> I'm less confident in this, but: I certainly also think it's possible that many on the spectrum underrate how much literally everybody hates because-I-said-so's.
Maybe. I've always been surprised at how little other people (mostly NT) will actually say that they don't like the situation they're in, especially if they have the ability to change it by doing so.
> Reasons to stan the USA
Oh, I understand all of those reasons. What I struggle to understand is why people-who-hate-being-bossed-around by people-with-no-business-bossing-them-around still do it and often never say "This is bullshit." That's why I said "contented" was probably a better word than "happy."
> I've never been formally diagnosed, but based on informally discussing things with therapists and various self-assessments it seems pretty likely to me that I'm somewhat on the spectrum
One of the most helpful things I ever heard was "If you think you might be autistic, it's likely you are." Even if you get a formal diagnosis and it turns out you're not, you can have many traits of autism. (Technically, you have to have at least 1 trait from an array of specific categories to be diagnosed, so you can have many traits and still fail the test.)
Maybe. I've always been surprised at how little other
people (mostly NT) will actually say that they don't
like the situation they're in, especially if they have
the ability to change it by doing so.
Hmmm. I'm tempted to say that NTs maybe tend to express things in more subtle and less literal ways, but I think the limiting factor here is that I certainly don't have a complete catalog of which people in my life were NT and which were ND, so I can't really make that guesstimate with any confidence!
One of the most helpful things I ever heard was "If you think
you might be autistic, it's likely you are." Even if you get a
formal diagnosis and it turns out you're not, you can have
many traits of autism.
Hah! I think I like that statement.
Question.... I would welcome and be grateful for your advice!
I guess my thinking has always been that whether I get the a spectrum diagnosis or not, it's going to come down to working with those little individual traits anyway, so from a practical standpoint I haven't focused on whether or not an overarching "autism" label makes sense. (I'm also dealing with some other things in life, and therapy hours have been limited, so a spectrum diagnosis hasn't been a priority)
So my question (finally, lol) is: did you find value in that diagnosis? Practical value, and/or more intangible values?
> I certainly don't have a complete catalog of which people in my life were NT and which were ND
Ok you're definitely not autistic then, that's basic stuff! (I kid - I only have assumptions about most people in my life)
Personally, yes, I found a formal diagnosis extremely valuable for two reasons:
1. All of my nagging worries about "not really being autistic" and taking up space reserved for "real" autistic people vanished. This also "allowed" me to talk about being autistic more openly. You may not have the same anxieties at all though - I specifically had a really big setback years ago when an ex said they didn't believe I was autistic.
2. I found it much easier to deal with the individual traits, both because I learned about some I wasn't aware of during diagnosis, and because I now have the ability to identify anything that's upsetting me and ask, "In what way is my autism affecting this situation?" At the very least it's a useful framework or jumping-off point for introspection that might have been difficult otherwise, because it isn't always true that some autistic trait or another is involved.
> One of the most helpful things I ever heard was "If you think you might be autistic, it's likely you are." Even if you get a formal diagnosis and it turns out you're not, you can have many traits of autism. (Technically, you have to have at least 1 trait from an array of specific categories to be diagnosed, so you can have many traits and still fail the test.)
Maybe. But that can be easily abused. You can barely throw a stone on Discord without seeing PluralKit and others, bots ostensibly aimed at helping people with DID effectively communicate their alters.
Perhaps it started that way, but there's an entire generation who seem to have decided something similar with DID, and it has become much more "every mood or feeling is an identity". One general Discord server I saw recently had easily 20 people who claimed to have 40-50 distinct identities (numbers which would place them in the very upper echelons of DID, and quite likely having articles written about them in Psychology Today). "John is my angry alter, and Sam is my quiet alter, and ..."
I'd say if anything, "if you think you might be autistic, maybe you should find out".
As it is, I think the neurodivergent label is becoming almost "cool", and there is certainly a subset that sniffs a little at the concept of neurotypical.
Maybe. I've always been surprised at how little other people (mostly NT) will actually say that they don't like the situation they're in, especially if they have the ability to change it by doing so.
> Reasons to stan the USA
Oh, I understand all of those reasons. What I struggle to understand is why people-who-hate-being-bossed-around by people-with-no-business-bossing-them-around still do it and often never say "This is bullshit." That's why I said "contented" was probably a better word than "happy."
> I've never been formally diagnosed, but based on informally discussing things with therapists and various self-assessments it seems pretty likely to me that I'm somewhat on the spectrum
One of the most helpful things I ever heard was "If you think you might be autistic, it's likely you are." Even if you get a formal diagnosis and it turns out you're not, you can have many traits of autism. (Technically, you have to have at least 1 trait from an array of specific categories to be diagnosed, so you can have many traits and still fail the test.)