maxwellaut

[maxwellaut]

Oh so he’s doing eugenics now

[maxwellaut]

i got formally diagnosed this week after years of waiting/knowing and my friend mailed a professionally custom made cake to my house

[maxwellaut]

Anon it definitely sounds like you’re autistic and if you think you are then you probably are

i get told i’m mature for my age, great at conversation, act so adult and all that kind of stuff and adults absolutely love me but i really think im autistic and most of my conversations are planned and strategized which doesn’t work well with teens but adults work with it so well

i have sensory issues and stim and have social issues and other things so is it still possible in autitisc even though they say those things? and is it common?

I can't point you to any specific articles (most of my knowledge is from extensive reading and video watching) but I believe it's common for autistics to be known as "little geniuses" and speak well with older generations, but struggle with their peers. This was certainly the case for me, where teachers and parent groups thought I was so proper and intelligent, but my actual social skills were non-existent. I think this may be because I learnt so much from watching TV and reading which had more adult interaction than anything else.

[maxwellaut]

so i didnt meet up all the criterias to be diagnosed as autistic, so i only got diagnosed as atypical (ages ago i might add lol), and i feel like, and i often as a result now that i have begun to try and accept that 'it is what it is', that i feel like i shouldnt be in the autistic community, like im some sort of fake. any idea on how to get over that feeling? or maybe i am fake, i am afterall only 'atypical'

For those that don't know: atypical autism, also known as sub-threshold autism, or PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified) used to be a diagnosis for those that met most of the criteria for autism, but not enough to be classified as "fully autistic". This was combined into the standard autism diagnosis in the DSM 5, and is no longer a valid diagnosis in countries that use the DSM 5.

Nonny, you are autistic. You are not fake. You have the same traits, the same neurodivergent brain. A single clinician many years ago decided you weren't suffering enough, so therefore weren't autistic enough.

Autism is now diagnosed in levels based off of needs and support requirements. Whilst this is a step up from functioning labels, Aspergers and PDD-NOS, it still is boxing people in based on whether they are suffering enough for help or not

You belong here.

I think you need to reframe yourself away from that old diagnosis, perhaps seek a second assessment if you desired.

Symptoms of a pervasive developmental disorder included:

problems using and understanding language

difficulty relating to people

unusual play with toys

problems with changes in routine

repetitive movements or behaviour

This. Is. Autism.

In the DSM-5, symptoms of PDD-NOS and other autism categories were consolidated. Since 2013, the symptoms of ASD now fall into two categories, which include:

deficits in communication and interaction

restricted or repetitive movements

Which you were diagnosed with.

You're Autistic, Nonny. ☺️❤️

[maxwellaut]

"Bc guess what, sometimes the customer is not always right."

Someone said this regarding PATIENTS as to why nurses have a right to humiliate them online.

I urge healthcare professionals to stop fucking thinking of patients as fucking customers. The commercialization of healthcare really has you all fucked in the head.

No wonder you all treat us like shit and deal with sick and disabled people in vulnerable need as yet another entitled bitch annoying you with their whims like it happens in fucking retail. That mindset and behavior KILLS people. I hate you bitches so much.

[maxwellaut]

One of the really, really frustrating things about being autistic is that you feel like you spend your life trying to reach some sort of unattainable middle-ground:

- We’re criticised for not making enough conversation, but when we do actually really get in to a conversation we are told we’re ‘too intense’.

- We’re often trained to maintain unbroken eye-contact during conversations, yet in reality too much eye-contact is called ‘staring’ and makes people very, very uncomfortable. 

- We’re encouraged to ‘express’ ourselves more, yet our actual, genuine emotional reactions are usually deemed ‘innapropiate’ or ‘unnescessary’. 

- We’re told to be friendly and confident when approaching new people, but are then warned that we ‘come off too strong’.

- We are told to try and make interesting conversation, but are also taught that speaking about our interests will only ever annoy other people. 

- We’re asked to explain our difficulties and anxieties, only to be told that these explanations ‘make no sense’ or that our worries are unrealistic and invalid. 

- We’re expected to force ourselves in to social situations that feel overwhelming and draining yet still somehow remain friendly, good-tempered and pleasantly sociable. 

- We are encouraged to develop good self-esteem, while at the exact same time being taught that everything about us is wrong.

I don’t hate having autism - I’ve never hated having autism. But I do hate living with the never-ending pressure to attain this mythical ‘perfect’ level of social interaction that simply doesn’t exist in my case.  

[maxwellaut]

a while ago i attended this lecture on autism. guy in the audience said he had many of the symptoms that were presented and asked what should he do to get treatment and possibly a diagnosis. instead of answering his question the psychologist went on a tangent about how “the clinic reigns all powerful over guesswork”, and how actually it has become a trend amongst little children on the internet to claim that they are autistic for cool points, and that this hurts real autistic people. no she didn’t tell him how to get his symptoms looked into, she just made it very clear that to her, aknowledging your own symptoms is bad and evil and hurts the poor real mentally ill people.

an ex-friend of mine, then a psychology major and by now probably a full psychologist, once lectured me on how horrible and bad it was that i told her “i probably have some sort of neurodivergency”, and that if i were her patient she would never give me a diagnosis because “you aren’t like this now, but i know that if you get a diagnosis you’ll use it as an excuse to start treating people badly. that’s just how mentally ill people are.”

same ex-friend was extremely disgusted when she found out that fans sometimes make neurodivergency headcanons for characters that have the same symptoms as they do, and that authors sometimes write books with neurodivergent protagonists in stories that don’t focus on that (ex: she seemed horrified that percy jackson has adhd?)

multiple psychologists i’ve seen on facebook agree that they should refuse to treat patients that say “i’m here because i have symptoms of a disorder and wonder if i have it”, and that a patient should arrive to a psychologist as a blank slate.

school psychologist asked me how i was feeling about my trauma situation and i told him i thought my friends would leave me. instead of addressing the issue he said that that no i didn’t, that i was lying, that i had searched “bpd symptoms” online and now i was faking symptoms because i wanted to have bpd, that he shouldn’t have told me he suspected i had a personality disorder because now look what was happening. no, i didn’t search bpd symptoms online. yes, my friends left me, it was a completely founded belief and not a symptom, let alone a faked symptom.

so the next time you hear someone saying they’re “anti self-diagnosis” i want you to understand what they’re saying. what they’re saying is:

- i don’t want people to be aware of their own symptoms

- i don’t think my patients should have access to any information that doesn’t come from me

- i don’t think neurodivergent people should learn how to cope with their symptoms and live “normal” lives

- i think neurodivergent people should be denied a diagnosis because the moment they get one they will become evil and dangerous

- i don’t think people who don’t look like a stereotype could possibly be neurodivergent, even if they have all the symptoms, so i think they are faking it for attention and should be denied treatment

[maxwellaut]

My autistic son’s “fecal gut flora transplant” with a non autistic businessman went awry. He’s not autistic anymore, loves loud sounds and eye contact, rn he is sitting down to take the SAT but he’s a full blown sociopath now and i keep having to bury little graves in the backyard for all the pigeons. At least he’s cured

[maxwellaut]

whoever first decided that talking to yourself is weird was literally just a hater

[maxwellaut]

I think unintentional autistic representation is often much better, more realistic and more sympathetic, than intentional autistic representation. Because intentional autistic representation is usually shown from an NT perspective because they don’t care to consult us, whereas unintentional autistic representation is often written by autistic people who don’t know they’re autistic, so it’s more compassionate and more true to the real autistic experience. In my opinion.

non-autistic authors write autistic characters all the time. they just don’t realize it. they’d rather not admit it most of the time, either.

the thing is, non-autistic people have met autistic people more than enough times. however, due to their stereotypes about autism, they often can’t identify it as autism. they see something is up, but they can’t put their finger on just what is up.

so they see people like us and they know the ‘archetype’ which is autistic people. they write us all the time: airheaded professors, awkward nerds, pent up geniuses, etc.

when autistic people point out how strikingly obvious it is that this character is autistic, they usually deny it, or at best, they say the character is ‘if anything, extremely high functioning’, which is more of a kick in the gut than a confirmation. we hardly get those, either.

so, here’s the thing: there are some characters that are very obviously autistic to actual autistic people. pearl from steven universe and papyrus from undertale are two of the most agreed upon examples that i’ve seen. nearly ever autistic fan of steven universe i met says, “yeah, she’s autistic”, and the same goes for papyrus. 

when we, as a community, bring this up, however, we are shot down. “oh, he’s not autistic.” i once was told that - ironic as it was - my headcanoning papyrus as autistic offended autistic people or hurt autistic people. but i’m autistic and they weren’t. 

two autistic people were both agreeing - damn, this character is blatantly autistic - but non-autistic people felt the need to but in and say how horrible it was to “project” onto characters with such a horrible thing.

listen, if you aren’t autistic and you’re reading this -

if an autistic person says a character is autistic, can you just shut up about it?

because if you’ve watched any amount of tv, read any amount of books, whatever - if you’ve consumed stories, there are tons of autistic characters in them.

just because neither you nor the media’s creators knows shit about autism doesn’t mean that the character can’t be autistic.

either way, it’s none of your business.

we have little to none confirmed representation that isn’t terrible and inconsiderately offensively written. 

find something better to do with your time.

[maxwellaut]

Disabled Person: “I struggle with this.”

Ableist: “I don’t believe you. It’s not normal to struggle with that.”

Disabled Person: “I struggle with this because of a disability.”

Ableist: “I don’t believe you. Unless you’ve been diagnosed, you don’t have a disability.”

Disabled Person: “I struggle with this because of a diagnosed disability.”

Ableist: “I don’t believe you. You’re high functioning. Disabilities are overdiagnosed. You’re nothing like those low functioning people who actually struggle.”

[maxwellaut]

It’s impossible to analyse The Little Mermaid without at least taking into consideration the fact that the author of the original story, Hans Christian Andersen, was actually autistic. He also wrote The Ugly Duckling. Autistic themes are present throughout his works.

I hope im not just a blog you follow but also the only person with 100% correct opinions about the little mermaid

[maxwellaut]

[maxwellaut]

I tried to hate watch As We See It so I could critique its ableism and autistiphobia but I can’t even finish episode 1, it’s so infuriating. I will finish it and write all my thoughts from this ranty twitter thread out properly sometime, probably, I mean one day, most likely.

https://twitter.com/maxwellaut/status/1486387254809751553?s=21

[maxwellaut]

S25E05 - The Benes Mammoth

[maxwellaut]

i'll say it. capitalism has something to do with peoples assumptions that disabilities can easily go away or simply be not an issue when productivity is needed. example: when I was 17 I went to a government program that's supposed to help disabled people get jobs. I was told i'd have more luck being hired if I got better treatment...for a chronic condition I literally have no control over - a tremor in my hands. I can't magically stop myself from shaking so I make money more efficiently, but that's what people fucking expect I guess. idk, it's just such a sad society we live in, i'm not sure why I had to be born here. someone undo that.

[maxwellaut]

Why can’t multiple characters be autistic? I think Lily, Otis, Jean, Adam, Michael, Viv and maybe even Jackson could all be autistic, easily

Today’s Autistic character of the day is:

Lily Iglehart from Sex Education