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
I absolutely agree!
This is fed into by the view widespread in the general population that anyone who is reasonably functional in society cannot be autistic. When these people come across autistic people who are in relationships, hold down jobs and pay their mortgage, they are very doubtful of their autistic status.
I think it's a tricky one. It's easier to entertain the possibility such a person is behaviourally autistic, than to see such a person as being disabled. A random question that crossed my mind. Can disability be defined comparatively? How well does an autistic person who's employed and in a relationship compare to a demographically matched non autistic person? I was lucky enough to be with someone for 22 years and married nearly 19 years. It ended when she died. For the last 3 years of her life she had vascular dementia. On the other hand I never had paid employment.
Whilst I can see that such a person is behaviourally autistic, and may or may not be disabled, I struggle to identify with a 'high achieving' person with an autism diagnosis.
There are more than a few here that I believe fit into that 'high achieving' category. There are conversations here that I lack the life experience to join in with.
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
Do you wonder if the word "trend" has become confused? I mean something "trends" on the internet, meaning that its something thats being talked about a lot. Then people go and mistake it for being "trendy", meaning that it's fashionable. I mean if we suddenly became a major earthquake zone instead of a minor one and everyone started looking up earthquakes, it would "trend" online, but would that then mean earthquakes had become "trendy"? I don't think so somehow.
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)
I find the general feeling is, “there can’t be that many ‘new’ autistic people, we will go along with it, but you don’t look or act autistic”. Basically we don’t believe you and you’re attention seeking.
One that I can tell people think regarding later diagnosed people is, “You never used to be autistic and you seemed to cope quite well.”
That’s just how I’ve often felt, there are some people who understand autism but they are in the minority, I can’t think of any other condition that requires someone to practically have to plead their case so much. That’s where so much energy is lost.
Long before my autism diagnosis, especially after I’d been rejected (and had never been really accepted) by the gay community for being “different” (in some way - I had no idea at the time) I started to become very interested in the vocation stories of priests, friars, brothers and religious sisters (nuns) both enclosed/contemplative and otherwise as I’d always been searching for God (sometimes in all the wrong places) and although I’d discussed some of this with my Muslim friends who had encouraged me to return to the regular practice of my Catholic faith and to reconcile with my family, I found that the most useful discussions via email about faith that I’d had were with two longtime family friends who were enclosed religious sisters (Poor Clare Nuns) and this eventually led me past Vatican II to the traditional Catholic faith (Mass in Latin), so that by the time I was eventually diagnosed, my Catholic faith was a huge asset - on subsequent visits home and being able to go behind the cloister, joining with the community of Sisters for Divine Office, was a huge step forward on my faith journey, just like how Covid had the effect of strengthening my faith
It is probably partly due to the large increase in the numbers of people being diagnosed. This is seen by some as an 'epidemic of autism', where it is really due to the recognition by clinicians that autistic people without intellectual disability can be equally validly autistic and can have debilitating problems. This is fed into by the view widespread in the general population that anyone who is reasonably functional in society cannot be autistic. When these people come across autistic people who are in relationships, hold down jobs and pay their mortgage, they are very doubtful of their autistic status.
I heard from a professional that it’s trendy now. It hurt me a lot. I have problems that I described her and she said, yeah you are probably autistic, but now it’s so trendy, everyone wants to be autistic. As a result I don’t wanna see her anymore and I’m reluctant about seeing any mental health professionals. I don’t even have the label, so I don’t tell anyone what I strongly suspect and I don’t hear the “we are all a little bit autistic” or “it’s trendy, you want attention” thing. I’m tired of my life being too much for me, it’s like always changing roller coaster and I beg the world to stop changing and let me breathe, everything is too much and too fast, I’m often exhausted, overwhelmed, struggle to sleep, sensory and emotional issues and saying that it’s trendy feels like a slap on my face. Definitely lack of empathy.
I think a lot of people are getting over the stigma that used to come with autism and are trying to "own" it now, so there are going to be some poorly informed drives to try to make it cooler than it is, to feel a part of something good or whatever other plans the posters have to make it more than a disability.
There is a trend in diagnoses being more common for late diagnosed people now as it is gaining some understanding amongst the medical community plus children are being more effectively diagnosed young - so more people are being diagnosed now than ever before.
If it helps some people to feel that it is cool them more power to them - I won't be raining on their parade.
That said I'm with you in thinking it isn't cool for me, but then it has been a long, long time since that term was used in relation to me LOL
