My thoughts on “mild” autism

I completely understand you. I was diagnosed last year with autism- at 20 years old. Obviously my masking was effective enough for professionals and teachers not to have known, even myself. So I think I can understand this post. Although one may think that autism presents as 'mild' or 'high functioning' isn't the point- it's still autism, and the person still requires a certain level of support in life. It's labels like 'mild' that make me feel as though I'm 'not autistic enough' to fit into people's preconceptions and stereotypes.

Autism is a spectrum, but yet so many people see it as a linear scale from less autistic to more autistic. But this clearly isn't what this means. Everyone has different needs, different things that they are good at, so why do we feel the need to compare our 'levels of autism' to one another. I'm sorry if the label given to you made you feel invalidated.

I’m really sorry you haven’t been receiving the support that you need and deserve

Where I live it doesn't seem to matter what level of autism you have when you go for post support assessment. I live in the UK and it seems to matter is whether you have a learning disability and that will determine what post support you get. If you don't have a learning disability don't expect to have significant support it seems. I certainly don't wish for my disorder to be more severe as with several level 2 levels it is already a struggle for me to manage as is. I received OT support which I found helpful. I had an assessment and got a letter back informing me my options wouldn't be many in terms of support as I don't have a learning disability and there was no mention of levels in the letter. I had carers come in for a while, but I was paying and although they was nice, they wasn't experts in my condition or anything. The financial assessment is based on income and I was paying out of pocket for mine. Don't over glamorise this so called support as well. The situation for many who have support needs is they may not be getting it and be trying to keep themselves going with whatever level they have.

Hi what I mean by superpower is it gives me my identity and my strength to do good and function with my difficulties from day to day.I also like being Autistic and get appalled when I hear terms of lets cure it

I've never bought into the myth of autism as a 'super power'. I've also never bought into the myth that there aren't comparatively  low,middle, and severe  presentations of autism.  The important word being comparatively.

It’s a case of refusing to understand Autism and because they hold prejudiced and discriminatory attitudes and mindsets, they regard our concerns as “nonsense” and similar - they believe and maintain that the only way to manage our autism is by the enforcement of ultra strict discipline and they constantly silence us because they regard us as troublemakers 

in fact I can do the complex stuff but dealing with people i do not know or doing unfamilar things is hard

Cat Loving Man said:

however I am rubbish at coping with real life

Ditto.

Again, it just shows that post-diagnostic autism assessments are vital, to establish levels of autism and any (appropriate) support required, on a case-by-case basis - if you don’t know what your support needs are (established by post-diagnosis assessment) how on earth are you possibly supposed to know what your support needs are, let alone ask for appropriate support - this is the very reason why post-diagnostic autism assessments must become a basic legal entitlement and obligation 

so sorry I luckily apart from a few bad apples have found the medical profession pretty good

Yes you see I get a lot of stupid treatment because in a lot of ways my life is successful and the powers that be think there is nothing wrong what is my problem.My problem is I cannot keep with everyday life and the fact that people do not understand Autism.

It is this stereotypical view that someone who is Autistic looks different and has less ability.In fact we are the super powers 

For others around it’s “mild” because it affects them mildly, because Ive mastered my coping strategies, which took years and a lot of my energy. Long time ago before my realisation I had some thoughts. I thought that I’m somehow kinda a bit disabled (especially when comparing myself and others being a group and me being always the loner) and to continue the thought- I came to conclusion that if you are visibly disabled, it’s obvious and severe, then you gonna get recognized and supported on time, or at least there is higher likelihood for that. But if you are only a bit disabled, you gonna go through life without any support and only thinking that you are a total failure. At that time I thought that I don’t deserve to live, because I can’t be like others. What I want to say is not that it’s easier for people with higher support needs, doesn’t matter if they are on the spectrum or have other types of issues, conditions etc. I wanna say, that it’s hard for both - people with high support needs and people with low support needs. It’s a struggle in both cases but different. I’m very much afraid of mental health professionals as they already traumatised me enough but I’m gonna try again. 

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

Hi I am just going through post diagnostic with my Autism group and let me tell you two things.

1- Autism is autism it is a spectrum you are near diverse there is no such things as mild low severe.

2- Autism is not a learning disability.

That is the expert advice I have been given hope it helps

Iain said:

do you think this was self sabotage? Did you want to not be seen as autistic?

I didn’t actually plan to mask during my autism assessment, and I don’t think it was self-sabotage as I knew I’m autistic and I’m not ashamed of it or anything, I think I’m just so used to masking in situations where someone is asking me questions in a more formal situation because I try to answer and talk in a specific way so I can be understood easily. Logically I know that these psychiatrists are used to autistic people and all the behaviours that we could do, but I think part of it was the more “people-pleasing” part of my brain taking over and mainly I just wanted the assessment to go as smoothly as possible.

Mark (formerly Spikey) said:

I can't just de-mask - I think it's going to be something that falls away brick by brick.

I agree with Mark, I’ve been more aware of my mask over the past couple of years and have been un-masking in certain situations around people I feel comfortable with, but formal situations like assessments still come with some pressure for me which leads me to mask automatically in a way as I’m so used to doing it when talking to teachers for example or other people I don’t know as well.

Bunny said:

I, too, had to focus extremely hard during my assessment in order to ensure that I conveyed all of the factual information that I felt was relevant. The combined effort of preparing for and having my assessment left me feeling similarly exhausted.

Bunny, yes, your experience is very similar to mine! I was so conscious that all my answers were going to be used by the psychiatrist that I wanted to make sure I was giving really precise answers. But I’m not offended by Iain‘s questions, I understand they’re just coming from a place of curiosity. I appreciate everyone’s responses and support to my posts; I understand everyone has different writing styles and different approaches.

I haven’t heard that before but I like the sound of it

Many autism professionals (non-autistic) look only at the ability or lack of ability to do certain things. If you can do these things they think that you are doing them in the same way a neurotypical person would, and that doing them does not cost you greatly in exhaustion, stress and distress. This needs to change.

Aimée said:

My pronouns are they/them

Duly noted and the post amended. Apologies for the assumption.

I prefer "distinct" support needs.

I’m currently in the car but will definitely respond as soon as I can - it’s an interesting point that’s been brought up, and I’m not offended by anything said! My pronouns are they/them - might be worth me putting those in my profile :)