Published on 12, July, 2020
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.
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?
Agreed, it's not a medical condition and I use autism. I've never use the term ASD and neither did the psychiatrist who diagnosed me and supported me for the first few months post diagnosis.
And I'm not even 'wired differently' or different in any way although I can see many people who are and for ease of conversation I call them nt's and I call myself autistic, just so I don't get confused or identified as one of those people who are wired differently, who I refer to as nt's.
I think nt's have far more difficulties than me in the world and it is they that need help, not me. I needed help to understand myself and I'm getting help to help me build my life but if there was only so much help available in the world, I'd say give it to those nt's because they need it more than me.
My only difficulties seem to come from fitting into the nt type set up that we have going on here in the U.K. (When I'm in Bali I don't have the same challenges because society there is set up more in favour of autistics) but that's ok, I know that it was set up this way because people like me weren't so prevelant in society but now we are and things are changing and more importantly I'm changing how I live my life and soon I won't need support and I'll have no difficulties in the world but I think maybe nt's will always struggle and need some help, but who knows, maybe as we work together more closely to understand each other, fewer and fewer people will need help and we can all live happily ever after. I'm definitely learning a lot from my support workers and they have ALL said that they're learning a lot from me and that I help them as much as they help me, I don't know how, but I believe them because I trust them.