Do you guys actually care about this?

I voted 'yes', O.

My diagnosis says 'Autistic Spectrum Condition' and not 'Disorder'.

It says: you have received a diagnosis of an Autistic Spectrum Condition because you have significant differences in three main areas:

Reciprocal social interaction and social communication
Restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour
Significant sensory differences

It does go into a lot more detail about these three areas. Then it says:

ASC is a lifelong neurodevelopment condition, which means these differences have been present since childhood and they are of a quantity and quality consistent with an ASC.

They did include a brief paragraph in which they say: New diagnostic manuals are tending to use the term Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC), as the use of sub-terms can be confusing.

I like the certainty and the validity that a label gives me. I've already had significant benefits from having a label, too, such as access to one-to-one support from a fantastic autism organisation, one-to-one support from my local authority which runs a course of tailored autism sessions and a post-diagnostic support service; and an unexpected increase in my personal independence payments. So, for me, the label has been a passport to more social and financial support than I've ever been able to access before.

Hey Michael haven't seen you on here in a while,

My assessor said the same thing to me that they're trying to make the diagnosis into ASC rather than ASD which I think is good, 'disorder' seems like a strong term to me and needs to be used accordingly. My diagnosis said "ASD/C". I think it says that because I've suffered at the hand of anxiety (specifically) but also depression quite a lot throughout my life and it's held me back, and he just wanted it to cover everything, perhaps in order for me to have access to help should I want it and also if things change where you the difference of having ASD vs ASC might change how you get help

I am happy that I now have access to help, I'm still thinking about it because I have somewhat managed to regulate my depression my self but the anxiety I haven't, the thought of talking to someone about it through therapy just get my really anxious so it's something that I automatically make excuses not to seek therapy even though I know that I probably should.

Yes, I feel you on that. I've been able to better understand the periods of anxiety and depression. I now know that they are a response to overstimulation. I wear earplugs almost 24/7 except for performing music. That has cut out almost 80% of the background anxiety I used to experience. It doesn't help with the social anxiety. I still get anxious with new people or with large groups of people. But by cutting out so much of the superfluous noises in my environment, my poor nervous system has been able to get a much deserved break! The drop in anxiety has also resulted in a marked decrease in my depressive episodes. They used to overwhelm me for days and weeks. But now I know they were a rebound effect of the anxiety. I still have my moments, like today, when the weather is atrocious, and I find myself drawn back to scrolling through these threads out of boredom.

Yes, I feel you on that. I've been able to better understand the periods of anxiety and depression. I now know that they are a response to overstimulation. I wear earplugs almost 24/7 except for performing music. That has cut out almost 80% of the background anxiety I used to experience. It doesn't help with the social anxiety. I still get anxious with new people or with large groups of people. But by cutting out so much of the superfluous noises in my environment, my poor nervous system has been able to get a much deserved break! The drop in anxiety has also resulted in a marked decrease in my depressive episodes. They used to overwhelm me for days and weeks. But now I know they were a rebound effect of the anxiety. I still have my moments, like today, when the weather is atrocious, and I find myself drawn back to scrolling through these threads out of boredom.