Published on 12, July, 2020
During my autism assessment, the psychiatrist said that although my autism affects many aspects of my life, I was still able to communicate to her well and therefore only had it “mild”. I understand that I have low support needs and that other autistic people have different or more extreme struggles and need more support, but I was masking a lot in the assessment in order to answer the questions as clearly as possible, which completely exhausted me and impacted how I felt over the next couple of days. As Keedie said in the TV show “A kind of spark”, her autism only seems mild because ‘we make it so, at a great personal cost’. Autism has a huge impact on my life, even if no one else can see it, and especially if I’m purposefully changing my behaviour to fit in or adapt to other people. Just because it seems mild to you doesn’t mean it actually is to me. I feel like this is why the terms “high functioning” and “low functioning” are being used less in favour of “support needs” which I feel is more accurate and less diminishing of autistic people’s struggles. I’d be interested to know other people’s opinions too as I know some people don’t mind the word “mild”!
I think it depends on whether there's a 'compared to' element to it,or not. Person A may present as having 'milder' autism compared to person B, but that doesn't necessarily mean person A's autism is mild. I don't think I mask,or at least I'm not consciously aware that I do. With online participation my strengths are centre stage. Unless I explicitly say so, on a thread like this for example, I can come across as having low support needs. The actual reality? I'd struggle to maintain a healthy level of independent living without the support I get. My daughter officially acts as my carer.
Hi there you see I get a lack of reasonable adjustments.I am articulate and can come across as very talented however I am rubbish at coping with real life and a meltdown or a shutdown for me is never far away.Tonight I have had a hideous day yet I cannot stop laughing what is that all about.
When my life is better I think I should either-
1- Write a book.
2 Be a Comedian.
3- More sensible get the Autism message out there
Cat Loving Man said:however I am rubbish at coping with real life
Ditto.
in fact I can do the complex stuff but dealing with people i do not know or doing unfamilar things is hard