Interesting opinion on autism

I agree completely.  I'm going to print this article off and take it to work.  In some ways, what it says is what I've always believed.  Mental health problems aren't intrinsically bound up with autism, but are caused by external factors having an impact on the autistic individual.

My own recent problem at work is directly linked to this social stress.  When you trust a colleague after they tell you that they understand your condition, and show some sense of that understanding... and then they completely undermine that confidence you have in them by doing something that leaves you bewildered, confused and distressed - that has consequences.  The incident that happened at work last week, when I had a meltdown, was directly connected to the stress I was under because of the proximity of this person.  The whole situation could have been avoided if she hadn't been there - or if she hadn't behaved so badly towards me in the first place.  I'm now on valium just to muster the confidence to step over the threshold at work today.  I really don't know how the day is going to go.  But my mental health is currently in the poorest shape it's been in for many years.

I also spent a long time yesterday trying to help a very sympathetic NT friend to understand the pressures we face.  'But why bother masking to try to fit in, anyway?' she said.  'If I don't like someone, I just ignore them and get on with my day.  Why do you want to try to fit in?'  In the end I had to give up trying to explain because I was exhausted.

It isn't just stigma.  It's discrimination.  And a lot of that can be unconscious.  Just the presumption that you should react in a particular way, rather than a way that is entirely consistent with your condition, is discrimination.  My manager said to me after last week's incident 'This can't happen again.'  He can't seem to understand that I had no choice about having a meltdown.  I didn't punch a wall because I was angry, and I'm not a violent person.  I punched a wall because it was all I could do to cope with the situation.

I agree completely.  I'm going to print this article off and take it to work.  In some ways, what it says is what I've always believed.  Mental health problems aren't intrinsically bound up with autism, but are caused by external factors having an impact on the autistic individual.

My own recent problem at work is directly linked to this social stress.  When you trust a colleague after they tell you that they understand your condition, and show some sense of that understanding... and then they completely undermine that confidence you have in them by doing something that leaves you bewildered, confused and distressed - that has consequences.  The incident that happened at work last week, when I had a meltdown, was directly connected to the stress I was under because of the proximity of this person.  The whole situation could have been avoided if she hadn't been there - or if she hadn't behaved so badly towards me in the first place.  I'm now on valium just to muster the confidence to step over the threshold at work today.  I really don't know how the day is going to go.  But my mental health is currently in the poorest shape it's been in for many years.

I also spent a long time yesterday trying to help a very sympathetic NT friend to understand the pressures we face.  'But why bother masking to try to fit in, anyway?' she said.  'If I don't like someone, I just ignore them and get on with my day.  Why do you want to try to fit in?'  In the end I had to give up trying to explain because I was exhausted.

It isn't just stigma.  It's discrimination.  And a lot of that can be unconscious.  Just the presumption that you should react in a particular way, rather than a way that is entirely consistent with your condition, is discrimination.  My manager said to me after last week's incident 'This can't happen again.'  He can't seem to understand that I had no choice about having a meltdown.  I didn't punch a wall because I was angry, and I'm not a violent person.  I punched a wall because it was all I could do to cope with the situation.