and accusations. It's the same old, "blame the victim" attitude that's rampant in mental health care. Sick of it.
Sorry for you real struggles. We didn't mean to insinuate anything of the sort, that people who are undiagnosed do not have autism. In fact, many go undiagnosed that do need a lot of help. Our main concern is the trend of people aping autism, Tourettes, ADHD, etc. for attention. I know it seems odd, but there's a big culture right now of laying claim to certain disorders for attention. The thinking is any attention is attention, so people sometimes either bend the truth or outright lie to get attention. I think it's rare, but it does happen. Thanks for your comments and again, we do not mean to belittle anyone's real struggles. Take care.
I got diagnosed with autism when I was 12 shows a lot that people didn’t think I had anything for 12 years I actually got diagnosed for stress but they found out I had stress and and autism
I've really liked your channels content. It's interesting to see other forms of autism e.g lots of hand stimming. As someone with autism, I do a few hand stims like what I call the Wallace fist shake. If you have watched a Wallace and gromit movie or other media. Wallace sometimes shakes his fist near his chest when happy. My autism is more emotion and some instances of slower brain processing. I was very lucky to get a diagnosis when I was two. I was born in 2004 and my parents learned about it very quickly. To this day they are very supportive.
I think autism is being watered down b/c autism high functioning and Asperger’s are very different along with low or moderate functioning autism some are more challenged then others that bothers me just a bit it’s becoming a one solution fits all. I think the critique should be broken down into high functioning low functioning or moderate functioning so that the treatment can be specific when it comes to getting specific therapies.
I like chewing on things and stimming it is calming so ye very calming sorry if I'm making this sound weird because I really cant talk rn real well but it's really calming for me because I have adhd and anxiety
I wish you could make this video with subtitles in Spanish to share it with the Hispanic community, A lot of misinformation coming from self-diagnosed autistics.
@@AutismFamilyChannel ♥♥♥ Maybe one day you can write the subtitles yourself :). Connor is just like my daughter, and Ian is like my son. I have learnt so much with your videos. You have beautiful children. All the best!!
THIS. the other is that there is few if any resoruces for adults who are Autistic. People often think it is a childhood disorder that you grow out of. not knowing that as one grows older the better then mask their symptoms.
I was professionally diagnosed with autism at age 16. My diagnosis at the time was referred to as Asperger syndrome. I have since heard that Diagnosis is not being used anymore and it is just autism or ASD. I heard of levels but I think that not being use either. I just simply say now that I have a form of autism. I did not know what scale that used to diagnose me but I do know that it fits. I myself tried to mask at school because not many people in my class know that I have autism only my two friends and one other student that told know that I have it in my class. I'm in college in the semester is almost over that I'm NOT going to even mention it.
Aspergers was absorbed into the ASD spectrum instead of being its own thing in 2013, although I think many people still use the term to define high functioning autism. I feel like it is much more socially acceptable to reveal that you have autism nowadays. :) But of course as with any personal issue medical or otherwise it can be hard to know when to reveal an intimate matter to classmates and friends. Use your discretion.
Thanks for the video. I m honestly struggling with this on my child. He is turning 3. Non verbal. Understands alot though. Doesn't have any problems on crowds. Doesn't have any sensory issues. He is definitely on his own little world sometimes. Diagnosis seems far away because professionals are swamped. Just kind of isolated honestly
The problem with the other video is indeed that the things you mention in this video were missing, so you ended up giving the impression that autism only takes the shape of level 2 or level 3 only. Since level 1 autists are often high-masking and therefore can hold eye contact even if uncomfortable and can generally hide their autistic symptoms, there's a whole group of autists who go under-diagnosed and are often late-diagnosed, resulting in comorbid diagnoses like depression, anxiety, burnout. I'd be sad to think that including more level 1s or just high-masking autists of any level (often women) would be 'watering down autism'. I think we've only just begun to understand what autism is, and that revolution is currently on-going. So indeed, we gotta watch out for harmful stereotypes that prevent many people from finding out why they struggle and thus from gaining sufficient self-understanding and help.
I've been waiting for 3 years to get an autism diagnoses ☹ I live in the UK and it takes a long time to get a diagnoses, my step dad has been waiting 4 years
My parents kept saying I had it because I got into fights. Mother read some tid bits about autistic rage and the next thing I know they're taking me to be diagnosed. All of the psychologists said I didn't have it. They still insisted I had it. It's just a joke. I'm not even aware of my surroundings most of the time, and I never had communication issues or anything. I kind of hate them.
I'm not sure if people are being over diagnosed or not. I agree with another comment I saw there is more understanding for diagnosing females. But also Autism is still a fairly new term in our history and the understanding has become wider and the spectrum as a whole is alot broader now as well. I do think this is something that must be diagnosed by professionals and don't believe in self diagnosis being valid.
In my experience in three different schools, Autism and ADHD are vastly underdiagnosed. Like you, my wife and I were both in denial for months after our daughter entered kindergarten. Once I realized these LD teachers had no idea what they were doing, my denial turned to ... well... rage. It was embarrassing. My wife had to take over. That was six years ago. I've been in another/MMS comment section, and there are so many people saying I'm autistic, and it's no big deal. We just think differently. That made me think they may have been misdiagnosed. But it's more likely they just don't like being judged. Then there are these trigger words you aren't allowed to say. I've lost track of how many. Any disorder or syndrome diagnosed by a doctor is a disease. It doesn't matter what you want to name it. They are the same thing. That said: My daughter is twelve. And I've never said the word autism in front of her. She asked me what it was once years ago, and I quickly changed the subject. But for god's sake, what's going on here? Watered down is an understatement. Einstein was not autistic. We need to find the cause before we're all on the spectrum, literally. It's obviously some drug or pesticide or combination thereof. I'm not going to say another trigger word, but we can find better treatments than are currently commonplace. Have you heard of BBBE? Do you know anyone who's tried it? Thank you for this video, even if it was a little clickbaity.
As a career educator, I've noticed this over the last 20 years. Autism has gone from a severe and debilitating disorder to anyone who's a little quirky and has an intellectual ability. I also think, generally, it says something sinister about our larger culture that having an intellectual ability is popularly considered a disorder.
Ahhh good point, never saw it that way, what you said about intellectual ability.
Yeh, I was diagnosed as an adult but to be honest I'm handing in my Autism card 1) because I don't meet the level of impact on my day-to-day life 2) because I'm fed up with the political crap that comes with it - neurodiversity, language police, not being allowed to have a dissenting narrative without people infighting, 3) Preferring alternative none medicalised descriptors 4) because most of what has actually helped me move forward with my life has not come from the Autism community or autism-specific interventions, 5) because there no way to evidence that I have significant neurological difference beyond normal variation.
I agree with you 100%. There are so many videos designed to "diagnose" adults with autism. Basically, everyone who's a little bit quirky is actually autistic! 🤪 Which is completely ridiculous, and takes the focus away from individuals whose lives are actually impacted by the condition. I do not believe I have autism just because I play songs in my head and dislike sudden changes in my schedule. But by their standards, everyone who's not a literal cyborg has autism.
I completely agree, since when too many people self diagnose themselves with autism just because they're a little bit quirky, it makes autism seem like purely just a label rather than an actual condition, which can cause harm for those whose lives are actually impacted by the condition. I have autism, and it greatly impacts my ability to be an independent adult, since I need social security disability income, and reasonable accommodations at a job, and it's hard to find a job that is accommodating towards employees with autism, and employers are even less likely to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with autism if autism is viewed as just a label.
I think autism is created
My little brother also named Ian was diagnosed with severe autism when he was 5yrs old. He had all of the classic signs of Autism. He would have really bad meltdowns, stim a lot, and he is nonverbal. I was just recently diagnosed with Autism as well. I think that my brother having more symptoms than I did made our parents look at his issues more than mine. I am not saying that they did this on purpose but when Ian was put into an adult treatment center and I started to go to therapy we as a family started to notice my symptoms though less severe were still prevalent. I do think that it is a mixture of both people being over diagnosed and under diagnosed. My family has gone through both. When I was diagnosed my parents thought it was a good idea to get my other siblings tested as well. They were diagnosed with high functioning Autism by my family and friends. They all thought that if my brother and I had Autism than my other siblings would have it too. When they, on their own, went to get formally diagnosed the professionals said that they do not have Autism. So I think it is interesting how genetics work and I would be interested if anyone knows any sources that talk about why it effects some in the family and not others.
Functioning labels are not used in any diagnostic manual. They are ableist and offensive so if a functioning label was used with a diagnosis then they are incompetent. The use of 'symptoms' is also harmful because it perpetuates the disease and deficit rhetoric
See the diagnoses for autism has changed a lot. It had become a huge umbrella term and is no longer what it use to mean, which is insane to me. Autism 40 years ago, you would not be able to write out the paragraph you just wrote. I think doctors need to stop thinking there is something wrong with everyone.
I'm really tired of people "self-diagnosing" or mistaking their narcissism or social anxiety disorder for ASD. I'm also tired of people saying it's not a disability. Those are clearly misdiagnosed or confused individuals.
Basically, according to them, everyone who's not a literal cyborg has autism. It's ridiculous.
I know someone who comes from a family with many people with NPD. He uses narcissistic coping mechanisms as well. Need to be seen as good, kind, perfect and lashing out if you don't mirror this back at him. Tgen he twists it around that you are a terrible person. He is now telling everyone he is autistic as well. Self diagnosed of course.... He is really good at cognitive empathy though.
Self diagnosis is only good if you’re actually trying to get a real diagnosis because it’s kind of the first step if you think about it
I think if you have enough evidence it’s okay but when you just use it as an excuse to be a jerk that’s bad. And it’s why autistic people like me get a bad name. Because of people like that.
@@rRunts or if you have enough evidence to REALLY know.
I think that it mostly has to do with more understanding of females on the spectrum, as well as Asperger’s. In the past, Asperger’s was a separate diagnosis from autism. In the past, little was know about females on the spectrum.
I was diagnosed at 29, but have had very significant social and sensory issues my whole life, even as a baby.
Doctors didn’t know how to look for autism in females back then unless a child was non verbal. I wasn’t even diagnosed with ADHD until I was 19.
I think what we are seeing is a lot of people who have suffered addiction, abuse, and social rejection from their families due to misdiagnosis or lack of dx. Many “aspie” females were DX with bipolar, bpd, and other stigmatized disorders, that sometimes led to more trauma.
Sure, there are some attention seekers and confused kids out their misdiagnosing themselves. But more importantly, there are a lot of people learning how and why their experience has been what it has been. This understanding is saving lives and changing things for future generations.
We want to do a video about females on the spectrum and our neighbor may be able to help us out because she has a daughter on the spectrum. Thank you.
I agree so much!! In a way it reminds me of boys being over-diagnosed with adhd and girls and women tragically being under-diagnosed.
At the same time I also struggle at times with the lumping of all types of autism into one category. We are still in rhe infancy of understanding the variations in autism I feel, how so many autistic people can have such varied experiences, even when considered to be at the same severity or impairment level. There are even types of inattentive (non hyperactive) adhd that I sometimes wonder about overlapping with aspergers or otherwise on the spectrum. I just feel like when people with one form of autism speak for people with another form we run into problems. And I would love to see things like nonverbal (or who used to be nonverbal during most of childhood) autistic people forming a community online (as I know typing is a possibility for some people) and talk about their specific experiences and needs
I’m inattentive adhd, but autism runs in my family. I work with nonverbal autistic children for a living and I do relate to many of my clients symptoms, just in a very reduced way, especially when I was little or under a lot of stress. I sometimes wonder if I could be on the spectrum, or simply have a shadow of autism, basically at a non-clinical level, due to genes and things. At the same time, I can’t speak for what my clients really need and go through. And even though I’m not aspergers and I think all autistic people can give incredible and invaluable insight. I feel that the aspergers or “high functioning” community is still not enough to represent what nonverbal or similarly highly impaired or disabled autistic people specifically experience and need. I’d like to hear more from them directly
I wasnt diagnosed (w aspergers) until 39, after leaving a Harvard grad school program because I had problems with deadlines/timing. This was already a long shot second career. Anyway, ultimately, not enough resources or time so now, in defeat, I just do menial labor; but maintain heavy debt
Thanks for highlighting this! I was diagnosed with many conditions long before I got my diagnosis this year.
@@AutismFamilyChannel it would also be great if you interviews some adults with late dx.
I seriously respect you and your whole family for putting yourselves out there, especially in this time where autism is, unfortunately, commonly faked on sites like TikTok. It's so hard to explain that yes, autism is a spectrum, but even spectrums have boundaries and you can't go around labelling everyone as autistic just because they show some minor signs. One of my old friends after finding out I had an ASD diagnosis started copying my behavior, which kind of backfired because my behavior was masking my actual symptoms. It's really sad how a lot of teenagers and young adults feel the need to label themselves with something, not realizing that when they throw around diagnoses like ASD and ADHD and OCD and Tourette's, it actually hurts people.
THIS. ive often been told by peole that i am just aspgergers not Autim becuase I am high fucntioning, not kniwiing that i often mask myself with it.
Yeah I totally agree it hurts those who really have issues and their families who deal with it.
@@ps.6023 see, these kind of comments really irritate me…. Masking autism?? If you had what autism use to be and not what is is today… you would not be able to mask it….
@@diaryofarealmom3264 uhh huh? it irratates you that i have to mask my symptoms especially my meltdowns and learned it due to fears of how i would be treated? Autism of previous times is the same as today.
thanks for trying to denouce what I go through everyday with peole like you trying to tell me what experince and you never have.
@@diaryofarealmom3264 then why did you just insult me by telling me that im basically faking it?
The problem with the stereotypical "signs" of autism, is they they are all _descriptive_. They describe the outside. They are also created from a neurotypical perspective. Now, there is a connection between the autistic perception of reality and how it manifests itself in actions of autistic individuals, but it is not hard link. We are human after all, and our behaviours are not pre-programmed into us.
So how to know if a person is autistic? As far as we know right now, neurodiverse brains light up differently on the scans. This seems like a good starting point for developing a set of objective criteria.
the video that promotes and justifies self-disgnosing autism: 500k views; this video that contains truly educational content: 16k views. People would hear what they want to hear.
I was very happy to heart you acknowledge that people can be shy or socially awkward without being autistic. I know someone who's painfully shy and I've heard people label her as autistic. She may be. Never been diagnosed. But to my eye she behaves normally except that she's only comfortable with people she knows well. I wish people would stop jumping on every diagnosis and labeling themselves or others with the condition of the week. It helps *no one* .
I don't think people are being officially overdiagnosed with how thorough the process is, but there are definitely a lot of people who self-diagnose themselves with lots of things with no good reason, or just don't take disorders seriously and just say they have them to be special
Thorough? I strongly disagree. My son was diagnosed in 10 minutes the first time. That's not uncommon.
I think the process can be thorough, but I think it relies on the professional you see and the age you get diagnosed. My son was diagnosed after 2 hours w/ autism level 3. As an adult female the process included the DSM-5 along w/ several sessions w/ a psychologist. They also interviewed my mom to discuss my childhood because she knew me best at that age. I have mixed feelings about self diagnosis myself. In areas where someone is too poor or will be persecuted based on a diagnosis I understand, but to do it for attention is wrong.
@@beanj580 If you mean the very short preliminary test that many doctors ask parents/children to determine if further investigation is needed, then yes, that questionaire is about ten minutes. I've never heard of a diagnosis taking less than two hours - one hour of observation and interaction, and another hour of interviewing the parents and child.
It is not the “Label”, it is the “What’s next?” There was a study that investigated the fallibility of mental health diagnosis. Although the implementation of the DSM improved things, it was still found that only 61% of the time you will get the same diagnosis from one Psychologist/Psychiatrist to the next. (The study also looked at the root causes of the inconstancy, but I could go on for FAR too many paragraphs on the subject findings)
Suffice it to say, diagnosis in the Mental Health community is extremely "opinion" based. Unlike the medical community where there are physical tests and evaluations, Mental Health is very much "Observation and Opinion." The "Thorough" evaluation and subsequent diagnosis has far too many potentially biased aspects to declare any diagnosis as 100% The parent is putting a very high degree of faith in what is presented to them and (unfortunately) far too often neither understand what is being said or take the time to challenge (verify) findings.
There is no getting around it takes a very long time and a large amount of work before a fair "opinion" can even come close to being accurate. There is a reason why Autism is one of the more often misdiagnosed disorders. Self diagnosis can work (to a degree), but only after a very extensive effort that can take a very long time (years?). Even then, a self diagnosis will only narrow things down. You are not going to do much better than the "professionals."
Finally, there is the "Trendy" issue. When ADHD was (re)defined, there was a massive flood of people who suddenly were diagnosed with ADHD. It was the "IN" thing; if you could not put your finger on a diagnosis, then it MUST be ADHD! ANY behavior issue was labeled "ADHD." Sadly, many people were misdiagnosed and suffered for it. Autism is going through the same process.
So I tend to disagree with your assumption of "thoroughness" of the Mental Health communities diagnostics. Given the inherent ambiguities of the DSM and the fallibilities built into the diagnostic processes, I may go so far as to say, given a person who takes due diligence and effort to "self diagnose" (which take a lot of time and work), the self diagnosis can be as close to the mark as the "professionals." The final caveat being; if a person does the exhaustive effort to attain a self diagnosis and works with a professional with the results, the percentages are greater that both the diagnosis and subsequent path for assistance will be more on the mark.
Well you're wrong. My son has had 2 evaluations. First appointment our total time was about 35 minutes, diagnosed in the first 15. Our 2nd to confirm that diagnosis was less than an hour appointment, and once again confirmed. There are many more like me. With that being said though, dependent on case and doctor sometimes that's all they need.
Thank you for this. There's real autistic people who should be respected.
I've been attacked by my ex boyfriend, he said he was autistic.(he's always on the internet, and he's woke as hell.) Honestly, I was fine with that. quite childish. But I at least wanted an apology and I wanted him to know that it's still not right. He said, "I'm autistic." And never apologized. I was always the person to apologise to him even when I was attacked. I broke up with him now.
Autism shouldn't be a trend to gain attention or a shield to protect you from getting attacked.
Thank you for the insight. Your message has been clear from the beginning, me being a parent of an autistic child (5y.o. son) can tell you're honest, transparent and well-wishing people and your advice is helpful. Your videos are proffessional, interesting, and I'm very grateful for the advice you give, it proved right every time. Keep up the good work, God bless you Autism family.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying in this video, but I just can't denounce "self-diagnosing" as an inherently bad choice. I was professionally diagnosed with ASD at the age of 19, but I actually realized I was autistic years before that, at the age of 16. Before this realization not only did I feel like a failure and terribly inadequate, but I also had no clue why despite my high IQ did I seem completely unable to be even remotely functional, why did I feel like an alien all the time, why there was this constant conflict between me and the world itself in all its facets is settled. This lack of an explanation was the most dangerous aspect of it: the only thing I could come up with was that there was something terribly wrong with who I was as a person; in other words, it was my fault.
But all that changed when I realized I was autistic at 16. Suddenly, I did know why. It all made sense, for the first time ever. And since I finally knew, I also knew it wasn't my fault: there wasn't anything wrong with who I was as a person, and there was everything wrong with how miserably I had been wronged by the medical and educational institutions for the last 16 years. I could start making peace with myself, treating myself fairly, completely rejecting the totally unreasonable neurotypical expectations that had been forced upon me, in a way neither me nor other people had ever treated me before.
If starting to conceptualize oneself and one's traits through the framework and lenses of autism despite lacking a diagnosis (I didn't start coming out to people as autistic though until three years later when I finally was professionally diagnosed at the age of 19, completely terrified nobody would take me even remotely seriously until I had a professional diagnosis to back it up) is "self-diagnosis", then I totally did "self-diagnose" myself. And I have no regrets. If I had had to wait other three years (until finally being diagnosed) to embrace myself as autistic, I totally would had ended crushed by the self-deprecation, the alienation and the bewilderment and sense of being a failure produced by my inability to handle most tasks, even the simplest ones, and socially conform.
I agree many people "self-diagnose" for the complete wrong reasons and/or in a very risky way. But these kinds of realizations can also say lives; it might have saved mine. I don't think people in these situations should wait for months or years until managing to receive a diagnosis to start validating all this to themselves and make sense of their lives for the first time ever.
I was diagnosed with autism and learning disabilities by two different doctors as a very young child. After the first doctor diagnosed me with autism my mom was like you in denial. Even my grandmother could see I had autism which caused my mom and grandma to fight for a while. My mom was in denial for months. But she told me after the second doctor diagnosed me with autism and learning disabilities she came around to accept that I was not like other boys. But she tried to raise me to where they didn't rub it in my face that I was different. They didn't treat me different. She said it was hard for me to learn stuff but I did. Even after growing up people think I am normal till I talk to them. Then they say they know that something is really wrong with me. But I don't care this is normal to me and it's the only normal I know. I am proud of who I am.
You have atisum?
@@honeylike9847 yes
@@cozcalconcozcalcon7802 how to treatment
Autism in my opinion is likely being watered down because if someone has autism, they have a disability. The word disability is very in important, a disability is a hindrance in one's life and if the hindrance that someone has is so minor it is barely noticeable, they don't have autism. So, I that the statistics I have seen are 90% misdiagnosed. But I can have gone mad I don't know but I do know that I my so happy I wrote so much, hopefully it make sense.
It makes sense 😉
Watching back on this video, I have one thing coming to my mind. Someone told me "I love having autism!!!" And I got upset because it's a disorder. And they started saying that autism isn't a disorder, it's a way of thinking, a personality trait, not something that impairs life. I quote their words "Everyone is a little autistic, it's not that autism is a disorder, it's that society won't accept people with autism"
I stopped talking to them. It's just all these teenagers self diagnosing with autism because they cry when they're sad and jump when they're happy and claiming autism is awesome. Autism isn't awesome, it has good traits for sure, but it's ultimately a disorder.
I am a chipmunk who has a love hate relationship with having autism.
whoever says that, is not autistic. even the most "high functioning" autistic person has issues that impact on their life
It is a disorder in so much as society 'wants' it to be a disorder. While your friend seems to be a little overzealous, self-love by saying 'I love my autism' is pretty darn fantastic in a world where autism is treated as a curse; Where there are parents who refuse to give life-saving vaccines to their children for fear they might 'become' autistic.
Autism is a disorder because it disrupts society; it makes people feel uncomfortable that not everyone thinks like they do. That people don't make eye contact, that they flap their hands when excited or stressed or are nonverbal and communicate through groans and other methods. ABA therapy emotionally, socially and sometimes even physically abuses children to get them to 'act' in a way that makes them 'seem' normal, rather than make accommodations, plans and improve the quality of life for the child.
Autism isn't about having 'good traits'; Autism is just BEING who you are. Autism is having hyperfixations and being passionate about things you like; Autism is the anxiety you feel when it comes to social situations. Autism includes all the good and bad that comes with it and your friend saying 'I love having Autism' is not trying to downplays those who are dealing with the bad things but rather that they are accepting their differences and are proud of those differences despite years of being forced to hide them.
Until root causes (genetic, epigenetic, developmental, and situational) for Autism--and other neurodiversity conditions and their "symptoms"--are better defined and diagnosable without simply using subjective, external behavioral criteria, the mental health professionals are going to have continuing confusion.
Until the mental health professionals figure out things better, families & individuals on or near "the spectrum" will continue to struggle with problems of even getting accurate diagnoses.
Until mental health is taken as seriously as physical health by society as large, we'll all be stuck with the dualistic viewpoint that you either are diagnosable--or you "don't meet the DSM" criteria.
I'm in the 99th percentile for height for males in the US. I can reach things easier on top shelves than on bottom cupboards. Some clothes are sometimes hard to find in my size, most car seats slightly uncomfortable to fit in, etc. But most Big & Tall selections don't work for me, I can't dunk a basketball, and I doubt that I'm the tallest person anyone has ever met. I wasn't even the tallest in any class year I was in. Am I "tall?" Depends on your criteria.
Can you "see" into everyone's brain to tell if the "have" "Autism" like you can measure height? Not yet.
autism shows up on brain scans
I self diagnosed first, but I was professionally diagnosed not long after. I find self diagnosis valid with proper and thorough research
And you may be right. Only problem I see is people who self diagnose sound less credible to others because so many people claim to have something or be something without official checks and criteria. It’s also possible that institutions won’t respect a self diagnosis if special benefits are requested.
@@AutismFamilyChannel Self Diagnosis isn't for anyone but yourself and possibly your friends and family. I've been Disabled my whole life but i only found out I was officially neurodivergent 3 years ago at 30. Before that I did self diagnose at 25 but at 25 I couldn't afford to pay to get assessed or the affordable option honestly wasn't available. We are in a mental health crisis there aren't enough mental health workers to go around. Being a struggling young person with autism and adhd it was overwhelming to navigate the system while also trying to worry about keeping a roof over my head. very rarely do you find someone who self diagnoses themselves for attention. Did i sound less credible? i felt so, because I was worried someone was going to call me an attention seeker. I wasn't worried about sounding credible for any other reason. I have epilepsy had it my whole life too, if someone self diagnoses with epilepsy that literally doesn't effect me in any way, so why do I care if 1 or 20 people self diagnose. If the worry is that autism itself will be less credible that's silly because the only people that matter know it's a credible, and very real thing. Of course some institutions need an official diagnosis, especially for any special benefits that's why I find it funny that there is so much worry about self diagnosis. You can't get resources without proof of diagnosis, i have navigated the health and accommodations systems a bit both for me and as a job and that's why it's important not to gatekeep the social acceptance aspect of support. If people who can't get an official diagnosis can't get structured help and resources the least that we as a community can do is make them feel less alone, not guilty and as if their imposter syndrome is real (which seems to happen to a lot people who were diagnosed in adulthood.
I think that more people are doing research and connecting the dots, as well as diagnostic criteria changing, as well as doctors being less black and white when it comes to diagnosis autism (especially in people who are born female) so it may seem like person after person is getting diagnosed but I don’t think it’s many of the attention seekers but rather a combination of specialist opening up and becoming less black and white and people putting in the research. I would also like to mention that a diagnosis is a privilege, and not everyone can get a professional diagnosis, which is where most of the self diagnosis comes in.
It's become a profitable market. That's why "diagnoses" are increasing.
Hi there. I'm glad you made a video about this topic. I've suspected that I have autism for about 4 years now and the curiosity "peaked" I guess when I was in high school. I struggled with eye contact, making friends, knowing when to leave a conversation, I hated the commons area because of noise sensitivity and didn't know how to carry small talk with others. I still struggle with these issues now but, because of this "mass label seeking" behavior happening I'm kind of afraid to see a professional. My anxiety says "what if I'm doing the same thing as them?" and I don't want to take away the significance of an autism diagnosis. if that makes sense.
My parents used to yell at me to stop talking with a flat tone, to stop being "so sensitive" in response to sarcasm, to look at them when I talked to them, and to stop covering my ears and stop crying at loud noises. Out of fear, I mostly did what they said and artificially changed my behaviors so that they wouldn't get mad at me. For social interactions I cycle through a mental "script" to figure out what I need to say. The scripting was more prevalent up until high school and it has gotten easier in the last 2 years. I assume this is "masking."
My parents have tons of videos from my childhood. This is where I get confused. I talked a *ton* as a 3 year old. But I always used a flat tone of voice, used idiosyncratic speech and made up words to describe what I wanted to say. For example, I said "I hunna jump" instead of "I'm going to jump." The video of you talking to Alistair and him not entirely answering the question or not recognizing what you were saying is also how I'd talk at times. I vocally stimmed, physically stimmed with my blankie (I still stim with it and I'm in college now haha) and spun in circles to music. I lined up my toys in a certain way and imagined scenes with them in my head when they were lined up. The "talking a lot" part confuses me the most though because I always thought that speech regression was a defining trait of autism. Also, talking a lot implies that I was very interactive with my family and not self-absorbed. Are these just autism stereotypes that I'm thinking of?
Diagnosis or not, I'm learning to love myself and I'm also learning friendship skills from my boyfriend. Easier said than done of course haha.
Anyways, thank you for reading this, if you did. I appreciate the content you create about autism and I hope your kiddos are doing well.
Thank you
You don't have autism...💀
@@heavenly5545 ok 🤷♀️
You can go to a professional and get tested, AND share your concerns that you aren't sure if you're just overthinking it. Hyperlexia can be a presentation of autism.
As an officially diagnosed “never seen a case more obvious that wasn’t in a 5 year old boy” Autistic person, that sounds extremely similar to my own experience. I’d encourage you to seek out an official diagnosis for accommodation/ legal reasons but if that is not financially etc. feasible for you, what you describe is good enough to satisfy any reasonable doubts re: your diagnosis and I think you have the right to self-ID that way. :)
This was a really refreshing take on the discussion because it always seems to me that people completely shut down the conversation and use the same talking points ("It's not being overdiagnosed, it's just being fully recognized now!!"). While I think it's true autism is more than its stereotypes, there's a lot of nuance to unpack--for instance CPTSD has a lot of overlap with autism traits, and I think when it comes to trauma experts are much further behind in being able to successfully detect and treat it--it's not uncommon at all that people who experienced chronic trauma get misdiagnosed, because experts want to reduce who you are to a label (for insurance purposes and having a general idea what medication they can prescribe or sometimes, push on you because they don't have time for holistic care). Then it's also true that the placebo/nocebo effect exist, as well as social contagions (which are on the rise), and the effect of different cultures on the psyche. When people shut down the conversation, to me it implies there are no exceptions, no other explanations, and that experts never make mistakes--none of which is true. It happens. They're human after all. It may not even happen a lot, that doesn't mean it should be dismissed entirely or the discussion is over.
It's a complex issue, and there's so much to consider. I think people get defensive because they worry if there's nuance, the validity of what they think is put into question. But in their defence of their position, they end up invalidating other people's perspectives and questions, instead of using it as an opportunity to start a conversation.
I can’t believe this was posted two years ago! This is even more relevant now, especially with the self diagnosis.
Ikr
I agree so much with this video. I went my whole childhood without being diagnosed because I’m younger than my peers. My parents believed my social awkwardness, meltdowns and other things were the result of my maturity. I was diagnosed at 18, and suddenly everything made sense. But the thing is, I notice nowadays everyone is so eager to self diagnose or play up symptoms. I’ve seen people say they’re scared that they don’t have autism. I’m lucky that I don’t have super debilitating autism, and that’s why it went years before anyone noticed. I’m glad you all are noticing this pattern too, because as someone with autism, it’s getting quite frustrating to see what I and so many others deal with made into some sort of quirky pop culture trend.
One of my theories on one of the reasons why autism has become a quirky pop culture trend, is because there's been videos making autism seem glamorous, like Teal Swan's autism video, or "Asperger's, Autism, ADD, ADHD, or the indigo revolution", which makes having autism or similar diagnosis seem cool and attractive.
Hi family! Thanks for the nice video! I have the diagnose of autism for two years now. I'm diagnosed at the Leo Kannerhuis here in the Netherlands. ( Huis is a Dutch word and it means home) . I have OCD, sensory processing disorder and meltdown's. There is a possebility that my father had autism also. And I think more " yes, he had" and "no, he hasn't autism ". My father is passed away. I follow your channel for many years and learn a lot about autism. Thank you for sharing your life and keep going with what you do. A big hug from the Netherlands! 🇳🇱😃❤🇺🇲
I think it's OK to celebrate autism at an identity level it provides enrichment & compensation for time suffering for its various symptoms. Also, those families who support individuals out of necessity need community support too. My parents were busy working, being poor, so I was left in the care of my siblings 2 to 4 years my senior when we were in elementary grades. At 72, my journey was borderline tragic, & discovering my autism came as a blessing in June 2023. After & during the covid-19 lockdowns my symptoms resurfaced after a lifetime of masking & destructive meltdowns and substance abuse. With the help of internet, I was able to inquire about my depression & anxiety which led to my disbelief & confrontation with the information. I scored high on online autism tests, which I took 1) for my adult autism, & 2) for my childhood autism. 1950s was not the best time to be an autistic child as it was regarded as schizophrenia. No wonder my parents hid my wrongness.
People forget that SO many disorders can manifest traits of autism. ADD, PTSD, personality disorders (especially schizotypal), anxiety disorders, OCD, SPD, and even just people who may have grown up sheltered/isolated. None of these are bad, but none of them are autism either. The traits of autism vary under the spectrum, but they're not exclusive either. Autistic brains manifest traits. Certain traits don't make autism.
Do you think you could do a video on autism and trauma? I don’t think there’s a lot being talked about when it comes to ASD and trauma. I was diagnosed with autism by my school when I was 10, and then I was diagnosed again professionally when I was 19. And then I was diagnosed with complex PTSD a couple years later. I wasn’t traumatized by my autism. I won’t go into detail about my trauma, but people who are on the autism spectrum are more vulnerable to trauma.
Honestly I wish we knew more about trauma and autism so we will have to look into that. Fortunately our boys haven't had to face anything so life changing as that. All the best.
@@AutismFamilyChannel I’m extremely happy for you guys. Your boys are so awesome. I’m happy you guys haven’t had to face anything traumatic. People who are special needs, whether it be mental or physical disabilities are more susceptible to traumatic events. Especially bullying, abuse or neglect.
@@AutismFamilyChannel "Fortunately our boys haven't had to face anything so life changing as that. " You don't know that. This is not how trauma works, especially in the autistic experience.
If you are up for reading some academic papers, Francesca Happe is one of the leading researchers in this area. A lot of her work is available online for free.
And then of course there is the established link between ABA and trauma.
@@myepictbr6968 a lot of special needs people, even people with physical challenges are more susceptible to trauma, especially abuse. I have a physical handicap, and I had people want to pretend they had my handicap too.
It's a real thing. You might be interested in a meta-analysis study published in JAMA Psychiatry about the shrinking differences between people diagnosed with autism vs. control populations. The researchers assessed seven areas, and in all of them, the difference between people with autism diagnoses and people without them had decreased in the last 50 years. In five of the seven, the difference between populations had decreased 45-80%. This is discouraging, because it makes it harder to do meaningful research and make new discoveries about autism as a disorder.
The co-author of the study commented on it: "This means that, across all disciplines, the people with or without autism who are being included in studies are increasingly similar. If this trend holds, the objective difference between people with autism and the general population will disappear in less than 10 years. The definition of autism may get too blurry to be meaningful-trivializing the condition-because we are increasingly applying the diagnosis to people whose differences from the general population are less pronounced."
A lot of people want a label for their neurology and one of the only ways to do that is to compare your experiences to a known medical condition. Sometimes, especially in online circles, it seems like people confuse common human neurological traits for signs of autism. Maybe we are just realizing that being 'neurotypical' is not typical?
I don't want to disrespect anyone or their identity. It does kind of rub me the wrong way when the conversation seems to be more and more centered around people with milder symptoms. It's a wonderful thing that previously undiagnosed people with autism are getting the help that they need but, amidst the changing demographics, I wish there was more advocacy for the ones who are more severely affected.
Is the study by Rødgaard et al, 2019?
By legal definition, I am Autistic, as i have carried out a $600 fully comprehensive assessment which came out with a borderline indication.
2 years later i'm regretting having paid those freaks. Not to mention, this label is very serious, and having it on you can bring some disadvantages if inappropriate.
18 was the age i became very socially withdrawn, due to severe depression (only recently acknowledged, at 21), i was put on heavy medications without a formal diagnosis of anything. This led to a lot of frustration and distrust for my healthcare team. So then my therapist recommended an ADOS test to rule out autism as i was UNDERSTANDABLY in need of a coherent diagnosis. So i took the test at 19 and just waited.
I ended up going through therapies which were really pointless to me.
This really bothers me as people especially adults are now seeking out these screenings, which imho are extremely biased towards positive testing, this is meant to keep the businesses financially stable by implying that they have found your issue "now pay up".
This damaged my mental health further, and i truly hate what i've become. And i officially lost all trust i had in these specialists.
$600 that's daylight robbery. Another thing I've noticed is people jumping on the bandwagon and making money out of autism. Giving talks and charging hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Tony Atwood is one of the worst in what he charges. And these self diagnosed ones shoving it down everyone else's throat how great autism is, no it's not!
There is one thing I don't like about having autism. Its when people saying I don't have autism or I don't look autistic. Its a spectrum. Some people you can tell if their autistic and other people like me, people don't really know in till they get to know me and are around me a lot
Everything is a spectrum, even covid. Some people have no symptoms and others will need a ventilator to breathe and others will die of pneumonia and boiling fever.
People don't need to be aware of all ranges of symptoms for all neurogical/mental disorders, even people who study it and should know it by heart will misdiagnose or do not diagnose. Doctors can't even even give a proper diagnosis of a medical condition when the have diagnosis tools such as lab and imaging tests now imagine only having a book.
People stay years without treatment to autoimmune diseases such as M Sclerosis because their symptoms "don't look as MS"
Some people don't seek a professional diagnosis because it is difficult to get. When I was getting diagnosed there were places that refused to see me because I'm not a toddler. I was lucky to finally get it at sixteen after a year of waiting.
I think however that for a diagnosis, whether it is self or professional, the biggest criteria should be if it impacts your life.
I think it is underdiagnosed in a lot of kids, especially girls due to the bias.
That's a great point - the more severely a disorder or issue impacts your life the more likely someone is to seek treatment or assistance. There are definitely people on the spectrum who are less impacted socially yet still have real discernable issues that could be treated. If you think you or someone you love fits the criteria, get help.
This is a subject I am VERY passionate about!. Thanks to social media, I very much agree the label of diagnosis of Autism is getting not only diluted, but highly corrupted. It has gotten so bad that I think the only solution is to retire the term Autism.
IMPORTANT PREFACE: I very much like this channel (and a few others). Simply put; reality is shown, no spins or unsupported "opinions" are preached as "answers", there is always the footnote to seek professional advice. More importantly, there is a presentation of things that have worked, things that have not, and sometimes solicitation for feedback on thing that may help the family. This is a true sharing environment who's mantra is sharing, caring, and helping. Any channel, blog, or site with such content I fully embrace.
MY COMENTARY:
Sadly, a huge portion of people with a diagnosis for some reason feel, just because they "have something" they are an EXPERT. That's nice, for those people, if they ever need surgery, I hope it is performed not by a Doctor, but by only a person who has the same medical emergency! Obviously that is very stupid and that is why the massive amount of Autistic people saturating the internet with their "EXPERT" (unqualified opinions) are doing a large amount of damage.
There is a person in the U.K. that declares he "has Autism, ADHD, OCD, and Dyslexia" and runs a channel called "A......W...." (or now called TAW) For several years he has put out videos of "5 things YOU MUST KNOW......." content and other sensationalized titles, all insisting knowing these things you will know YOU are Autistic.......OR..... YOU CAN DIAGNOSIS someone else. He even made several videos in which he wanted his "followers" to use "These things to diagnosis others...." This person and this type of behavior is dangerous. Due to his financial success with his "Expert advice", others seek to follow in his footsteps. This activity has lead to a large amount of people to self declare they are Autistic. Even here in California, I have personally met two people that declared they have "Female Aspergers" based exclusively on that mans channel. SO the effects are real and the damage being done is real.
My diagnosis would now be classified as ASD Level 1 (my diagnosis has evolved from 1972 to present as the DSM's have evolved) I try to champion those who are Level 3 and the families associated. WHY? Because there has been SO much false information, twists, and distortion's by Autistics, the public is starting to think the face of Autism is ONLY what is seen in "high functioning" (or Level 1) people. The self-serving egotistical people inflating their ego with their false or distorted information is sad and dangerous! I have met several families with members with more severe challenges that are disgusted and frustrated by those who try to make ALL Autistics appear to be "High Functioning".
Lets get real, both the DSM-5 and the ICD (International Classification of Deceases) lay out the criteria for the diagnosis of Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Yet, the vast majority of these "EXPERTS" seldom direct people to the actual documentation, but instead spin their own interpretations so much as to make much of it flat out lies or highly distorted. Few suggest you seek professional advice.
The VAST MAGORITY of these "EXPERTS" will tell you they post and blog to "Help other people." It this were true, they would be sharing things they have experienced, things they have done that have made their life better, and things that did not work out. There would be open exchange where things that could make a life a litter better would be shared. Instead, the blogs and channels become a sill pit of people complaining how terrible their life is.
So YES, Autism is being watered down by the very people who proclaim to be Autistic, and to great harm to those who honestly seek feedback and positive help. The "Face of Autism" has been hijacked by far too many who only seek a "Label" and "Sympathy."
Hence, the term "Autism" should be retired and terms more descriptive attached to the varying degrees of challenges. And that is the key here. "We" are "Socially Challenged", yet most of our mix of challenges are unique to the individual. The "Spectrum" has been stretched so far as to distort what "needs" need to be addressed. As (some) of us know, Autistics and Neurotypicals can have similar challenges, but on the Autistic side, it is both intensity and context that separates us. So it is no wonder so many "Neurotypicals" buy into "A....W..." channels spins and say "Gee, I do that, therefor I must be Autistic!"
AND YES, most of my comments are VERY long........As an Autistic, I have almost no "filters", my Executive Functions are shot, and short response are very difficult for me to put together!
Lots of interesting things to think about. Thanks for your comments.
TAW is a righteous channel. You seem jealous? You do need to distill the length of your retorts
@@gigischaumburg4289 It would not be polite to banter about Dan and Aspie World on someone else's channel. I will say this, across multiple videos Dan produces he repeatedly declares "5 things you must know that....." (sometimes it is little as 3). In these videos, he bullets just a few items that "will tell you that your are Autistic." I challenge anyone to take any of Dan's bulletized "diagnostic" videos and compare them to either the DSM-5 or the ICD (in Europe). Diagnosis is obviously far more involved and complex. Yet he never makes a disclaimer or recommendation for professional evaluation. When asked to cite or reference what he is basing his content on, no scientific or medical reference is provided. Dan even goes so far (on more than one occasion) to present "diagnostic criteria" to his followers "so you too can identify someone as being Autistic." REALLY? The only "Credentials" Dan cites are that he was diagnosed. (As I pressed before; Are you simply going to take the opinion of someone who has HAD CANCER for a diagnosis, or are you going to see a Specialist?)
Having worked in the Biomedical field for many years, substantiation and peer reference/review is the cornerstone of credibility. Dan actually has a reputation in the Neuroscience community due to his wild distortions. He is considered "dangerous."
I cite as example, Dan made a video declaring how Autism impacts older people. He of course would not cite any material or studies, yet there he was making grand declarations as "facts." I know a bit on the subject. I am a study subject in a 5 year study on how ASD/Autism impacts aging and how aging impacts Autism. (I am 70 y/o) The study is across several fields and several institutions. The study is only on its third year. So the answers are not there and still much is to be learned (there has been some surprises), yet Dan seems to be "expert" enough to declare he has the answers.
Keeping this on topic, Autism is under attack by people like Dan who feel because they have a diagnosis, they know all there is. Dan only knows about Dan. Sadly, his comment sections are packed with people who quite literally watch one video and suddenly declare they are Autistic. This falls directly in the category of the question posed in this video. Far too many "False Experts' are distorting facts to the point the general public does not know what is real. Far too many are running around with an incorrect self-diagnosis. And that dilutes the credibility of those who truly are on the spectrum and truly want honest answers and advice.
My comments may be long, but I refuse to turn them into bullets (like Dan) for people to just buy into without context.
BTW, personal attacks never are productive to a conversation.
I have high functioning autism but I make noises at home and stim in private like I have classical autism. People in my dorm in college 16 years ago frequently asked me to stop 🛑 yelling and/or keep it down!
My daughter feels like she doesn’t fit in. It’s so hard.
nowdays everyone who's not fit the mainstream narrative is labeled as "autistic". this guy elon musk the most rich person on earth and called himself autistic, give me a break
Everyone gotta be labeled with something nowadays.
I completely agree with this video since whenever too many people self diagnose themselves with autism just because they're a little bit quirky, then it makes autism seem like purely just a label rather than an actual condition, and it can even cause harm to those whose lives are actually impacted by the condition, since I have autism, and it greatly impacts my ability to be an independent adult since I do get social security disability income, and it can be difficult to find a job that provides reasonable accommodations for employees with autism, and employers are even less likely to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with autism whether they are able to or not if autism is seen as purely just a label.
A lot of this makes me think of my daughter who was told by the Neuro Psychologist that she has traits of Autism, but in the end is not Autistic and I can agree with that in the end.
My mother also has a few different traits of autism, but at the end is not autistic either.
So true, I agree with you. I was misdiagnosed when I was younger. I had to mask my autism because I was told that i was not allowed to have it. I've had teachers that said I had dyslexia and I've said no. They said yes I do, I don't mix d and b. She said yeah you do. It's so frustrating when people don't believe you. But cool video guys. Appreciate your content
I’m so sorry you had to go through this. God bless you
I’m sorry about your tough predicament
@@PraveenSrJ01the worst that I showed the symptoms and they refused to accept that I had it. They told me that I wasn't allowed to stim because society won't accept me I was like 7 to 10 years old when they were doing this to me through my school years. It's all because of that school therapist couldn't figure it out and just wrote what ever he thought I had. When they told my older siblings, they told him that I don't do any of those symptoms. I even had 7 teacher tell that therapist that he diagnosed was wrong but he was lazy and was like I already sent it, it can't be changed.
Unfortunately in my experience society is generally not very accommodating of difference (even though there are individuals who are accommodating). The system seems to be that diagnosis or obtaining a label is the only route to interventions, accommodations and support (although again in my experience you still have to fight for it even after diagnosis). So whilst diagnosis is the correct route to obtaining medical interventions, (particularly if there are potential side effects or a risk of harm), I have to ask, do we really need a diagnosis for all the social accommodations? I’m not sure.
Excellent question.
It has been my personal experience, public "acceptance" can be heavily influenced by how they are exposed to an Autistic person or situation. True, a Neurotypical observing a meltdown will have a hard time "getting it." However, I always take the time (and encourage others) to take every opportunity to make an "interaction" a learning experience. I have found, when possible, by explaining how (we) Autistics process the World a bit differently, and we have just as many common traits as different, the seeds of patience and understanding are planted. I may not change a mind right away, but giving a bit of helpful information goes a long way.
I cite a personal experience in which a person at work went on a "verbal attack" and (amongst other thing) kept calling Autism a "Sickness" and "Disease." Unknown personally to me at the time, a group of over 100 people came forward in my defense and spoke many positive things about Autism and Autism Acceptance. Even I did not know there were so many that are now beginning to understand Autism and welcome us. I was obviously deeply moved, especially because I keep my Autism private (I choose to be measured on my actions and interactions rather than labels).
So do not lose faith in the ability for people to learn and be welcoming. There will ALWAYS be those that will attack and never accept, but isn't that true for so many things?
I focus heavily on reading research on Autism in the Neurosciences. I have a strong opinion as to the ability of Psychologists and Psychiatrists to effectively, consistently, and accurately diagnose Autism. Generally speaking; the variety of traits that signal ASD must be observable and verified. I know for myself, some traits did not present themselves (or were triggered) as I was not in an environment that presented challenges to those traits. Several of these things most definitely became an issue in different environments. This is not so much a "masking" as environmental. Likewise, I have traits and challenges that, if I am careful to avoid triggers, do not present. These are examples where a clinician can either not observe or misread behaviors and traits that can lead to a misdiagnosis.
I present this information because, given the nature of Autism, I have always believed you do not treat "Autism", you treat a person for their specific challenges. This "treat the symptom" approach would afford a more effect improvement for daily life. So I am in a sense, answering your question; no, there should be services for people's specific challenges and things that have a negative impact on life, no matter what the overall diagnosis. There are many things (traits) that are common to Autism and mental health issues (such as ADHD and Bipolar Disorder).
HOWEVER: One of the biggest quandaries' and debates in the Mental Health community when it comes to Autism; If you address enough challenges a (diagnosable) Autistic faces, and they no longer show signs if the addressed trait........are they still classified as Autistic? Put another way; if I help a (diagnosed) Autistic deal with some of their challenges, if they went to a different clinician, they could very easily fail to be (correctly) diagnosed as on the spectrum. THIS is a very big issue! Parents of a child diagnosed as Autistic could potentially loose services if enough of their challenges or traits are addressed as to no longer present. Move to a different city, you loose the "Autism" diagnosis, you loose the services. It is indeed a "Catch 22." You want to help a person to have a better life. You provide help to help them compensate or adapt, but then they could loose their diagnosis.
This is why I concentrate on Neuroscience. We Autistics are literally "wired" differently. You can change behavior, but you cannot "rewire" the brain. Our physical uniqueness should be as much a part of the diagnosis as the behavioral. Unfortunately, science is not at a point where physical (neurological) identifiers are consistently reliable. Sadly, the popular ABA Therapy is more of a business than a service. The lack of regulation leaves the door open to a huge variation in philosophies and approach and far too many are interested in making challenges or issues "invisible." It is on thing when you self-mask, it is another when you are forced to mask. I digress.
As usual, I could go on to "ad nauseam", but it is indeed a challenging environment to convince Public Services that symptom based services are needed when they are after the big grant and funding money that high profile "labels" offer. Not surprisingly, this is an opportunity for us to help each other.
I work with high school students on the spectrum, and my son (who is in elementary) has high functioning Autism too. I noticed that the higher functioning group in all age groups are a little more aware of social cues and standards and "mask" when around neurotypicals. Autistic children (on all levels) are so capable, unique, and highly intelligent. I wish there were more schools tailored to our community. We might have many students who are on the spectrum and don't even know because they mask, they may struggle socially and academically when it shouldn't be the case. We need a space and learning styles for everyone, inclusion matters.
Stinks now a days you have to worry about everything you say and do. I totally understand what you’re saying and absolutely agree,
I have a student who acts and shows all the symptoms or behaviors you mentioned in another video. In this country that I am in now (but I can't say the name because probably UA-cam will ban me), parents don't accept that their children could have neurological problems, we teachers have to do everything to keep them safe and not hurt other children. Thank you for your videos, they are beneficial.
It is absolutely severely over-diagnosed. ADHD was the trend in 90’s and 2000’s. Now the new trend is autism. It’s kind of insulting to those who actually have it and their parents who have to be their life long caregivers… I have talked to many parents with children who truly have autism how mad they are about people saying their children who are completely self-sufficient have autism. Meanwhile, they will be their child’s lifelong caregiver. It seems these days everyone has some kind of mental illness diagnosis. Like it’s kool. 🙄
To be fair, there are three different levels of autism. Some will be more “self sufficient.”
It’s not
Perhaps part of the reason why autism has been severely over diagnosed, is because there have been videos out there that made having autism seem glamorous, like Teal Swan's autism video, or "Asperger's, Autism, ADD, ADHD, or the indigo revolution", which makes autism or similar diagnosis seem cool or attractive. That's my theory on one of the reasons why autism has been severely over diagnosed lately.
Getting diagnosis has been a really long struggle. When I was 2 years old is was completely non-verbal and struggled to understand and keep up with anything anyone was talking about or an activity they was doing. My momma had to fight for me to get diagnosed and now at 15 years old I finally took a vigorous three week long test and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and I now qualify for an IEP which has made it significantly easier for me to learn at school. When people self diagnose it seriously rubs me the wrong way because for me it isn't really fair that I had to go through so much to get diagnosed while they out here diagnosing themself. Then go "I struggle so much" when they haven't gone through what I had to go through. Especially when I was singled out of groups with other kids for being too stupid but when they put me with other special kids they said I wasnt stupid enough. In today 2021 it's so much easier to get diagnosed than when it was 2007 so I sometimes find it hard to understand for people who self diagnose to come up with excuses when they get questioned about it online
You need to stop judging and being so disrespectful of others. . A self diagnosis is completely valid. Some of us do not have the resources to get a professional assessment. Many of us struggle more because friends and family do not believe or validate our condition without or even with a professional diagnosis. You sound very nasty and bitter. Hope you get some therapy and stop bashing vulnerable people.
My son has ADHD and autism. Some kids are able to "mask" or deal with some of the symptoms of Autism but still have sensory issues, meltdowns, and social challenges.
My oldest son will be 3 years old in a few months. During his 18 month pediatrician visit, the Dr. walked in and noticed 2 things:
1. My son didn't acknowledge him (stranger) walking into the room
2. My son spent much of the visit opening/closing cabinet doors (it was a bare room with nothing else to do)
He referred us to Pediatric ENT (OK), Speech Pathologist (OK) and Developmental Pediatrician (WHAT?!) My son had several ear infections so the ENT/Speech made since but the DP did not. For weeks/months I hyper fixated on every.single. thing. my son did all because his "overly cautious Dr. indicated a need to get him seen for Autism. I still find someone questioning it over the most subtle or "age appropriate" things such as being a picky eater (not liking fruits/veggies)
The ENT discovered he was practically deaf in both ears which would explain the speech delay. We got him tubes and a year later, he has made significant progress BUT because this idea of potentially Autism has been brought up, until he sees a DP, I feel on edge. I don't think he is on the spectrum and if he is, it is level 1 where he is super high functional but it really has rubbed me the wrong way that at 18 months, medical providers are so quick with labels. There is a wait to see a DP of over a year and it makes sense when Dr. are referring 18 months for autism testing when its not closer to 4 years old when most Dr. will diagnosis it.
Parents, please be your child's biggest and best advocate. Do not let Dr. mis/over diagnosis your child and put labels on them because they want to be "cautious" . IF need be, get a 2nd opinion.
Wow, thank you so much. You can't image how useful your videos are. I finally understand and accept my daughters weird behavior. It feels like it's written in your sons with dark black and in my daughter is very light gray. I always wanted to change some of my daughter's behavior, now I realized I should accept it. By the way, nobody will suspect autism in my daughter, it's just one repetitive movement she does when she is tired and bored, but I can see she is a kindred spirit with your boys. Admiration and support for parents. You really doing something very useful for a society.
Thank you for opening up the topic to discussion. There is certainly alot to discuss and we are very thankful that there are tools that Doctors can use for this diagnosis. Back in the 70's, there were very few options around and it could take years to get properly diagnosed, if at all. We agree with you, that folks, Parents and care givers should seek out professional tests and not online ones for a proper Diagnosis. Its the only way to start getting whatever therapies may be needed.
Ever since the moovie "Rainman" came out, the condition became over-publicized and over-diagnosed. Before that moovie, I think almost no one knew what autism even was. Today, if you are male and shy, they want to put you "on the spectrum."
Since autism was under the schizophrenia umbrella until 2013 and the movie "rainman" came out in 1988 that seems like a very unlikely and anecdotal assumption.
@@peacefullyme848 You need to learn how to spell "schizophrenia." Anyway, I'm talking about the general public and how aware society was about autism. It was mostly unheard of in popular culture until "Rainman." Before "Rainman," "schizophrenia" was the popular diagnosis for every "strange" person.
It was not for every strange illness though many were definitely placed under the umbrella. There are multiple other umbrellas that other unknown things were placed in the same way they do today. I appreciate the pointing out the mistake. My brain herniation has been terrible for my spelling.
Or if you are a little bit quirky then they want to put you on the spectrum.
@@au9parsec Frankly, they want as many people as possible "on the spectrum" because the Psych Industry is just another money-making industry. The more people classified and on "the spectrum," the more "services" and drugs they can sell.
How have you guys been I hope you both had a blessed day you’re an amazing family💙
I can’t believe that autism was 1 in 10,000 in the 70s and now it’s skyrocketed to about 1 in 40 (the CDC is wrong, no surprise there), yet the medical establishment in this country is always scratching their heads and has no answers. If this trend continues, everyone in the future will have autism. And there are some very important environmental factors that need to be looked at. We are unwell because our environment is unwell. If you look into the history of Monsanto, you will see that they were a chemical weapons manufacturer. We literally allowed a chemical weapons manufacturer to seize control of our food supply. And that’s just one of so many problems. The greed and corruption are plaguing this planet and we are unwell because our environment is unwell. We gotta get the chemicals out of our bodies and out of our kids.
Autism isn't a problem!! And we're just getting diagnosed more often because there's more awareness that being autistic can show in different ways
Agreed. This person doesn’t know what they’re talking about ^^
I guess it all depends on who you’re asking. At the end of the day someone is diagnosed with an ailment that is going to affect them and everyone else for the rest of their lives. I’m saying that in a general manner not in a negative way.
I don't think autism is more common in boy, I think it's 50/50 it's just that girls are underdiagnosed
could be, yeah
@@AutismFamilyChannel I'm a girl who was diagnosed at age three
Well a friend I met 10+ years ago online. Got autism (self D) at 30. And is full of hatred how everyone MUST KNOW they have it and act according to it-family, workers in restaurants,workers who prepare them popcorn or they have meltdown meaning literally kicking, screaming, pulling hair. But was totally normal years ago. And they would write long long long stories on IG. How everyone is ableist, how everyone is wrong, how wrong is to make difference between high functioning (they are 'highfunctionin' because claiming also high IQ - but have talk disorder). Its just so unnatural how one can become like that over night and hate on everyone. Writing same things all the time, at 30yo started walk around with toys, etc., claim they are HCP because of it (don't understand danger etc) but when don't get work of babysitting it is discrimination🤷♂️ so aknowledge you don't recognize it and then blame discrimination, racism, ableism (all the people are like that) and I told this story very mildly because it is so so so obvious its narcissism, when family member dies and you (of course infront the whole gathered family) have meltdown, trash the house, scream and literally make death of a family member about yourself...idk thats just horrible and again this person communicaten 100% normally for years and then started self diagnosing, sometimes have 7 diagnosis in bio, sometimes 4 and in posts claim to have many more. I am from Europe and here it doesn't really happen (for now).
Without a label there don't get the support they deserve.
I agree with some of the comments…we took the Asperger’s diagnosis away and people do not understand the new ASD dx. I feel like if I said my son has an Asperger’s diagnosis, they would say oh yeah that makes sense but since I say he has an Autism diagnosis I get a lot of push back and people telling me he’s not autistic since he is so high functioning. These people do not live with us and see his/our struggles. It it very hurtful to not feel validated and for my son just to be looked at as a bratty child.
Aspergers was removed from the DSM (used in North America) but not removed from the ICD (used pretty much everywhere else). So a diagnosis, it's definition and the traits depends on the book.
Asperger was a Nazi doctor who worked on eugenics. Not really the best person to name a diagnosis after, is it? Also, function labels aren't generally helpful to the autistic community because "high function" and you're "not autistic enough" to have a say, "low function" and you're flat out incapable. The autism spectrum isn't a scale of 1-10 where 1 is less autistic and 10 is more autistic, it's more like a spider graph of different autism traits and how much these traits affect the individual.
Well, that’s because Asperger’s was added later anyways. And there is a lot of controversy with it because it was thrown around so lightly. It’s crazy cuz I’ve talked to many parents with real autistic children and they are mad that so many claim to have autism or autistic children when they have no idea the hardships of real autism.
I was diagnosed when I was around two and they said I was selectively mute. My wife, not on the spectrum, but she does have generalized anxiety disorder and is possible she might be bipolar but we don't know.
In 2013, when I was 31, “Asperger’s Syndrome” and “PDD-NOS” got rolled into the “ASD” diagnosis with “autism”. Also, it became possible to have ADHD and autism diagnoses at the same time, which has become more common than not in those with an ASD diagnosis. This means that many adults who never would have qualified for an ASD diagnosis as children now do. Argue that the diagnosis is too broad now all you want; it seems parents of autistic people who also have an intellectual disability or are at least minimally-/non-verbal believe these should be requirements for a diagnosis of autism, but they are not. I myself am AuDHD-PI twice-exceptional. Plenty of people don’t believe twice-exceptionality (having a high IQ and one or more developmental disabilities like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. at the same time) is even possible, even though it’s estimated to affect about one kid in 200. If you prefer to call what adults are doing before they have an official diagnosis (which I am being assessed for next month; been diagnosed ADHD-PI for 20 years now) “self-identification” to distinguish it from what a psychologist does, that’s fine. But don’t judge whether strangers are autistic or not based on TikToks! 🤷♀️
I don't know if this might be helpful for someone but, about this subject, I can say that being diagnosed as an adult saved my life.
I was always different, severely bullied, great student but only on certain classes. I didn't have friends and would turn all kids against me without me understanding why.
When I was a child, I was always called "too adult" for my age, I was hyperverbal and would obsess with specific subjects and called a nerd. Despite having been hyperverbal, I am dyslexic and everyone always knew that.
This was in the 2000's, my teacher wanted me to see a therapist because of many, many reasons, but my parents were too afraid of me going through that because I was doing ok enough in school and was highly intelligent.
I went as far as writing a "will" at the age of 8, explaining in detail what toys I would give to whom if I d!ed because I was so scared.
Regardless, I got diagnosed with OCD and anxiety as a teen.
It exploded when I was 18. College demands a lot of effort and ability to adjust, you have to socialize with everyone and do so much work, spend a lot of time in public transportation and I was seriously losing my mind.
I was so burned out I became nonverbal, I would just stay like a statue and my family saught a doctor, who at first thought I was just depressed.
The depression didn't go away, I was seeing an actually awful doctor who sedated me throgh half of college and honestly nothing helped.
Then, at the age of 25 and after going to a psych ward twice, I finally got the autism diagnostic, with ADHD too. Everything finaly made sense.
For my whole life I wasn't able to hold a job (would have meltdowns or be fired for underperforming). I don't even have a driver's license.
The best I ever did at a job was 9 months this far, and I'm so proud of it. Honestly, had I not had been diagnosed, I would've chosen to end my life, as It was becoming increasingly unbearable to live like that.
Now, I'm only on ADHD and a few anxiety meds, only doing a ton of therapy and much more hopeful about seeking a job. I know I can do this now, as I know myself and what to avoid.
You should read 'Unmasking Autism' by Devon Price; She makes a point on how autistic children often grow up with CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) even if their childhood doesn't have the 'trademarks' of many abusive or traumatic histories.
It is often the result of a society that indirectly through decades of social conditioning tell us that we are worthless unless we 'justify' ourselves to society. That our hyperfixations are 'disturbing' or 'weird' and that unless they can make you money from it you should stop being passionate about these things and focus on being 'normal' and accepted rather than happy and genuine. This pressure on us is less the physical and mental abuse of ABA 'therapy' gives but more a death by a thousand cuts type of abuse.
This does not mean that those who say these things are intentionally abusive or want to harm you, but rather that we should be more willing to live in a society that accepts differences and helps accomadate those differences rather than force people into boxes and make them justify their existence.
I don't if there is an over diagnosis of autism and ADHD it's hard for me to say however for me I suppected it and choose to get tested at the age of 49. With the testing received I did get a autism and ADHD diagnosis. But am I totally convinced I have these? I still have many questions? I already had a diagnosis of anxiety and depression most of my life. Was I attention seeking getting these diagnosis? I don't know. Am I a narcissist? I don't know. I do believe social anxiety is a thing, simply because I had as a young girl. I had to overcome it though. I have been on a journey to learn about why some things I have gone through happened. I often ask myself are there other explanations to what I went through besides the new diagnosis I got. If there are I don't at this point know what that would be. Was I misdiagnosed I don't know as I just got a late diagnosis. I'm still trying to work all this out.
Hello special family, I just discovered your channel. I admire your humility in sharing.
That reminds me, I need to go talk to a doctor...now if only that didn't involve phone calls
😉
Thas what I’m saying 😭
I commend you for sharing this video. The thing people have to realize is that when you say some people may be diagnosing themselves incorrectly it doesn't invalidate everyone who is actually autistic and vice versa. People can get it wrong for a myriad of reasons. When I was diagnosed I asked my psychologist if there were people in her office seeking an autism diagnosis that did not get it and she said yes. She said CPTSD as one example has a lot of crossover symptoms and can look similar to autism. So there are plenty of people out there who are not knowingly misdiagnosing themselves for attention. But then there are a rare few who ARE attention seeking. I understand that getting a diagnosis is a privilege and I'm not saying everyone who is self-diagnosed is wrong because even the professionals get it wrong! But people need to be aware that there are increased chances of receiving a correct diagnosis through a professional understands autisim... But most of all people need to understand that when we say some people get it wrong we are not invalidating everyone.
As a woman with diagnosed autism (was diagnosed at the age of 9), I think that doctors should be very careful in diagnosing people, especially children. We need to stop pathologizing regular behavior. Some people are naturally introverted and shy. That doesn’t make them autistic. Some people (especially kids) have to burn off energy. That doesn’t make them ADHD/ADD.
I finally found a video with a comment and all I want to say is taht you are doing a good job at keeping your sons safe and helping with their needs and they don’t know how lucky they are to have people like you and even the community as well helping you with them as some parts of the world like mine treat people with disabilities badly and since I have autism I got into a lot of fights and nobody was their to help me they saw me as a dangerous weapon a ticking time bomb and at any second I could destroy the place
So bassicaly I’m glad soem bits of the world can look at people with autism and want to help them
Also I’m sorry for not being able to type properly it wasn’t exactly my strong suit in life
Hello I am a mother of three autistic children as well one of my kids haven't been diagnosed I kind of just think he's delayed but he shows really common traits with his brother so it's kind of hard not to throw him in there but only time will tell but I want to give you guys a very important message I want to thank you for everything that you do because there are not enough people that are brave enough to put this type of content out there for people to see and you let us in your home and an invite us into your kid's life and I deeply appreciate that the people that are offended by this just want attention please don't be upset about it and I understand this video is to address certain things of that nature but those are people that are very attention-seeking and if you can't take this content to understand that these are people that are just trying to help other people that are lost about autism because it is a lot to process then you are truly an immature person and you really really need to get off these people's back as a person that is like to subscribe your channel I am absolutely supportive of you and your family and I wish nothing but your family the best you have an amazing family your boys are totally sweet
Thanks so much 😊
I am autistic and was diagnosed at 38. I had a brother who had severe mental disability, but as a family we never new the word Autism. We were just us, and we were a normal family to us. When I was diagnosed I was angry at my parents for letting me struggle through life, wondering why thing happened the way they did. But now I am kind of grateful because I managed to achieve and experience many great things, like having a career as a graphic designer, buying a home and getting married. I wonder if maybe I could not have achieved this if I was labeled autistic as a child. I learned coping strategies because I had no other choice if I wanted to succeed at life. I needed the diagnosis because my mental health was deteriorating, I didn’t know anything about autism until a doctor told me that what I described is because I am autistic. Things are very different now, knowing when I am masking and when I am being me has improved my mental and emotional health in so many ways.
A good read on this question is www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-reasons-autism-rates-are-up-in-the-u-s/. That's from 2017 and things have changed even more since then. Certainly how we think about and label autism has changed a lot over time. I think a lot of people still have not internalized that the term "autism" includes what used to be called "Asperger's". Combine that with women being wildly under-recognized (recent research suggests the gender ratio may even be 1:1).
I recommend the SquarePeg podcast to hear testimonials from people discovering they are autistic in adulthood. No one is taking it lightly. It is usually based on a suspicion, followed by years of research, followed by learning the stories of other autistic people and seeing how it makes a whole lifetime make sense. It really wasn't until there were self-advocates on the internet that it was possible to find large numbers of other autistic people to learn from. That's the thing that has really changed the most.
Either way, consider the impact of a self-diagnosis. This assumes someone managed to reach adulthood without it being obvious that they were autistic. In most places, a formal diagnosis gets you nothing in adulthood, or can even cause you harm (examples like www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/people-with-autism-intellectual-disabilities-fight-bias-in-transplants/2017/03/04/756ff5b8-feb2-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html). Is there a downside if some small percentage (let's say 1% which is a huge overestimate) of self-dx adults are wrong? This just means 1% of people basically attending online meetup support groups would not get a clinical diagnosis but in every other way identify with everyone else there, and everyone there identifies with them. Maybe at some point they figure it out or change their mind. The "downside" of someone being wrong is... more connection.
I tried really hard to hide my autism for 15 years going undiagnosed and I never fit in with the other people until I was properly diagnosed, but even after the diagnosis I only had some close friends. Hopefully I will accomplish some things that NTs accomplish in life such as marriage, children 👦, and a high paying career but if not it is okay ✅ since everyone is unique in their own way.
You aren’t alone I’m currently 15 right now and regret hiding my autism but just seeing this really autistic kid and the high school pupils helping them made me wish I never hid it as when I was in primary they trued their best to get rid of me nobody liked me I was an outcast and only 2-3 teachers tried and help me and to understand me but going through all of that made me want to hide it as much as I can and it really damaged me mentally
@@1TheExpertGamer I’m so sorry to hear that. I grew up in the late 1980s so it was a different time
It's not just about criteria, its about the underlying neuropathology and neuroanatomy that support that criteria. I.e. having social anxiety has roots in various brain circuits. Repetitive behaviors can implicate different neural circuits in OCD than ASD. Self-diagnosing is pointless unless you're a neuroscientist.
it seems "autism" is actually subjective. if it weren't, the umbrella wouldn't be so big & cover so many traits, behaviors, etc..
I was like you,wanted to think no my little girl didn't have it,but since she been at her school,they are starting to help her. For which I am glad, hopefully they can help so in the future maybe she can do as much as possible.
Nobody 'has autism', autism is an abstract concept.
The person is Autistic, it is not something that can be carried, treated or cured. It is not something you 'have', it is a neurological difference.
Language matters.
Positive Autistic identity matters.
This is interesting because there are a lot of people who think you shouldn’t say “autistic.” I wonder if the autism community will ever reach a consensus.
@@AutismFamilyChannel I guess a way to find out would be asking the person in question, if possible, what they prefer, and if they don't have a preference maybe you can use either or neither.
You could probably say also things like "Jill has an autism diagnosis" or just "Evgeni needs support in this area and is really good at that area"...
I'm autistic. Idc how people refer to it, as long as they aren't being hurtful. Don't speak for all autistic people
For example the character of Gregory House, who would have been diagnosed with Autism today, he has a lot of of ASD signs. however like you said their are some people that are just introverted or his background too. Introverted doesn’t mean Autistic.
I'm a woman in my 20s and I was recently officially diagnosed , and in my opinion i was misdiagnosed.Professionals suddenly started pushing me to get evaluated, and I got put on waiting lists TWICE (first time i showed up and told them I did not consent and wanted to leave, so they just put me on another list). My diagnosis "papers" say i fulfill all of the criteria in the DSM-5, but don't motivate why on most of them, or refer to circumstatial "evidence" they think they've found.
I am somehow a totally unique high functioning woman on the spectrum with NO EXPERIENCE of having trouble interpreting social cues or debilitating sensory problems. I just experience severe exhaustion and eye contact began to hurt/take a lot of energy in my teens.Nothing i said or my family reported could change their mind. I'm considering having my medical journal wiped clean at this point.
Question: did you not have trouble with social cues because you had a lot of explicitly learned knowledge about social conventions/ etiquette/ manners in your home culture and maybe some school experience analyzing characters in literature or just because your first instincts/ snap judgements/ intuitions regarding social situations were usually right and it wouldn’t even occur to you to do anything differently? Both autistic and allistic people can be socially adept and even downright extroverted, but the WAY we GOT good at handling social situations in the first place will be different. :)
unfortunately a lot of us females are just now being diagnosed as adults, so we feel the need to talk about it. i think self diagnosing is fine, as long as it leads someone to get an official diagnosis of either autism, or something else like bpd or adhd, as the two can look very similar. i do believe that it’s not okay to self diagnose and then do nothing about it as far as research and reaching out to doctors. those are the type of people who harm the autistic community.
in my case, i’ve struggled with sensory issues, communication, verbalization, non-verbal episodes, sensory meltdowns, shutdowns, eye contact, executive dysfunction, picky eating, etc for my whole life. it just went unnoticed because, for females, pediatricians find these symptoms “attention seeking.”
it got to a point where i would cry and hit myself (meltdowns) every other day after school until i GRADUATED high school.
so many signs missed, ignored, and abandoned. my parents didn’t care, and neither did my pediatrician. i got into therapy around 13, and it was clear to my therapist that i was struggling with adhd (inattentive) and autism. i got my official diagnosis the day of my 18th birthday. i had to hop through hoops and hurdles to get it, and it wasn’t easy. i wasn’t allowed to have an IEP until senior year of high school because i didn’t get my diagnosis until then. it was wildly expensive, and honestly quite disheartening.
i went through the five stages of grief from the years of 13-18 when my feelings were finally validated. of course, i didn’t get my diagnosis till 18, but the fact that a therapist saw and validated my struggle was a good feeling. i wasn’t faking it, and i definitely was not doing it for attention. i. was. struggling. bad. she was the only one who understood.
i didn’t and couldn’t tell anyone i was autistic (except for my parents of course) until about 6 months after i turned 18. i didn’t think i was allowed to at 13, because it wasn’t *official*, even though i had already been tested and it was confirmed by a licensed therapist. i hated the fact that i couldn’t get help as a child. i went through so much trauma, that i am just now healing.
not having your support needs met when you’re in sensory overload or dealing with a meltdown is traumatic. many times, my parents would hold and restrain me to keep me from hitting myself, and they’d threaten to call the cops or take me to a mental institute. if only they understood what was actually going on. they thought i would give them the “silent treatment,” but in reality my brain was full of static and i was unable to form sentences.
i wish people took biological females seriously as kids when the talk to you. i could go on and on about things that happened or conversations i had as an 8 year old with my pediatrician, but i digress. thank you for this video.
i encourage anyone who reads this to do their own extensive research and always listen to your children.
" i do believe that it’s not okay to self diagnose and then do nothing about it as far as research and reaching out to doctors. those are the type of people who harm the autistic community."
Would you please send me the $3000 I need to get a diagnosis from a genuine specialist? Since I can't hold down a job because of my executive brain disfunction?
Label seeking- very true.
Thank you for your video. Thank you for the cautious you’re having when talking. Nice video!
Autism is the new ADHD .
Every person who thinks they are qwerky "OH I have just a little bit of ADHD/Autism"
This video is kinda useless, because you didn't specify whether you are talking about diagnosing children or diagnosing adults, because they are not the same thing. It makes me angry that you and people in the comments are saying that a self-diagnosis is useless and everyone is jumping on the autism bandwagon.
Maybe that's the case for children being diagnosed? Idk nor do I care. Is there some club that we have to join to say we are "special"? I don't know anyone in their right mind who would want to claim autism or anything else that makes life difficult to the point you wished you hadn't been born! And the looks people give you if you muster up the courage to tell someone... yeah, it's definitely being over diagnosed at $3000 a test. LOL. That was extreme sarcasm... I learnt it from my dysfunctional family.
It's much easier to diagnose a child on the spectrum because they have their parents insurance and parental help. ADULTS, people like me who grew up thinking there was and is something wrong with them, since everyone ridicules and criticizes them their entire lives... we hate attention and want to be left alone, but can't because we need help with certain things... want to withdraw even more when we see these kind of pondering and accusations. It's the same old, "blame the victim" attitude that's rampant in mental health care. Sick of it.
Sorry for you real struggles. We didn't mean to insinuate anything of the sort, that people who are undiagnosed do not have autism. In fact, many go undiagnosed that do need a lot of help. Our main concern is the trend of people aping autism, Tourettes, ADHD, etc. for attention. I know it seems odd, but there's a big culture right now of laying claim to certain disorders for attention. The thinking is any attention is attention, so people sometimes either bend the truth or outright lie to get attention. I think it's rare, but it does happen. Thanks for your comments and again, we do not mean to belittle anyone's real struggles. Take care.
Agreed. This comment section is making me very sad.
I was diagnosed at four and im so sick of this
I got diagnosed with autism when I was 12 shows a lot that people didn’t think I had anything for 12 years I actually got diagnosed for stress but they found out I had stress and and autism
I've really liked your channels content. It's interesting to see other forms of autism e.g lots of hand stimming. As someone with autism, I do a few hand stims like what I call the Wallace fist shake. If you have watched a Wallace and gromit movie or other media. Wallace sometimes shakes his fist near his chest when happy. My autism is more emotion and some instances of slower brain processing. I was very lucky to get a diagnosis when I was two. I was born in 2004 and my parents learned about it very quickly. To this day they are very supportive.
I think autism is being watered down b/c autism high functioning and Asperger’s are very different along with low or moderate functioning autism some are more challenged then others that bothers me just a bit it’s becoming a one solution fits all. I think the critique should be broken down into high functioning low functioning or moderate functioning so that the treatment can be specific when it comes to getting specific therapies.
I like chewing on things and stimming it is calming so ye very calming sorry if I'm making this sound weird because I really cant talk rn real well but it's really calming for me because I have adhd and anxiety
Amazing parents with amazing kids.stay blessed.love you😘😘😘😘😘
Hi! Is there a way I can send a private message and ask about my sons diagnosis to you both. My son has 5 diagnoses.
autismfamily4ever@gmail.com
I wish you could make this video with subtitles in Spanish to share it with the Hispanic community, A lot of misinformation coming from self-diagnosed autistics.
Connor, my son, is learning Spanish here and there (I want to as well) so we can help more people. Thanks!
@@AutismFamilyChannel ♥♥♥ Maybe one day you can write the subtitles yourself :). Connor is just like my daughter, and Ian is like my son. I have learnt so much with your videos. You have beautiful children. All the best!!
It’s sad that the first 5 minutes of your video you have to apologize and preface your freedom to speak.
I didn't have any signs in your videos but got diagnosed with autism but it was very low and the people who diagnosed me were confused I'm 12
I get obsessed that's what my parents say only symptom I have of autism.
THIS.
the other is that there is few if any resoruces for adults who are Autistic. People often think it is a childhood disorder that you grow out of. not knowing that as one grows older the better then mask their symptoms.
I love what you are doing for the 🌎. Ifno is power Power is STREANTH .Keep spreading the LUV & MESSAGE 😇🙏👍💯
I was professionally diagnosed with autism at age 16. My diagnosis at the time was referred to as Asperger syndrome. I have since heard that Diagnosis is not being used anymore and it is just autism or ASD. I heard of levels but I think that not being use either. I just simply say now that I have a form of autism. I did not know what scale that used to diagnose me but I do know that it fits. I myself tried to mask at school because not many people in my class know that I have autism only my two friends and one other student that told know that I have it in my class. I'm in college in the semester is almost over that I'm NOT going to even mention it.
Aspergers was absorbed into the ASD spectrum instead of being its own thing in 2013, although I think many people still use the term to define high functioning autism. I feel like it is much more socially acceptable to reveal that you have autism nowadays. :) But of course as with any personal issue medical or otherwise it can be hard to know when to reveal an intimate matter to classmates and friends. Use your discretion.
Thanks for the video. I m honestly struggling with this on my child. He is turning 3. Non verbal. Understands alot though. Doesn't have any problems on crowds. Doesn't have any sensory issues. He is definitely on his own little world sometimes. Diagnosis seems far away because professionals are swamped. Just kind of isolated honestly
How can such understanding parents exist 💙 love you guys and videos
The problem with the other video is indeed that the things you mention in this video were missing, so you ended up giving the impression that autism only takes the shape of level 2 or level 3 only. Since level 1 autists are often high-masking and therefore can hold eye contact even if uncomfortable and can generally hide their autistic symptoms, there's a whole group of autists who go under-diagnosed and are often late-diagnosed, resulting in comorbid diagnoses like depression, anxiety, burnout. I'd be sad to think that including more level 1s or just high-masking autists of any level (often women) would be 'watering down autism'. I think we've only just begun to understand what autism is, and that revolution is currently on-going. So indeed, we gotta watch out for harmful stereotypes that prevent many people from finding out why they struggle and thus from gaining sufficient self-understanding and help.
Certainly. Just pointing out there is just as much to the question about over diagnosis as there is for under diagnosis 😉👍
I've been waiting for 3 years to get an autism diagnoses ☹ I live in the UK and it takes a long time to get a diagnoses, my step dad has been waiting 4 years
I hope it happens soon ;)
Thank you 😊
My parents kept saying I had it because I got into fights. Mother read some tid bits about autistic rage and the next thing I know they're taking me to be diagnosed. All of the psychologists said I didn't have it. They still insisted I had it. It's just a joke. I'm not even aware of my surroundings most of the time, and I never had communication issues or anything. I kind of hate them.
I'm not sure if people are being over diagnosed or not. I agree with another comment I saw there is more understanding for diagnosing females. But also Autism is still a fairly new term in our history and the understanding has become wider and the spectrum as a whole is alot broader now as well. I do think this is something that must be diagnosed by professionals and don't believe in self diagnosis being valid.
In my experience in three different schools, Autism and ADHD are vastly underdiagnosed. Like you, my wife and I were both in denial for months after our daughter entered kindergarten. Once I realized these LD teachers had no idea what they were doing, my denial turned to ... well... rage. It was embarrassing. My wife had to take over. That was six years ago.
I've been in another/MMS comment section, and there are so many people saying I'm autistic, and it's no big deal. We just think differently. That made me think they may have been misdiagnosed. But it's more likely they just don't like being judged.
Then there are these trigger words you aren't allowed to say. I've lost track of how many. Any disorder or syndrome diagnosed by a doctor is a disease. It doesn't matter what you want to name it. They are the same thing. That said: My daughter is twelve. And I've never said the word autism in front of her. She asked me what it was once years ago, and I quickly changed the subject. But for god's sake, what's going on here? Watered down is an understatement. Einstein was not autistic.
We need to find the cause before we're all on the spectrum, literally. It's obviously some drug or pesticide or combination thereof. I'm not going to say another trigger word, but we can find better treatments than are currently commonplace. Have you heard of BBBE? Do you know anyone who's tried it?
Thank you for this video, even if it was a little clickbaity.