#too many autistic people have been affected by this issue for me to do that

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

it's so interesting to me that mental health and neurodivergence have long been interests of mine, and I've always looked at them from an "outside" perspective. not in a sense that I've looked down on them or thought they were "other" or anything like that, but I've just... always thought they were something I had no personal connection to? something that I had a mostly-academic interest in and no real ties to lived experience with.

but in the last few years, I've come to the slow realization that... I think mental health struggles and neurodivergence possibly run in (both sides of) my family?? and most of my extended family from previous generations would NEVER admit to it because they come from a time and culture where those things are kept very private and just not something you talk about. 

but like, I'm fairly certain that OCD runs through one side of my family. I know that tics/Tourette's do. I suspect that AD(H)D might as well. I also know there's at least one cousin who's already been diagnosed with autism, and I can see pretty clear autistic traits in multiple other family members on that same side of the family, including myself and my mother (some of the reasons I think this: I was speaking in full advanced sentences at about 18 months old, reading college-level literature at 8-9 years old, and at different points had to have sit-down conversations with my parents about needing to make a deliberate effort to make eye contact and refraining from "compulsively" talking about and comparing everything to a special interest. I was actually formally banned from talking about one media series I loved for a whole week, because it was literally all I talked about, and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do at that point in my life. I struggled a lot with twitches/tics and repetitive behaviours when I was young; I still find it very easy to lapse back into those behaviours if I'm stressed or tired.) 

my mom has struggled with significant depression during various points of her life, as have I. at least one of my sisters has social anxiety; I suspect that my father does as well. I know one family member who likely has PTSD (due to experiences during military service) that's never been dealt with, and another (who was the victim of a violent crime) probably does, too.

and it's just... I've struggled to apply any of these labels to my own family because there's nothing official there. no doctors have assigned any titles or labels to us. I don't want to be the person who takes one college-level psych class and suddenly starts diagnosing everyone they know. but somehow, everything makes more sense when I start to look at the people around me, the ways they've been raised and have learned to operate in the world, and the ways that have in turn affected me, through these lenses? suddenly, we aren't just bizarre and dysfunctional, but our dysfunction has a rhyme and a reason.

and most importantly, I start to see hope. I see where the struggles and sins of my family members don't have to be repeated, where help can be asked for and received, because suddenly the real problems at the heart of all this mess have been uncovered, and instead of just trying to muscle through to prove my own worth, to show that I am worthy of a place in this world without needing any "special favours," I see where I can ask for grace and compassion and love and receive it.

[8rujaa]

i think i’m autistic… it has sent me into a major depressive episode not because I’m sad i might be, but because i’m sad that no one including myself realized… literally 100% of my being feels so validated when i realized it could be. i never even considered i could be autistic until i discovered what “masking” was. I’ve realized, everything I do is a mask, and the reason it’s difficult for me to live and coexist with my partners sometimes, even though i love them and wouldn’t want to be away from them, is because i’m masking 100% of the time trying not to seem cold or rude or unaffectionate bc i’m hyperaware of how i can come off…..

[olderthannetfic]

I was an undiagnosed autistic until after I graduated, so for a long time I had a lot of difficulty making friends, particularly in IRL spaces. By the time I was 16 literally every friend I had was online, and since the adults in my life weren't ideal, this online group was really the only support group I had. Unfortunately they were all antis, but they were never the aggressive kind, and I wasn't very well versed in anti/pro discourse at the time anyways, so I just dealt with it. I'd have fun with "problematic" stuff quietly and in private, and everything was alright.

At some point I came across a group of more aggressive antis, and the way that they treated artists in our shared fandom that they didn't like was so jarring to me. I ended up getting into it with them and they held a grudge against me for a long time after that, following and harassing me even after I cut ties and went on with my life with my original friend group. They just would not leave me alone no matter how much time had passed. I'd never seen that before and just tried to ignore them, but fuck were they persistent.

I'd been dealing with a lot more stress after this started, from a wide variety of IRL issues, and aside from not knowing I was autistic, I was also dealing with a lot of other random mental problems that I still don't really fully understand. I think all the stress in my life, from a lot of horrible things that I honestly think I might have PTSD from now, put me into some kind of paranoid mental break. I started behaving really erratically, very publicly. I know it was obvious because I'd constantly get concerned messages asking if I'm okay. People knew I was going through a lot and that I wasn't mentally stable.

With all that being said, this group of antis LOVED seeing me like this. It didn't matter what I was dealing with, that it was destroying my mental health. They had a grudge over some petty fiction stuff, were still upset that I told them off for harassing random people, and they used this fragile period of time for me to amp up their harassment and stalking. I started losing friends I'd trusted for reasons I couldn't understand, and it turned out they'd been telling them I wasn't trustworthy and that they should cut contact. They thought it was so much fun to feed into my pre-existing issues and make things worse.

I don't mean to trauma-dump or anything, so sorry if this is too heavy, but my point is that antis do not and will never care about how much they hurt someone, and that it's likely the entire point to begin with. Even the friends that supported me at the start ended up turning against me once I became too much of a social hazard to associate with. Even the ones who seemed like more "rational" antis, who never went out of their way to hurt anybody. They all turned out to be the same and it never made any difference what our history was or how important they knew they were to me.

It's not worth it to stay. It's never worth it to stay with people like that. Even to this day I'm amazed at how horribly these experiences affected me in the long-term. I go to therapy and end up talking about this period of time more than anything that happened during my childhood. Lots of people I trusted decided I wasn't worth the risk, not even because of anything I did, but just because I said harassment wasn't okay, and because I wasn't in a healthy state of mind. They saw my stress and paranoia and thought "Well, this isn't someone worth helping. People already don't like them. I don't want to throw away my social life for that." All over fiction. I still can't make friends anymore, this destroyed my ability to trust people. The isolation isn't worth the short-term friendships.

Everyone deserves better than that. If somebody is friends with antis... just leave. Trust me. Just get out.

--

What bullies want most is for you to cry in public.

We might not like to admit it, but deep in the core of many people is a seed of sadistic delight in public humiliation, and not the fun kind you do with consenting partners. When people feel small, when they lack control, when their real enemies are faceless or unreachable, they want something soft and defenseless and small to hurt.

Re your "friends", most people are cowards when it comes down to it.

The ones that aren't are 1. going to get harassed too and 2. are the sort of people who walk into that on purpose, which often means they're pretty confrontational and aggressive the rest of the time. Look at the life of any great activist whom we all thank from afar for what they did for our community... and you will often find a person who's not an easy or calm friend day to day. Not always, but not infrequently.

My actual friend friends that I can rely on are not only older but also usually out of the reach of the sort of people who send me death threats. I don't generally reveal their fandom names on here because it would bring a lot of nuisance down on their heads. (And, tbh, a lot of them are quasi-lurkers anyway.) The Fandom Olds you'll see openly associating with me on Tumblr generally have a cast iron stomach for wank and either like fighting or just find all the combatants so pathetically irrelevant that nothing's going to get through to them emotionally.

Antis do suck, but if you look at any sort of big fandom drama or even offline bullying, you'll see that many people will quietly slither away when the public ostracism of their "friend" gets too much. It's sadly not a property unique to antis.

Most would like to think of themselves as that fictional hero they love who stands up for the downtrodden no matter what the cost. Most are lying to themselves.

It doesn't stop me from being friendly to new people, but yes, I absolutely assume they will fold like wet tissue at the first sign of trouble, especially if I only know them online. They're not all mean people, just weak.

But yes, avoiding people such as antis who've openly told you they're hypocritical cowards with bad values is a step in the right direction.

[stardustto-dust]

Why you should vote Abed Nadir in the 2023 autism swag summit

I've seen people do this for other polls and it is vital that Abed Nadir from the 2009-2015 NBC comedy Community wins this one.

Vote him round one here.

Does he fit the first part of the statement? Yes, Abed is canonically autistic.

When he realised autistic fans related to him, creator Dan Harmon did as much research as he possibly could into autism as to not let those fans down.

While doing said research, Harmon realised himself was likely on the spectrum. Meaning that Abed is a canon autistic character created by an autistic person. How often does that happen?

Due to the above facts, he is a very well researched and developed autistic character, with both traits more commonly shown in the media, such as blunted affect and difficulties reading faces and less commonly shown traits, such as hyperempathy and sensory issues.

From the time Abed first appeared on screen to the present day, there have been many blog posts, magazine articles and even scholarly articles written about how good rep he is. I have seen him on many a neurodiversity advocacy Instagram account. (If you want me to link some I will!)

OK, we have established the autism. What about the swag? Well, first of all, as Donald Glover summarised it "Abed fucks". There is a whole episode dedicated to his friends trying to get him a girlfriend and worrying about his self-esteem and in the end it turns out he gets plenty of girls and, as he says, he has "self-esteem falling out (his) butthole." He also gets guys hitting on him. And how can we mention Abed without his boyfriend soulmate best friend Troy. who canonically wants to have his "gentle and mysterious" "other half"'s children. In short, bisexual king.

Of course, swag is not limited to just sexual and romantic prowess, as the amount of aroace people I know with limitless swag testifies to. Swag can also be measured by commitment to the bit, for example. And, boy, is Abed known for his commitment to the bit.

Abed is Batman, Han Solo and Jesus. He is a mafia boss. He is a cartoon man discovering the meaning of Christmas. He is the narrator and the cameraman. Like, not metaphorically or in archetype. He realises a need for these characters in the story and becomes them.

[GIF- Abed as Batman, applying lip balm, possessing undeniable amounts of swag]

9. "How does he realise the need for the these things in the story?" you may ask. Well, his special interest is film and TV. He is a filmmaker. Thus, he frames his life in terms of genre, often seeming aware of the fact he is in a sitcom. However, this often changes, and, the show branches off into completely different genres, which Abed points out. These shifts in genre explore character dynamics and also are super awesome. Abed is so genre-aware, he changes the entire genre of the show. That is swag.

10. The Community fandom here on Tumblr.com, and throughout the web, is quite small. It will make us very happy. Plus, for the first time in 8 years, there likely will be new Abed content this year, due to the release of the movie. (Due to one of Abed's many catchphrases "Six seasons and a movie!")

11. Please please please please I love him so much and i am very cool you should listen to me please please please.

So yeah, that's it! If you have anything to add, please do!

Click below for some Abed gifs.

[GIF- "Evil Abed" (Abed with a goatee and sunglasses) walking through his college being evil. He hangs up someone's payphone call, pops a girls balloon with his cigarette and then dumps said cigarette into a woman's coffee]

[GIF- Two gifs. One is of Troy, topless, leaning out of an airvent. He looks down and says "I love you". Next is of Abed, looking up at him. He says "I know", before being grabbed by a zombie in a kilt]

[GIF- Abed, wearing sunglasses, saying "movie reference". Jeff is there too and also wearing sunglasses]

[GIF- Abed saying "Cool. Cool cool cool"]

Ok there are so many more GIFs I want to put but I kinda have work soon lol. You get the gist, he is amazing. Vote Abed!

[snootlestheangel]

The Gaz/Soap Bromance

Y'all, I am 100% convinced that these two have like the best bromance in history.

Part of it is I believe Soap is super physically affectionate with the people he's closest to, and Gaz is one of them, as well as the one willing to put up with the most affection. Gaz just knows he's a target when he's laying on the couch. Price jokingly tells him to get a blanket with a target on it so Soap would know where to lay. Gaz is just chilling, talking to someone? Soap is there, leaning against him, sitting too close, etc. etc. I keep seeing a thing going around with Soap (platonically) kissing the 141 members and friends (if y'all know where/who started this please let me know), and I'm just thinking about Soap and Gaz being Like That. Just constantly "flirting" with each other, just lil smooches here and there, so many hugs that last a little longer than deemed appropriate.

Gaz knows how to comfort Soap when he's experiencing ~issues~ with the ADHD (I don't have it, but I am autistic and I've seen many things that ADHD people struggle with that I can relate to). Gaz just knows how to help him with boredom, how to help him with overstimulation, how to make sure he takes care of himself when he's having bad days, etc. They almost always do their workouts together, spotting for the other, and keeping each other company. They're almost never apart, even doing the most mundane tasks. Gaz can be cleaning his rifle and Soap is sitting on the table, rambling about something his mom told him the last time he called her.

It gets to the point that people think they're a couple, and Gaz panics when he hears that. Ghost and Soap are together, and it's not like they are trying to hide it, it's just Ghost is emotionally constipated and doesn't know how to show affection, especially in the presence of people he's not familiar with (aka the recruits). Soap, Gaz, and Price all know when he's being affectionate towards Soap because they know he doesn't show it the same way. Yeah, Soap is still physically affectionate towards him, but he also understands that Ghost has boundaries and doesn't like being touched that much (he does, just not in public if you catch my drift ;) teehee). He suddenly distances himself from Soap, who has a breakdown over it. I mean, that's his best friend! What did he do wrong? Ghost has to convince him it's not his fault, blah blah blah, and when Soap finally calms down enough to fall asleep, Ghost is hunting Gaz down.

Not because he suddenly became distant towards Soap. At least, not in the way you might think. He is going to berate Gaz for this, but not because "That's not how you should react to the rumors about you and Soap. You really hurt Soap, how could you do that?". NO, that's not AT ALL how Ghost reacts. Ghost is instead so distraught, not for Soap, but for Gaz. He knows how important Gaz's friendship is to Soap, and vice versa. He and Gaz have never really talked about Ghost and Soap being together, and Ghost is scared that Gaz has always been expecting Ghost to try and cut Gaz out of Soap's life.

But instead, Ghost apologizes. He apologizes on behalf of the dumb recruits that started the rumor. He apologizes on behalf of himself and Price for not putting a stop to it sooner. But most importantly, he apologizes as Soap's lover. He's sorry that Gaz felt Ghost would want him gone, but it can't be further from the truth.

"I need you in my life as much as Soap does. You have been there for him when I can't be, you match his energy when no one else can. You keep him grounded without making him feel like a burden. He needs you despite having me. I can't replace what the two of you have, that's not my relationship with him. I'm there as his lover, you're there as his brother. And I need you because I can walk away from base to go on mission without him and not be scared. Not be afraid that something's going to happen to my Johnny while I'm gone. I can feel safe leaving him behind because I know he's safe with you. I know he's got someone that loves him and will lay down their life for him. Johnny is not just for me to love, his heart's too big for just me." -Ghost when he finally catches Gaz.

Gaz and Ghost being fiercely protective of Soap after that. Gaz and Soap continue being themselves, safe and comfortable, while Ghost watches with a smile behind his mask. Gaz shuts down every accusation that he and Soap are together, fiercely defending the idea that men can be vulnerable with someone and not have to be sleeping with them. He defends their friendship by pointing out all the shit they've been through together, how they're a family Gaz has never had.

And maybe, yeah, Ghost gets a bit more possessive of his Johnny, and maybe it's encouraged by Gaz. And maybe, just maybe, Soap feels so incredibly safe to hug and love on the people in his life for the first time in a really long time.

And Soap is content. He's got the greatest friend a man could ask for, the most incredible lover anyone could desire, and a good family.

And Gaz is happy. He only wants the best for Soap at all costs, and seeing him being joyful because of Ghost gives him so much satisfaction, like he's finally done something right with his life.

And Ghost is at peace. He has someone to hold when it's dark out and the demons in his head are getting to be too much. He's got this radiant bolt of energy at his side. But he also can rest easy knowing that Johnny, his Johnny, is safe and happy. He's safe with or without Ghost on base because he's got Gaz. Ghost has another person he'd give his life for if that meant he could guarantee Soap's safety.

And Price? Price is just happy his boys are getting along. That is, until Soap and Gaz drag Ghost into their shenanigans and leave Price graying faster than he should.

[birdofmay]

FAQ

"Sometimes I listen to people and my brain can't make sense of what they say, what's that?" - Maybe....

an ADHD thing

a sensory overload thing

receptive language issues

auditory processing disorder

aphasia

...or check out how language processing and auditory processing works in general, autism can make these things hard without it being an additional disorder ☝🏼

"What's CAS?"

Childhood apraxia of speech (also known as Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia) is a condition where individuals struggle to "let their mouth do what their brain wants" - it's as if mouth and brain don't cooperate

It comes in mild and severe cases and is lifelong

Normally language comprehension isn't impaired, it's just speaking that doesn't work

Check this external Cleveland Clinic link that explains it very well

"Are apraxia and dyspraxia the same? Can regular dyspraxia affect the mouth?"

Apraxia and childhood apraxia of speech aren't the same; usually apraxia is due to brain damage of some kind, and CAS isn't. Dyspraxia often is used to refer to developmental conditions, which is why CAS is also called developmental verbal dyspraxia. Unfortunately, apraxia and dyspraxia are often used interchangeably, so it's necessary to always make it clear what we mean first.

There also is a second definition of dyspraxia and apraxia: dys- means something is impaired and a- means that it's impossible to do/absent. This, again, is why it's important to make it clear what we mean. Medical settings use all of these definitions - yep, that's kind of chaotic 😅

Even though I've never read of it in medical sources, normal dyspraxia can definitely affect the mouth and the whole face. My sources are people I know from disability programs and therapy, so for some reason there are first-hand experiences but no official sources. 🤔

Many people with CAS have normal dyspraxia too (as two different diagnoses), but not everyone.

Yes, CAS can affect fine- and gross motor skills, but that doesn't always make it regular dyspraxia too

"I don't know what my verbality level would be considered!"

Me neither! But check out my masterpost

and don't forget that "unreliably speaking" is for people with "full body apraxia" to describe the brain-body disconnect only.

"I've heard that we shouldn't say "going nonverbal", what other words can we say instead?"

Here, a nice little list!

"I don't know my autism level!"

Me neither, only the DSM-5 has autism levels, I don't have an autism level either.

I was diagnosed with severe autism because they made me take several additional "severity tests" after the normal diagnostic tests.

If your country uses the DSM-5, maybe you've been diagnosed when they still used the DSM-4.

"I don't know what support needs I'd be considered!"

Me neither, but check out my support needs masterpost:

A "general rule of thumb" is "Help with IADLs = low support needs, help with IADLs and some BADLs = medium support needs, help with IADLs and most or all BADLs = high support needs", but these categories aren't as strict as they seem.

Do you have care needs? No? Then you're not high support needs, you're most likely low or low-to-mid support needs.

My country re-assesses my support needs regularly; if you're medium or high support needs and weren't medically neglected your whole life, you'd normally know that you're medium or high support needs already, because that's tested (if you're not sure, check the documents). But testing is different from country to country.

Unless, of course, something happened recently that you now suddenly need a lot of help, definitely more than before. In this case there likely wasn't any testing yet. But in that case I can't help you either, because I don't test you.

Note because this still is a common misunderstanding: The DSM-5 says for example "Autism level 1: Requires support", but the support that's meant there has nothing to do with the support needs we're talking about in this and in the linked post. It's a little unfortunate that both say "support" because people always think it's the same when it really really isn't ☝🏼

"How should people who want to be friends with you in real life act, so that you're not overwhelmed?"

see, that's the main difference between my (severe) autism and most people on Tumblr. I'm not interested in real life friends. Chatting via messenger is the most relaxing kind of communication for me. I have one(1) friend in real life and we never meet, which is why we're friends.

My parents, carers, accompanying people, etc. tell others exactly what to do or not to do so that I'm not overwhelmed. But you'd mostly speak to them instead of me anyway because direct contact is overwhelming.

"What's your opinion on this term/view/discourse/political topic/debate? Is [thing] offensive?"

I have a language disorder that makes it hard to understand the meaning of things and to connect the word to the meaning of the word. Unless it's a thing of my everyday life, I most likely won't understand this thing or I don't know anything about it.

I may sound quite articulate on here, but I have brain damage from birth; there are many things I don't understand, especially if it's in complex language.

I don't understand politics or money, and I don't understand laws on disability, unless they affect me personally and are those of my country.

"How do you know so much about metal? 😮"

Both of my parents AND grandparents are metalheads; my "holiday long car rides" childhood nostalgia songs are mostly Thrash Metal and worse.

While my dad isn't autistic, he's definitely the one I got it from. He has hyperfixated on metal and metal bands since metal came into existence. And he loves to infodump.

Discovering new music is one of my interests. Music is my way to socialise and to understand the world, so when my family still was my only social contact, of course all of this research energy would flow into metal 😄

[soullessjack]

so one of my other problems with babyjack is that the fandom just seems to have this sort of collective cognitive dissonance about it, in almost any context or discussion. like this post as probably my only standing example (bc it’s the only one to have gotten traction), there are all these tags about how babyjack leads to bad dean criticism, or how it’s nice in aus but they want canon complex jack, and like I’m not entirely disagreeing with that, but it is so fucking frustrating that people are still ignoring the actual problem with it and either only focusing on the most surface level issues that personally affect them or their corner of the fandom, or making up some point of acceptability for it that frankly isn’t theirs to make.

it’s the autistic experience of our struggles never being seen or cared about until they become other people’s inconveniences, and our voices being used to say something else entirely. when the main takeaway of that post is how the fandom’s treatment of jack being in a way he’s explicitly shown to hate being treated directly mirrors autistic people’s struggle for autonomy in the real world, I really do not need you to make it about how it makes your golden website boy dean look like a big meanie pants, okay? that’s definitely a part of it, but it’s not at all what we are talking about, and it 100% should not be the only reason you care.

and especially when the other takeaway is how this is just a smaller scale issue that comes from autistic infantilization, the absolute last take I want to hear is that you find that infantilization acceptable as long it’s an AU or something else separated from canon. believe me, I’m beyond glad more people actually prefer canon complex jack—like, I don’t think you guys understand that that is legitimately a rarity to find here— but the thing about babyjack is that the concept itself is inherently ableist, and directly relies on his complexities (and the representation he means for us) being removed and erased so that he can even exist in the context of those AU’s. It feels very… ‘have your cake and eat it too’ to me.

I’m trying not to sound angry or accusatory, but I am also tired of having to force civility on a problem that’s pretty much just an open secret thar everyone collectively ignores and beats bushes around solely because they prioritize #domesticdestiel over all. I mean, do you guys even hear yourselves sometimes? Like half of it just boils down to “Autistic infantilization is always bad, except for this one context where it makes my ship look domestic and redeems my blorbo,” and it’s getting really fucking annoying to have to constantly explain something that is not only painfully easy to understand, but is understood and actively ignored, and still play nice so that somebody out there might listen.

So many people will say they like canon Jack and want more of him from the fandom, and I more than agree, but motherfucker you have a blog! You have the tools! Be the change you want to see! He doesn’t have to be your fav or your blog thesis blorbo, but if you want it, you are literally fully equipped to make it! Write some meta, draw some fanart, whatever. Better yet, you could even stop engaging with and perpetuating content that actively pushes down on what you want and, I must reiterate, is actively harmful and ableist. If you want domestic silliness go right ahead, but you don’t need to resort to ableism to do it.

I don’t think I’m asking too much or asking rudely, and frankly I don’t even think I owe niceties to anyone when it’s a problem that has been openly ignored for 6 years and holds plenty of bearing in the real world concerning my identity and community and shit we face constantly. Outside of our screens, we are constantly fighting for autonomy and recognition and representation, and even to be seen as people. Online spaces, especially fandom spaces, are a huge source of escapism and support that we wouldn’t get otherwise. So for the love of god, please stop bringing that fight here.

[zebulontheplanet]

Please don’t answer if it’s too personal, but I was wondering, how does your ID affect your day-to-day life?

Hey anon! So, ID doesn’t exactly affect me like other disorders. It’s like just an extra add on. Things blend together. It doesn’t have set like symptoms that cause issues for me, it just makes things more complicated. but it causes some issues that do affect my daily life and I know this because it’s been explained to me by my Neuropsych and from my mother who has been told from my neuropsych.

It affects my learning. I cannot learn like other people. It affects how I process information. It takes me like 10x longer and more times to process things. While a normal person it only takes them so and so many times to get something sorted into their brain, it takes me a LOT longer and I have to be exposed to it a LOT more.

It also affects how I take things in. Like complicated topics, like politics for example. I don’t get most politics and I don’t involve myself a lot with it for that reason.

ID itself, can also affects how people do their ADLs. It definitely affects this, but there’s no way of really telling because I’m also autistic and have medium support needs.

ID for me overlaps with so many things. It’s hard to tell. I can’t just say “yes this is totally my ID” or “yes this thing I can’t do is totally ID” I have autism, and learning disabilities, and other issues. So things just sorta blend together. My neuropsych knows more than me because he’s studied what I can do and has his own theories and experiences.

[cripple-council]

Do you think there's a particular reason why it's people with ADHD mostly/a lot jumping on the cpunk stuff?? I dunno it's just weird.

Had it happen irl too. Jokingly told a friend who has always been fine before btw that "using my cane as a sword to force the docs to give me the meds I need to literally live and not be in massive pain is very cpunk" and they seemed I dunno, unreasonably upset by the joke and indicated that like Adderall was the same as the stuff that keeps me alive and they would never resort to violence but also I don't understand how hard it is for them to not be in Adderall. I was like...???¿

For my friend at least I think it's a strange kind of FOMO with cpunk stuff rather than ableism but I dunno about the rest -shrug-

from my experience they seem to think it’s some kind of cool club where we (the mean cripples) won’t let them join bc “we thing they’re not disabled enough”. which is. untrue.

we are fully aware they are also disabled, just not physically, which is the criteria to join the movement lmao

i also feel like many of them discount our experiences with mental illness and neurodiversity as well in all of this discourse. i think it’s funny getting told “u won’t let me in bc u hate ppl with adhd!!!” or “you’re just ableist to autistics!!!” as if i don’t have both of those and more.

honestly probably a combo of FOMO, wanting to fight/get into discourse to fulfill something in their lives, wanting to be seen as more disabled then u actually are (which is an issue in all disability communities especially when that internalised ableism starts to affect other disabled ppl) and generally just. some ppl are rude as fuck for no reason.

[fdelopera]

An Autistic Perspective on Moon Knight (or, Why Steven Grant is not the only autistic alter)

Sooo Moon Knight really hit me hard. Especially as an autistic person. It hit me so hard, in fact, that it’s brought me back from my Tumblr hiatus. (I haven’t posted since 2018? what???) It was euphoric for me to see an autistic character operate as a superhero within the MCU. Especially Steven. Though Marc and Jake are also autistic — we’ll get to that.

Steven Grant as the audience surrogate wasn’t written as autistic in Jeremy Slater’s original script for the series, but Oscar Isaac took one look at him and basically said, “I’ll relate to this guy more if he’s on the spectrum.” As an autistic person, I actually love that. This choice doesn’t feel exploitative to me, like Rain Man does, for instance; instead, it feels like I’m being seen. I found it meaningful hearing Oscar Isaac say that part of his way into figuring out this role was through delving into a character who happens to be on the spectrum.

I will say that at least to my eye, Oscar Isaac has created a reasonably authentic on-screen portrayal of an autistic character, at least compared to the typical overblown Sheldon Cooper-style of characterization. It is also amazing to see an autistic superhero who is capable, courageous, and strong, even in their most vulnerable moments. Too often, we are portrayed in media as being incapable of having agency within our own lives.

So, in the future, I want to rewatch Moon Knight and analyze the scenes that were particularly impactful for me from the perspective of autistic experience.

But for this post, I want to talk about autism within the context of trauma and mental health. There is an important distinction to be made between Autism Spectrum Disorder and DID in relation to this show, and I haven’t seen a lot of people discussing it in depth.

I am writing this analysis because I believe that an autistic perspective can add some context to certain crucial aspects of this show.

I also want to acknowledge that there is a high degree of co-occurrence between autism and dissociative conditions, including DID. The extreme and constant overwhelm caused by our autistic neurology can lead to dissociative coping mechanisms.

For example, in addition to being autistic, I also depersonalize and derealize, which stems from my sensory processing and social processing issues. Ever since childhood, I dissociate when my nervous system gets too jangled and I’m unable to process the chaos of the world around me.

If Steven Is Autistic, So Are Marc and Jake (and here's why):

I've been seeing a lot of people online celebrating Steven as an autistic character, as in, “Steven Grant is the MCU’s first canonically autistic superhero!” Now, don’t get me wrong, Steven totally is a well-portrayed autistic character; however, I haven’t seen very many people involving Marc and Jake within that discussion of on-screen portrayals of autism.

But if Steven is meant to be on the spectrum, Marc and Jake should be recognized as being on the spectrum as well.

To treat Steven as the only alter who is autistic can inadvertently raise the specter (pun intended) of a harmful and outdated theory on the cause of autism.

So, I want to address two questions: What does (and doesn’t) cause autism? And why are Marc and Jake also on the spectrum if Steven is?

1. Autism Is Epigenetic:

Autism is a genetically inherited neurological variation. It is epigenetic, meaning that there are both genetic and environmental factors that affect each individual’s experience of autism, but you can’t “become” autistic without the genetic factors being present. And if you do have the epigenetic makeup for autism, it is likely that you will have some degree of autistic experience. We still don’t know exactly what this epigenetic makeup is, and I for one hope that we never find out, because Autism $peaks is ready with pitchforks and a eugenics campaign to remove us from humanity as soon as this discovery is made.

Autism’s etiology is not trauma-based. In other words, traumatic experiences can’t “make” someone autistic. However, back in the 1940s, Freudian psychiatrists Bruno Bettelheim and Leo Kanner came up with the “refrigerator mother” theory of autism (they applied it to schizophrenia, as well). They believed that if a mother was neglectful or abusive towards a young child and withheld her love during a critical developmental period, she could cause her child to become autistic. They believed that autistic people could be “cured” of their autism with the right amount of psychoanalysis. These psychiatrists and their disciples subjected countless autistic people to this “treatment” (i.e., torture) for decades.

The "refrigerator mother" theory of autism (and schizophrenia) has since been disproven. The theory was finally rejected in the 1990s when studies of identical twins showed that autism has a high degree of heritability (current research shows that autism’s heritability may be as high as 90%). If you are autistic, the environment (i.e., the people, places, and things around you) will shape your experience of autism, but your environment alone can't “make” you autistic if you don’t have the genetic predisposition for it.

2. If a System Is Autistic, Each Alter Can Have a Unique Experience of Autism:

To frame all of this within the context of Moon Knight, Wendy Spector’s abuse couldn’t “cause” autism within Marc’s system. To put it more bluntly, trauma couldn’t “make” one alter autistic (i.e., Steven), while the rest of the system remained completely allistic.

I know that a lot of you know this; I’ve just seen some troubling posts about this online from people who are neither a system nor autistic, and I needed to say something. Steven isn’t “the MCU’s first canonically autistic superhero” — the system is.

If we describe Steven as autistic, it’s important to acknowledge Marc, Jake, and the other alters within the system as autistic, as well. They would each have their own unique experiences of autism.

Now, there is a whole other discussion to be had about whether the writers and directors of Moon Knight knew this (that’s a big topic for another time). However, my understanding from listening to Oscar Isaac’s interviews and watching his performance is that his intent was to portray the system as neurodivergent, and not just Steven.

As portrayed in the show, Steven seems to do the least amount of masking (i.e., learned behaviors that hide autistic traits in order to protect the individual from harm), which makes him “appear” more autistic to an outside observer.

Within Marc’s portrayal, he seems to have learned to mask more consistently (which would make sense, since he protects Steven physically), and so he behaves in a way that could be interpreted as more allistic. 

EDIT: On further re-watches of Moon Knight, while Marc often protects Steven physically, Steven is more of Marc’s emotional and spiritual protector, as I write about in this post. Marc is more of a trauma holder, and he may mask to keep people at bay to avoid further trauma.

As for Jake, it’s hard to tell his degree of masking, since we see him for only a few brief scenes. But extrapolating from his role as an physical and emotional protector in the system, it’s possible that he has learned to mask quite effectively, as well.

As we grow older, many of us autistics learn to mask quite convincingly, myself included. Masking is exhausting, and I hate it, but for me it is what is necessary to have a job. A few people that I work with know that I’m autistic, but most don’t, and I’m careful about who I tell. It also helps that I run my own business, and so I have some say in the clients that I choose to work with.

In the future, I want to talk about scenes from the series that spoke to me as an autistc person, and I'll include Steven, Marc, and Jake in that analysis. There are so many moments where Oscar Isaac makes character choices that resonate with me from an autistic perspective. But that’s for another time. Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. :P

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I really don't want to seem like a terrible person and I'm still trying to better understand the topic, but I want to talk about my situation with Entrapta. When I was watching She-ra, I didn't know that she was autistic. I didn't know much about autism at all. And I was genuinely annoyed that Entrapta was behaving quite childishly, that she had so easily switched to the side of evil, and so on. I had no idea why she was doing this. Only after understanding the issue a little, I was able to justify for myself many of her actions, and I felt uncomfortable with the actions of the princesses, although initially I understood their irritation very well. And I think it would be better to She-Ra to show the problem of ignorance about autism by making it so that the princesses did not know about Entrapta's autism, did not know how it affects her, like it was with me. Initially, they would have seen Entrapta as a person who just doesn't care about them, so they also didn't really want to get close to her. But having learned from her that she sincerely wants to be useful to them because she just wants to be friends, but because is difficult for her to understand other people she cannot express the way princesses are used to, they would sincerely apologize and start looking for ways to get closer to Entrapta, realizing that she is different from them, but does not wish harm. And it would definitely be worth removing many of the disgusting moments from the show (such as the moment with the leash) too. Yes, it would probably be quite naive and childish, but the whole She-ra is not mature in general.

Maybe I forgot some moments because I have no desire to rewatch this mess. And I'm sure that ideally it would be better to show an initially normal and adequate attitude to Entrapta, but I just wanted to tell about the situation from a slightly different angle.

And I'm very sorry if I made any mistakes in understanding autism and said something wrong, I just recently started to understand this topic and still may not fully understand

don't worry, you're not a terrible person! it's already a good thing that you're willing to learn more about autism and correct yourself if necessary, not many people do that! and i get your point, i think it's natural for a lot of allistic people to get irritated at autistic people, because they don't know much about autism.

if the princesses were just kinda rude to entrapta, i wouldn't think much of it. but putting someone on a leash and dragging them around is a horrible thing to do to anyone, regardless of how annoying they are. there were a lot of other annoying characters in the show (like seahawk) who wasn't treated the same way entrapta was. it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

and yes, it would have definitely been a better choice to let the princesses realize their mistakes and try to be better friends to entrapta. but then again, spop sucks at writing good character development and healthy relationships. sure, mermista is kinda nice to entrapta in the end but that's only because entrapta proved to be useful, not because they like her for who she is.

this show is really not as progressive as it claims, and you'll start to see the cracks once you watch it with a more critical eye.

[cairi-fruit]

Nadine Ross is often characterized as butch/a stud, especially when compared to Chloe in their relationship… because she’s a black, muscular dark skinned woman. Am I gonna talk about this???

I guess I chose violence today, especially since I rarely text post on here, mostly jokes and ideas when I do, but this is has been on my mind for years tbh. I know people often talk about persons trying to fit queer relationships in a heteronormative lens, making one partner seem more masc and one seem more fem, when that may be the case sometimes, but sometimes partners are also equally fem, equally masc, equally stem etc. Its also the case that black/dark skinned characters are often painted with the masc brush more.

I’m a black dark skinned sapphic. Hi. Maybe I’m projecting? (I mean I project autism onto Nadine too as an autist myself, heyo.) Personally, I don’t see much of a reason in canon to assume Nadine is butch or a stud, she’s not dressed super fem whenever we see her, but we literally only see her when she’s working. It’s in her character to dress practically while Chloe is more chill about that sort of thing. Sure she wears a pantsuit instead of a dress in Italy (uncharted 4) but she was still working and expected worse than Rafe did. Pantsuit is still practical there. She still did her make up and wore cute rings tho. I just don’t see why some people characterize her as allergic to make up, or dresses, or feminine underwear or anything of a similar sort.

Don’t take this as me having an issue with studs or more masc presenting black women, I love them I’m friends with many irl. But as a black woman I can speak to the way black and dark skinned women are often kept from femininity, that femininity is more closely tied to pale skin, “neat” (ie long flowing straight) hair, daintier fames and Eurocentric facial features which Nadine has none of, neither do I. I don’t expect the people who this post will reach to be the ones who still to this day call Nadine trans slurs even because she dares to be muscular (something I have also dealt with irl and showing my face online in the past), but I can’t help but wonder how her race affects this when those people often use racialised language as well.

Think of how women are often slut shamed for what they wear, based on their unchangeable body more than the clothing itself. A thin white woman in a camisole and shorts is comfortable, and a curvy large chested, big booty black woman in the same outfit is a thot. It’s kinda similar in that way, that a small framed white (or lighter skinned, straight haired) woman in a simple shirt and pants is just wearing basic clothes, but a black woman in the same outfit is butch. The way black women who are anything other than HYPER fem with long acrylics, wigs/weaves/braids, complex pretty dresses (which are ALL lovely don’t get it twisted) are immediately coined a masc is just… weird to me. It’s like we have to put more effort into proving we are women and can be feminine too.

If you ask me Chloe and Nadine come across equally stem, I don’t see either of them more or less likely to engage in traditional femininity than the other. Even simple things like the fact that many people write/draw Nadine as taller than Chloe, when being taller is associated with masculinity when Chloe is canonically 5’8 and Nadine is only 5’5. So I begin to wonder why no one portrays Chloe as possibly being more masc in turn. Or even Elena, who we only see look pretty “fem” or whatever, opposed to practical, in her wedding photos.

TLDR: Ask yourself why you might picture Nadine as being more masc than Chloe. Is it just a fun headcanon? Is it seeing yourself in her character? Is there reason you believe that cause of things she actually says and does in Uncharted? Or if it was reversed, that Chloe, or he’ll even a white woman acted the same way as Nadine, dressed the same way as Nadine, would you still assume that she was butch? Or does her hair, build and skin tone add to why she comes across more masculine, because this is a thing many black women, especially sapphics, who don’t present as hyperfem have to deal with irl, myself included. We are often perceived as more masculine, trying/wanting to be men, being called trans slurs or being seen as too masculine in our bodies to be AFAB/being “transvestigated” (which people do do to Nadine), all these things that try to keep us at an arms length from womanhood and femininity. So keep those things in mind when you portray a character (particularly in transformative work, your own OC is a little different).

[kandadara]

Twyla Appreciation Ramblings

Warning: Long

For as long as I've been into Monster High, Twyla has always been my favorite character. So let's talk about her.

Gen 3 Twyla is confirmed to have autism, as evidenced from her music video, the singer from said video posting it on Instagram who is also autistic, and having an autistic VA (according to IMDB). A lot of autistic people relate to Twyla and I'm glad that neurodivergent conditions such as autism are getting positive representation.

Though, it makes me wonder some things, especially about mental health.

I know this is a kids show, so maybe I'm making this too complicated, but I hope they'll incorporate mental health somehow, especially since this sort of thing affects so many. The subject is a delicate one, but even so, it is still important and shouldn't be stigmatized the way it is in our society.

Getting a little personal, as someone who has severe social anxiety and avoidant personality disorder, plus being on the introverted side, I could also see a lot of myself in Twyla as well and her character resonated within me. I don't know if I have ADHD and/or Autism or not, as there's a long history of me being diagnosed and misdiagnosed with a plethora of things since childhood, so I remain unsure of what all I may have anymore, but one, both, or neither are still possible. With that said, I'm still technically considered neurodivergent as I have OCD, which falls under the neurodivergence umbrella. Regardless, Twyla is a comfort character to me and always will be.

Now back to Twyla...

While this could just be me overanalyzing her character and going into headcanon territory (though let's be real, it's fun), her character is enjoyable for me to write and I love adding depth to her. I could see Twyla also having social anxiety and/or avoidant personality disorder, as she is painfully shy. Even for Gen 3, I could still see this being the case, alongside having autism. These sorts of things can and do co-occur. With that said, I'm no psychology expert, but I do try to do my research before trying to incorporate things like mental health issues and psychology into my writings.

This is all my opinion, but I'll share my take on Gen 1 Twyla, though these could still apply to the Gen 2 and Gen 3 versions of her as well.

The way I see Twyla is she's a shy, sweet, and introverted ghoul who prefers to keep to the shadows, finding solace in solitude. An introspective and contemplative sort that is prone to daydreaming, but has a good intuition nonetheless. She's a peaceful and gentle girl who likes to help people from the shadows, like an invisible ally. She always seemed rather innocent to me and I can see her being idealistic to an extent, thinking very much about what could be, especially in regards to a harmonious future for all monsters and normies alike. Though, deep down, I could imagine she feels a bit lonely and misunderstood, afraid to get close to people for fear of being rejected/judged/hurt and finds social situations difficult, but she still wants someone to understand her sincerest self. According to her profile in Gen 1, her favorite class is psychology, so I imagine she's also a curious type that likes to know the why behind things as it eases her mind and likes to read a bunch on various topics, including history (as seen in Gen 3). In her 13 Wishes diary, it is implied she doesn't entirely accept herself as she refers to herself as "bad" and "terrible", suggesting a struggle with self-confidence and self-esteem. More than anything, I think she wants to be able to be herself and live her truth, but also wants to be loved truly as herself by those closest to her so she feels conflicted at times. I see all this in Twyla and more, I could write plenty more, but I will leave it at this for now.

I feel many people can relate to these things rather well, just like I do.

As an older fan, I'm likely always going to be partial to Gen 1, but I look forward to seeing where this version of Twyla's story goes and how she'll be portrayed. Hope y'all enjoyed reading this post and ramble.

(PS: Unrelated, but the way her hands flap as she's reading those books is just too cute!)

[neon-moon-beam]

Addressing Ableism In The Submas Fandom And Its Impact Again

The fact that I know multiple neurodivergent people who have bad feelings arise from seeing any content, including official, of Warden Ingo due to an influx people turning the Submas fandom into an ableist playground in the wake of PLA speaks volumes.

Before I continue, I want to stress: I am not calling anyone in particular out.

Unknowingly making ableist content does not make you a bad person. Everyone still has things to learn, everyone has room for change and growth. Self-education and critical thinking are very important here (and everywhere). A desire to correct a mistake, change, and grow from it is better all around than digging your heels in and refusing to budge or listen.

I am not responsible for bad faith interpretations or other potential misinterpretations of me addressing these issues that have personally affected friends, acquaintances, and myself, should people choose to make these interpretations.

I am also not responsible for the reading comprehension or critical thinking skills of others. If you don’t read the entire post and choose to be reactionary towards it, including making assumptions about what was said or putting words in my mouth, I am not at fault.

Bl*nkshippers are not welcome on my content.

I can't begin to forgive the contingency of the fandom that made neurodivergent people feel unwelcome and alienated in their own space, and made them wonder if other Submas fans, or even people in general, even see them as human.

Given that it’s widely accepted that Ingo and Emmet are autistic-coded characters, the fandom could have been a safer and enjoyable space for neurodivergent (but especially autistic) people. It could have even been a refuge for people upset by the uncertainty we were left with due to PLA being incomplete. Instead, a large contingency of fans took one look at Submas and went "how sad/unhinged/angsty can I make the train blorbos?" and decided disability, trauma, and mental illness were acceptable to use as props.

To the people who have been doing things along these lines (but with especially Emmet!);  this tells neurodivergent people that you think they're unhinged, will hurt others if given an opening to do so, and portraying Ingo and/or Emmet as never having been human, turned into something nonhuman (as in Submas is singled out as nonhuman, and NOT in something like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon AU or other AU where everyone is not human), or otherwise being not in control of their own actions is telling neurodivergent people that you don't even see them as human. And yes, you can be sending this message even if you yourself are neurodivergent!

Because of all this, I now know multiple people who do not want to see any content involving Warden Ingo, or PLA at all due to the negative association from the fandom, and even some who have stopped engaging with Submas in varying degrees.

I've made it very clear in other posts that I don't like how fandom is on tumblr for many reasons and that I do not consider myself part of the Submas fandom. But the Submas fandom has further turned me off to fandom as a whole, and I currently do not wish to engage with PLA content outside of making reassurance posts compiling evidence Ingo will or has gone home.

My roommate barely posts Submas art anymore because the pervasive ableism got to be too much. This is saying something considering she’s the author of the Submas primer many people, probably including many of those making ableist content, reblogged. She’s also the author of a post detailing Submas as autistic-coded characters. She’s been alienated from a community that she had provided a ton of research for! Please think about that for a second.

Other people don’t want to see Submas interacting with certain characters ever again (namely Volo), because of the ableist content created around their interactions, or even ships.

And if you’ve been around since at least PLA, you may have noticed that there are a few people who frequently posted about Submas as well as the ableism, who haven’t engaged with Submas content in a long time.

Fandom shouldn’t become an alienating or even hostile space for people who just want wholesome or comforting content, or simply want to see characters they like or even find representation in NOT being treated as ableist puppets or being so ooc with angst and ableism they’ve essentially become the artist or writer’s OCs. But unfortunately that's the track the Submas fandom seems to frequently head down in the wake of PLA.

If you’d like more info about the ableism that has been going on in Submas fan content, there is a list of posts here, but this is by no means exhaustive.

This is a post I previously referenced in one of my posts about the ableism about the issue of making Emmet violent and traumatized for entertainment purposes and why it’s problematic to use trauma as a prop.

And here is a post I made (with my roommate’s addition) addressing the issue of people thinking ableist portrayals aren’t harmful or don’t have an impact on real people.

And if you’re going to continue to make ableist content of Submas (or any other fandom) without any regard as to how your work impacts others, then there isn’t much anyone can do. But don’t be surprised if people choose not to engage with you or your content.

Thank you for your consideration.

[birdofmay]

My country has very little autism awareness, so I thought I'm one of the lower support needs ones. Then I saw people in the tags here. I'm so confused by them. They need explanation for things I thought are basic common autism traits. There's so many of these people, and I don't know if it's me who's more affected than I thought, or if that crowd is just really big here for some reason. 🤔 Probably both, but I feel weird about their overwhelming presence here.

What tags do you mean, like, what post? 😂

"The crowd" here are mostly people who are confused by many different countries and regulations clashing. School systems are different, disability regulations are different, the diagnosis manuals are different, the definition of what a disability is is different, etc. And then everyone has their own experience that can be very different from everyone else.

Autistics who are good with languages and who are logical thinkers have very different struggles than autistics who have language disorders and are too much focused on details to recognise what situation they're in.

So the first group of autistics will learn social rules and how to manage school, while the other group learns 1. how to manage their emotions, 2. that emotional dysregulation is a typical autism thing, 3. that language issues are an autism thing 4. that low empathy can be an autism thing 5. what socialising is in general, etc.

What I want to say is that the first group, even when they're diagnosed at a young age, has to teach themselves about how big the spectrum is and how different autism can present, and some don't bother to do that, because it doesn't occur to them that people could be different from them. Switching perspectives and stuff. The focus in their therapies often isn't on "Hey, these are typical symptoms", but "Hey, these are your symptoms", the focus is on their experience and on the experience of people who are very similar to them. There are no autistic peers with different symptoms, only the same symptoms.

If you're in special education, you know different presentations of autism. If you've been in therapy with different autistics from a young age, you know different presentations of autism.

But if people focus on your symptoms only, and if you weren't in disability programs, then you don't know many things about autism that seem absolutely common knowledge to autistics who were.

I have to admit, I didn't know much about low support needs autistics, I knew they existed, but I personally only knew autistics like me - and then I joined Tumblr, and that was very beneficial for both sides 😄

[tirsynni]

Possibly one of the most disturbing things about a current fandom trend is that I've seen the build-up to it. Right now, no matter where you look, you'll see a growing wave of characters needing a "diagnosis." They need to have a mental/physical health label. They need to have explanations regarding their behaviors, ie, the increasingly popular "I see this character acting this way and thus I am confident they were abused as a child." As I saw one person describe it, every character needs pathologized.

Mind you, if you want to write a character as autistic, ADHD, etc., that is fine. Perhaps you have a diagnosis and want your comfort character to have it, too. Perhaps you want to explore something or just mess around. Whatever. I don't care. It's when people insist on it, make a diagnosis mandatory, insist that their perception of the character with this diagnosis is correct, etc., that it gets disturbing.

While I'm aware that many people are frustrated with the social services and mental health field -- and I completely understand, as I work in these fields and I know how messy they can be -- and turn to the internet for assistance and self-diagnose themselves when official diagnoses seem beyond their reach, I'm also very aware how dangerous this practice is. I've seen this practice grow online to the extent that every behavior has to be pathologized. No matter what anyone does, there is a diagnosis attached ("Ah, this person is so distractible, so clearly they have ADHD") or a specific history (the ever popular "This person MUST have had an abusive family growing up").

I love whumping my characters. I love using them to explore different things, including mental health issues and trauma. (Hell, one of my current LoZ fics has some inspiration from some recent training and me wondering about the character's unique background and if that would increase or decrease vulnerability to certain things.) Sometimes, I'll do my research to try to have symptoms and behaviors at least in the ballpark of correct. This is all fiction, though. When everything is colored through these lens, including how one perceives fictional characters, things become dangerous.

One big rule in the social services and mental health fields is that you are not supposed to diagnose clients. Ever. If a professional looks at a client and arbitrarily decides that they have such-and-such diagnosis, that forever colors how they perceive the client and thus opens the doorway to them mishandling the case, putting their own biases on a client, recommending the wrong care, etc. It can lead to them dismissing many of the client's statements because it doesn't align with the perceived diagnosis. This includes the decision of "I have no actual information about this person's past, but based on their behavior, they must have had an abusive home environment." This can lead to the professional changing how they interact with the client, the client's supports, overlooking other -- possibly dangerous -- factors, etc.

Humans aren't that simple. If someone is displaying a certain behavior, many things could have caused it. Humans are too complicated to decide that "Oh, yes, obviously this occurred in their background." That's absolutely not how it works. That's the damned Sherlock Syndrome in action. Many, many factors affect how people act and react, and the insistence that obviously this behavior must be caused by this is downright disturbing.

When a diagnosis is being made in a professional environment (if the person is, in fact, a qualified professional and actually good at their job), part of the process includes ruling out other factors. Many children have been diagnosed with ADHD when, in fact, they are suffering from sleep deprivation and stress. By treating it as ADHD, they are allowing the other unhealthy behaviors to continue and give the child medication they don't need. Adderall affects people with ADHD and people without ADHD very differently, for example. The professionals are also supposed to have standards to increase the chances of the correct diagnosis. Is the patient tired and distracted? Did something happen this morning which could affect the client's normal behaviors and throw off the assessment? Is there something about the person doing the assessment which is affecting the results? It's like trying to do a medical assessment and constantly getting high blood pressure because the person is afraid of the doctor's office.

I've also seen people tag a character with a diagnosis, and not only is the character themselves unrecognizable, but they end up writing a crude parody of the diagnosis itself. They read less like a character and more like a caricature. The writer went online, did some quick research, and ended up with a character who might as well be a token character on a sitcom. It ends up being actively insulting by the end. In the instances where it's done well enough so it isn't 100% insulting, you still have an unrecognizable character due to the person preferring their perception of what the diagnosis would/should look like rather than the wanting to write the character in question. (Mandatory note: if you want to write someone OOC, no problem. Just recognize that, in order to make them fit your preferred mold, you did write them OOC and not insist that yes, they are completely in character and everyone else is in the wrong for saying otherwise. It's fanfiction. Write what pleases you. Just don't insist that it's something it's not.)

All of this also dramatically simplifies the mental health field. It simplifies the various issues into something you would see in grade school. It simplifies medication and therapy into miracle cures. It reduces the insanely complicated human brain into a child's puzzle. "Ah, this person has this, so they will display these behaviors. Makes sense." "Ah, this person is struggling with this. Give them a therapist and they'll be good as new!" Like, I can imagine that someone is dealing with Stuff in real life and want to write a fic where the character does find a miracle cure. As previously stated, no problem. Just don't insist that everyone else needs to perceive what they wrote as real life miracle cures. That's not how it works, things are more complex than that, and no size fits all, especially in the mental health field.

I've seen it online for a while now: people enthusiastically putting their entire diagnosis up for everyone to see, people merrily slapping labels on themselves, people looking at every video and going, "Oh, I do this!" People insisting that everyone needed a diagnosis slapped on them and, if they didn't have a diagnosis, they were clearly in denial. They pathologize themselves, their behaviors, everything around them, and now one of the first things they do when discovering a new favorite character is ask, "What is their diagnosis?"

This post isn't meant to discourage people from researching their own needs and their own mental health. It isn't angrily forbidding people from writing characters how they want them. It is a statement that the mental health field, humans in general, human brains, mental health, etc., is far more complex than "Oh, I have this diagnosis, so I have these symptoms and here is what I need to do!" It's stating that there is a difference between being aware that someone has certain behaviors and responses and pathologizing everything a person or character does. It is stating that sometimes it is very, very easy to go from "I headcanon this character as this" to "If someone looks/acts/etc. this way, they obviously are this." If these actions are your go-to, then you might want to take a step back and breathe for a bit.

...it's also a tad frustrating as someone with a diagnosis, as someone who works in this field, to see someone tagged as ADHD and being a sitcom stereotype or seeing therapy solve everything. Write whatever you want, but have some self-awareness when writing.

...it's also funny that I see the tag "medical inaccuracies" but never see a tag about "mental health inaccuracies." Hmm.