Published on 12, July, 2020
I have never been cool, and I never will be. So, to hear people claim that being autistic is a ‘trend’ is as laughable as it is offensive. I never wanted a label to be special. The autism label has opened a door to understanding how my brain works and who I am. I have no desire to be cool, and plenty of desire for knowledge and acceptance.
Autistic Not Alien: 'It's cool to be autistic...' WHAT?![edited by moderator]
I think it's sad that so many of us feel we need to get the diagnosis. If we lived in a non-judgemental world we wouldn't have to - everyone would just accept differences. Steps out of fantasy-land back to real life...
When someone mentioned that I sounded like her autistic partner, that was the first time I'd considered it. The more I learned about it, the more it resonated. When I reflected back on my work life so far, I realised I had been bullied out of every job due to some aspect of my autistic differences. So I've sought diagnosis to try and protect myself from what seems 'the inevitable'.
But we have always had autists. This book has done some exploration of this:
The Autists: women on the spectrum Paperback –by Clara Törnvall (Author), Alice E. Olsson (Translator)
It’s also the reason why post diagnostic assessments are so vital - it’s also another reason why the NAS and others need to actively and robustly challenge myths and misconceptions about autism in the public sphere, using force of law if needs be
How does one get a post diagnostic assessment? What is it and what does it involve and what does it hope to achieve?
After diagnosis, I was left to get on with it, told that I'd managed for 50 years so I could carry on managing.
There was a group that I contacted that was supposed to be for autistic adults across the whole of North Wales, they couldn't get their heads around me not using things like zoom and not knowing how to use a smart phone. I went to one drop in meeting where they asked me what help I would like and whatever I asked about they seemed not to know anything about, or couldn't do it. Their answer to everything seemed to be acting as a human google and sending me links to things I'd already tried, only existed in certain parts of England and just left me to get on with it. I thought it a complete waste of time and public money. Is this usual?
The purpose of a post diagnostic assessment for adults, ideally face-to-face, is to precisely and properly assess level of autism following a formal diagnosis and to properly identify appropriate support going forward - this must become a basic legal entitlement for all autistic people of all ages and a basic legal obligation (duty of care) on all public and private bodies dealing with autism related issues - when a diagnosed autistic person makes a request for support from any autism body (public or private) this is then an automatic legal requirement and obligation placed on that body that they have to follow, as failing to do so is an effective denial to access to relevant avenues of support for the Autistic adult - groups like the NAS should be doing more to cut through the waffle and nonsense, especially from official bodies and by government, refuse to be fobbed off by officialdom, robustly challenge the nonsense of officialdom and get this policy implemented AQAP as it is decades long overdue - the nonsense that you have been forced to endure up to 2024 is totally unacceptable in the 21st century and mirrors my own experience since I was diagnosed in 2021 (online and via Zoom and email)