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Who is here?

NAS36609

Just for a bit of fun, I thought I would do a poll on the demographic of individuals who use this forum and then we can see what our online community looks like and argue over the diversity of it (okay, so that last bit might be a joke!). 

Please note: within this poll I have used the term ‘ASD’. I did so because this is what people are usually formally diagnosed with and because it would fit into the poll. If I could have used all alternative terms that people identify with then I would have but unfortunately there just isn’t room within the poll options. To avoid offence however, please substitute ‘ASD’ for whichever term you most identify with in your head and if you want to clarify which term this is, then please do so below.

Parents

  • Voted as the 'A person with diagnosed ASD', although I'm not at all happy with the term 'ASD' as it implies some kind of medical condition where people who understand jargon have privileged expertise, which appears to me to be false. Yes I know some people hang on every word of the diagnostic systems, but even the psychiatrist who 'diagnosed' me was very willing to use 'ASC' and NICE seems to be switching to 'autism'.

    The results are consistent with the idea that parents, relatives and partners of autistic people don't hang around these forums to chat. Maybe they're too busy? It's mainly autistic people responding to parents' queries. Is it paranoid to wonder if we put them off and they prefer a forum where they can talk about themselves rather than the autistic person?

Reply

  • Voted as the 'A person with diagnosed ASD', although I'm not at all happy with the term 'ASD' as it implies some kind of medical condition where people who understand jargon have privileged expertise, which appears to me to be false. Yes I know some people hang on every word of the diagnostic systems, but even the psychiatrist who 'diagnosed' me was very willing to use 'ASC' and NICE seems to be switching to 'autism'.

    The results are consistent with the idea that parents, relatives and partners of autistic people don't hang around these forums to chat. Maybe they're too busy? It's mainly autistic people responding to parents' queries. Is it paranoid to wonder if we put them off and they prefer a forum where they can talk about themselves rather than the autistic person?

Children
  • in reply to Cassandro

    I understand your feelings over the term ASD. I really used it because it’s what most people are formally diagnosed with and because I couldn’t fit all possible terms that a person would use into the poll unfortunately. I thought about using ‘autism’, but I know that some individuals don’t like to use that term either. What I will do is edit the original post to explain why ‘ASD’ is used and make it clear that you can interpret it into your own favoured terms. I hope that will make it a bit less offensive to you  ,  and

    I’m not sure why we don’t have many relatives, friends etc. of autistic individuals on this forum. There are many possible reasons, but I think only they really know why they don’t come here.

  • in reply to Cassandro
    Cassandro said:
    as it implies some kind of medical condition

    I do not think that it is not a medical condition broadly defined. Even if it is a personality / neurological difference, it stems from biology. And as most people with ASD have difficulties in areas such as social communication and sensory processing, which require support. Doesn't the combination of stemming from biology and requiring additional support because of difficulties fall into the category of medicine?

    Cassandro said:
    where people who understand jargon have privileged expertise

    I don't think the term ASD implies this...it's not a difficult word to encounter if you have any autism-related conditions, concerns, or interests.

    Cassandro said:
    but even the psychiatrist who 'diagnosed' me was very willing to use 'ASC' and NICE seems to be switching to 'autism'

    I don't really care at all about the small differences in wording, as they really just imply the same thing. We don't call ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) ADHC (Attention deficit hyperactivity condition). So I can't understand why people care so much about differences in wording? 

    In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, there's this well-stated passage I greatly agree with: 'All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are. I'm meant to say that they have learning difficulties or that they have special needs. But this is stupid because .... But Siobhan said we have to use those words because people used to call children like the children at school spaz and crip and mong, which were nasty words. But that is stupid too because sometimes the children from the school down the road see us in the street when we're getting off the bus and they shout, "Special Needs! Special Needs!" ....” The full passage can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/356553-all-the-other-children-at-my-school-are-stupid-except Changing the wording from nasty words to 'special needs' can still turn 'special needs' into an insult as people are referring to the same thing. 

    I'm not trying to hang on to every word of the diagnostic systems, I just don't care why which word is used, but sometimes do find it a bit frustrating that people keep changing it, and in more extreme cases get offended if someone used a term they don't prefer (e.g., autistic vs having autism). I know in English there are subtle differences, but  mentally I think people usually just mean the same thing regardless of which words they choose.