v2.01

I still find this hability amazing, the driver braking rule is the danger I had to spot to my son regularily but otherwise I just follow him, he is better than any optimisation app to move around! :)

i  was diagnosed as 'difficult child' sometime between 3 and 4 y.o. I found out 5 yars ago, when my mom accidently slipped it

And 

Annie said:

traffic light sequences

is just part of a bigger picture, I see it everytime I look at a busy junction during peek hours, in an instant I know who is going where and the sequence of all moves, assuming no driver breaks rules.

Definately, my son was diagnosed when 20 months old for not developing any interest in pretend play, well before social skills could be evaluated. I only wished his own interests had been also valued like automatic doors accuracy, traffic light sequences etc. maybe a next step would be adding an autistic skills checklist into the evaluation. 

good find, there is hope for young ones to avoid future like many of us diagnosed late in life

I have at last found a good website that could help you undestanding where you might stand: www.davidsongifted.org/.../ only adding giftidness and autism seem genetically correlated as both are often found in the same family. 

I do not use 'high-functioning' as a label for myself, I identify as autistic, but if pushed I use circumlocutions like 'less overtly autistic', however, in conversation I sometimes use the former phrase as it is more universally understood. I have no interest in defining gradations of autism or separating people by their use.

Though no one I told about my autism diagnosis had any prior inkling that I might be autistic, being autistic has had profound effects on my life. From the panic attack I had in my first A level exam, through my inability to connect with the opposite sex for very many frustrating years, to my paralysing fear of public speaking, which stopped me applying for lectureships, my autism has had many adverse effects. I believe that I fully deserved my clinical diagnosis and that it was entirely appropriate

People who can describe what it is like to be autistic have a duty to be advocates for those autistics who are unable to. 

I am sincerely happy you enjoy this identity part and wish we work together to expand that autistic pride feeling! I only wear plain cotton with no sticker, always walk on the shadow side of streets, jump and have goose bumps on my legs when an unexpected strong noise arise, I easily enter flow state in which I become blind to hunger, temperature and time etc.. but I do not define myself as autistic out of sensitivity issues. I can identify emotions in myself and others and use them properly, have no obvious stimming and so on, I have enough emotional self-control to overcome my "small" hyper-sensitivity. Without having a son with extreme sensitivity issues I would likely give more weight to mine but I know how to use them so I am fine with them. I however use this sensitivity as an extrapolation to try and understand my son so we need people like you! As for defining oneself "high functioning"  I understand that when someone has been put aside they need this label to feel better with themselves, the limit being feeling superior to other autistics as this would be a "normie" elitists value. Many traits are common between high functionning autism and high potential Intellectual. We would all win in trying and develop emotionnal intelligence from both sides normies and autistics, that's the bridge I am trying to build and I damned know it is easier for normies!  Our society is not promoting emotionnal intelligence quite the opposite whereas it is the key to overcome mental health issues.  

I have come across instances where parents of more overtly affected autistic children have been 'cold-shouldered' and much worse by 'high functioning' autistic activists, who are only interested in their own grievances and advocacy. I would condemn that attitude entirely. However, I am completely in favour of both 'self-identification' and diagnosis for 'high functioning' autists. I cannot describe my delight in finding that I was not the only person in the world who had to remove every label in my clothing, because they are unbearable, but there was a whole community of people who did this. Finding 'my people' was a huge joy!

That was my concern in the topic: Is the rise of autism diagnostics a signe our society is getting unsane? I understand some people need a diagnostic to give sense to their identity at some point but please help us in building a bridge between "neurotypics" and "autistics" instead of a gap. We really need people who are in between helping us making this society a better place for the slighlty lower functioning autistic people. 

I think that the major aspect is that society has evolved to be comfortable, or at least bearable, for the neurotypical majority, while for the neurodivergent minority it is much less comfortable, and indeed sometimes unbearable. This may account for the disparity in rates of mental ill health between the two groups.

Everything is a challenge every day, going out, going to the supermarket, taking public transport, going to the simplest medical check, birthday parties, travelling, even a simple day routine never goes smoothly! Everything has to be planned well, though about all the time to minimize struggle. Really, nothing close to a special orientation that shapes ones interests..

Of course I do not deny it is higher amongst autistic people and family members (a woping 50% of mum of autistic kids are in depression so we know second hand why), but since it is present in normies it cannot be used as a defining line.

People with neurodevelopmental conditions - autism, ADHD, dyslexia etc. - are called 'neurodivergent', the bulk of the population, who do not have a neurodevelopmental condition, are called 'neurotypical'. The word for people who are not specifically autistic, is 'allistic', but this term is not used as much as neurotypical..

A cursory online search found this:

"The percentage of autistic people with mental health problems was more than 4.5 times higher (51.1%) than in people without an autism diagnosis (11.3%). More than 25% of autistic people further received two or more diagnoses of mental health problems."

I would add that I have lived for almost all of my life believing that I was neurotypical, I thought that my traits, that I now recognise as autistic, were just personal to me. I have no axe to grind about neurotypical people themselves, though I have doubts about aspects of the society they have created.

Poor mental health is quite common in "normies" too. Maybe the line is between shaping vs defining ones life I infer from your answer.It seems there is a lot of myth about normies among the autistic community if I may raise this issue. 

Normies. 

Sorry what do you mean by a  neurotypical person?

I can identify so much with that need to know. Even self-diagnosis with a bit more  certainty could be very psychologically beneficial to you Hannah, so don’t fear claiming ownership of an autistic identity. It’s not a deficiency, it’s a difference. And you deserve to be more at peace with it, even if life’s struggles will always remain. 

I found a very late diagnosis - aged 59 - was very useful for me, even though I worked for 34 years as a scientific researcher, not an undemanding job, and am married with two children (both neurodivergent). I have received no practical support since being diagnosed, but the diagnosis was a validation of my experiences through life. I was not a neurotypical person with a lot of strange individual quirks and limitations, but an autistic person whose abilities and difficulties were directly related to my autism. Without a clinical diagnosis my identification as autistic would always have felt uncertain and possibly wrong. I like certainty, in itself an autistic trait.

Autistic people who appear to function in 'neurotypical society' still have problems, which is why so many of us have poor mental health.