Some people say that Autism Spectrum Disorder is not a developmental delay, but w neurological difference. It's confusing!

I think the diagnostic criteria are very misleading and unnecessarily pathologising.  There are differences, yes, but these criteria focus on perceived deficits and don't present a whole and balanced picture of how it is to be autistic. 

So it seems to me that the confusion might depend upon how much credence you give to the DSM.  And also whether you find the term "autism spectrum disorder" to really reflect the truth of the matter.  After all, don't forget that homosexuality appeared in the DSM 1 as a mental disorder.  And the DSM changes with every iteration.  Classifications, sub-classifications, terms merging or disappearing (like "Asperger's") etc.   

Just my personal take on it, but if I focussed on how I'm seen in the DSM (instead of listening to autistic voices and seeking out autistic-led resources), I might find that I also began to meet their criteria for depression!

That's such a great point. Even realising that previous bouts of 'depression' were most likely (at least partially) burnout or shutdown takes an awareness of voices with much more nuanced expression of the lived autistic experience than anything in the DSM. Nonetheless, I'm still glad that it exists as a way to perform diagnosis/confirmation, even if it has an imperfect and initially pathologising framework for doing so. With that certainty, I felt I had permission (so to speak) to go researching more productively and knowing I was encountering stuff that was authentically bespoke to the way I'd always been - divergent. 

Ah, yes.  I have very mixed feelings about it. 

I'm certainly glad to have been identified as autistic and the NHS diagnostic process enabled me to get the corroboration and validation I needed, for myself and for my family (important given the strong intergenerational aspects).  I always knew that I was a divergent thinker, sensitive and with a tendency towards anxiety, but I couldn't pin it down much further than that.  I thought I was an introvert and a highly sensitive person (HSP) but it still felt like more than that ("What on earth?  I'm off the map here!").  And the diagnosis has given me the confidence to seek out the other autistic-led training and resources I really needed.  It was probably the best thing that could have happened for me and mine, given the systems we have to wade through and dealing with the world as it is. It was like finally being given the key to our identity - no small matter! 

That said, I ideally would have been identified at school, preferably primary school and before lots of bad stuff happened as a result of not understanding my core nature and then being met with an even greater level of misunderstanding from others, and over and above that often being bullied and excluded by others.  It's all been compounded over the years, such that my anxiety escalated and, yes, also easily met the diagnostic criteria for generalised anxiety disorder, with a few more specialised anxieties thrown in, eventually becoming phobias.  I'm sure I featured more than once in the DSM - multiple ways of pathologising me, then.    

So it's sort of been a double-edged sword for me.  I have the key to my identity BUT the manner in which I was given it and the "disorder" label just feel all wrong. 
 





 

I think christian priests started the process by creating Jesus, and than few centuries ago, some civic organization picked it up and continued, like one of mafia families/mercenary groups buying out swiss banks and making apetite for more, and we were probably one of the ticks on the list, when did european forget about autistic? there are still aborigen tribes on earth that refused industralisation and remember we had different roles, and say that we must find our place again

Maori from NZ call us Takiwatanga now

I think christian priests started the process by creating Jesus, and than few centuries ago, some civic organization picked it up and continued, like one of mafia families/mercenary groups buying out swiss banks and making apetite for more, and we were probably one of the ticks on the list, when did european forget about autistic? there are still aborigen tribes on earth that refused industralisation and remember we had different roles, and say that we must find our place again

Maori from NZ call us Takiwatanga now