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For those diagnosed, what level are you?

Shardovan

...if you're comfortable saying. 

It occurred to me after just reading another post that maybe my Level One makes some off the things I say on here seem a bit OTT (it doesn't feel that way though!) if the majority are L2 or whatever and have more 'right' (stupid thinking I know) than me to be saying anything. What percentages/ratios predominate on here in terms of all this?

Paranoid thinking maybe, it gets the better of me sometimes. I just got a weird feeling of embarrassment that I may have presumed I belong somewhere I don't. I think it will pass, and thanks for undertanding my posting this even though I can sense it's (I think?) a bit skewed, having come up as a sudden fear that seems to be demanding early closure/external invalidation. My usual issue!

Parents

  • A straightforward answer is that I was diagnosed as Level 1 on the ASC support-needed scale. I can pass as neurotypical 99% of the time when in public. However I have problems connected to my autism, such as exhaustion from social interactions. I was at the Autism Show (conference) yesterday, and after getting up and having breakfast today had to go back to bed and slept a further two hours, I just needed the extra sleep to recharge my 'social batteries'. I experience sensory problems with: noise of many types, bright  light and some textures. I also experience anxiety in crowds and in making telephone calls. I am diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia.

    If, like me, you can function in society apparently 'normally', but have definite problems arising from your autism, you are no less autistic than people who cannot function in society. The difference is not only connected with different levels of ability, but also with external perception. Someone who struggles but succeeds in functioning, often suffers as much as someone who is unable to function.

Reply

  • A straightforward answer is that I was diagnosed as Level 1 on the ASC support-needed scale. I can pass as neurotypical 99% of the time when in public. However I have problems connected to my autism, such as exhaustion from social interactions. I was at the Autism Show (conference) yesterday, and after getting up and having breakfast today had to go back to bed and slept a further two hours, I just needed the extra sleep to recharge my 'social batteries'. I experience sensory problems with: noise of many types, bright  light and some textures. I also experience anxiety in crowds and in making telephone calls. I am diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia.

    If, like me, you can function in society apparently 'normally', but have definite problems arising from your autism, you are no less autistic than people who cannot function in society. The difference is not only connected with different levels of ability, but also with external perception. Someone who struggles but succeeds in functioning, often suffers as much as someone who is unable to function.

Children
  • in reply to Martin

    That also makes me realise that *self*-care beyond NT standards and without guilt *is* support - the extra hours of rest, doing 'nothing' to let the brain de-fragment and executive function retreat from burnout, and so on, are vital for any sort of long-term health or even short-term funtcioning. My mother used to worry about why I was so tired all the time, would fall asleep during the day so often, and wasn't 'driven' enough about all those 'You know what you should do?'s that she and my dad would regularly throw my way, making me feel quite inadequate and ill-equipped for life despite their best intentions. Now I realise that keeping ticking over for the 9-5 (in the various forms it has taken over the years), as well as even securing those 9-5s, was a pretty good effort all round given what I now know.

  • in reply to Martin

    That description so precisely maps to my own that it's scary! Thank you so much for putting that so eloquently, and for validating my own experience too. I hope despite the massive battery drain that you got something positive from the conference.

  • in reply to Martin

    Interesting.  Nobody mentioned any support needs scale when I was assessed.  I think I've been passing as NT for most of my life though, with lots of anxiety and other issues just automatically pushed down/hidden and extensive masking.  The result was often that I got blamed and judged, including lots of internalised blame adding to the load. 

    And so, for example, I was regularly given negative feedback at appraisals or reasons for being made redundant that, looking back, were linked to being autistic.  The phrasing would often be along the lines of "You're obviously very talented, but..." or "Why can't you be more like so-and-so (very confident NT type referred to) or "Well, we asked so-and-so for an informal reference and they said that you keep yourself to yourself" and on and on.  The fact was that I was always excuciatingly anxious and needed support and accommodations rather than blame.

    So, yes, I'd say that apparently succeeding in functionning generally speaking, whilst quite often throwing out some rather conspicuous malfunctions due to extreme autistic anxiety has been akin to an invisible disability.  People's expectations of me were rather higher too, and the blame correspondingly harsh.  And I certainly need a lot of rest to recover from all of this.