My brain chewing thoughts

As a high-masking woman going through assessment at age 49, the article in the New Scientist upset me. Frith is sceptical about the concept of masking and says that it is due to other tings such as anxiety rather than autism. Looking back on my history I see how hard I've tried to camouflage - literally reading books about psychology and how to act and studying people on TV shows. I feel it Is literally my analytical brain which has allowed me to get by but it almost like having a permanent acting role. Without masking I literally won't come across as "normal" and the thought of publicly unmasking is extremely uncomfortable and something I'm not ready for yet (or maybe ever). I don't think Frith really understands the concept.

Also I was offended that she said autistic children shouldn't be allowed ear defenders in classrooms because "there's no evidence they help long-term". I wear loops at work to cope with the busy office environment. I don't understand why someone would want to take away a simple, cheap accommodation which helps someone to cope and potentially be able to participate in work/ school/ life.

I would be called low support needs, but I relate to the many of the difficulties people with higher needs have. For example if I'm bothered by sensory issues I may not have a meltdown in the moment and start banging my head in public (a stereotype of autistic behaviour) but I may have a meltdown when I get home or shutdown and go non verbal for several hours or days. Or I may not talk endlessly about my special interests to people who aren't interested, but instead I may just stay quiet in a social situation because I'm struggling to engage with the conversation or feel scared to say the wrong thing. So many other examples I could give. Anyone else relate? 

For anyone who wasn't able to read the article because it was behind a paywall, the interview is available for free on YouTube. I personally wasn't able to get through the whole thing as I found it too triggering. 

youtu.be/AnYifWCOa3o

And additionally there is also the diagnostic bias, where it's believed that autism may affect only males or it's very unlikely to affect females. So autistic females get all sorts of different diagnoses and support that doesn't really help them or no support at all. I was forced on meds and told that I just have to make some effort to meet people and find friends, they will not come to me themselves. 

I think you've just summed up the problems with their categories really well. you can't group people just by age of diagnosis due to the reasons you listed, there would need to be a better way! 

Interesting, but all those scientists don't seem to understand,  that there are people,  who had difficulties in social interaction and showed other behaviors typical for autism since early childhood,  but were never diagnosed or late in life, simply because tge family had no idea, what's wrong with them. I had significant differences and problems since early childhood, developmental delays, meltdowns seemingly without reason, I was very different since ever. But only found out two years ago that these are possibly symptoms of autism. Of course, I had a high depression and a lot of self aggressive behaviour because I was highly frustrated for not being able to be like others. I remember my teachers telling my mom, that I might be autistic but she didn't want to listen. So it's interesting,  to which category would I actually belong. Not being diagnosed early in life may be caused by various factors, not only genetic, but also cultural, environmental, financial etc. But then it turns out some professionals would never consider you really autistic,  just because someone missed the right time to diagnose you.

Her language seems to be designed to stir up feeling of hate, just like they use the word 'invasion' to talk about migration. It's purposeful.

The rest of the article the scholars talk about categories without any of this rhetoric. I would even go so far as to say it demeans and hijacks their research. 

Thank you for providing the context emanningis !

I didn’t like that remark either. There is no evidence that it is so. The biological research to date suggests autism could perhaps eventually be classified into four categories or two categories, but it isn’t conclusive.

I felt some pain as well, but hesitated to comment.

For context, her claim is the last line in the article:

“It is time to realise that ‘autism’ has become a ragbag of different conditions.”

It's an interesting thought, but Uta Frith really doesn't help herself calling autism a 'ragbag' of conditions. She keeps making derogatory remarks about late diagnosed people, and that's just plain rude.

No one else researching this feels the need to be nasty about it, the language is more professional.

Thank you, this makes sense to me how you explained it.

Probably because we just get diagnosed and dumped, often after years of misdiagnosis and struggling to get on in a world that dosen't listen. I think if you get diagnosed in childhood then everythig gets put in place to support you or thats how it seems. I think those diagnosed in childhood often seem adrift when they reach 18 and everything stops.

This is about where we are going with autism. I have been in groups with the learning disabled and those who have more severe autism and I have been struck with how at ease stress free they can appear at times. Some autistic people to seem  wrapped up in their special interests and in their own world that they don't seem depressed much to the eye or anxious. I was finding that not the case so much on this forum of late. There was a number of people presenting with depression or anxiety.  I found this article interesting on this subject. This article said there could possibly be differences between early childhood diagnosed autism and those diagnosed after 10, that could explain this for me. More of those diagnosed after 10 presented with depression it seems.

www.theguardian.com/.../autism-should-not-be-seen-as-single-condition-with-one-cause-say-scientists

You have mentioned some autistic traits, make sure you are doing this for you. You mentioned before that you wanted understanding as your mother didn't understand very well. You can still have autistic traits even if it doesn't reach a diagnostic level. I hope that you get some clarification on this if you go for the test.

As I red it, it makes me wonder if I should seek the diagnosis at all. One internal voice tells me, that it won't change anything and won't help me access support or even be taken seriously.  Other internal voice tells me, that I shouldn't give up on the chance of being assessed,  as there might not be such a chance anytime soon for me, as so many people wait. People wait long years, I have only few months left. Now it's June, so it's 5 months till November (the last appointment planned, when I should get the answer, what it is).

I often find it hard to tell when people are joking and when they're serious, I usually respond with something fairly neutral in the hope of getting some further indication of what they mean. I often get in trouble because I didn't realise they were serious and its a situation open to abuse when they're joking and I think they're serious. This is especially bad with people who are "jokers" because I really don't understand what they're on about. The same with a lot of comedy, I just don't get it and people find that difficult, especially when its the sort of comedy I find painful, like Miranda.

I like constructive critcism, but I hate it when people take it too far, or when they criticise everything and act like I'm failing at something that dosen't actually matter than much, like if I try out a new recipe and find I don't like it and then get told I've wasted ingredients, time and money.

I think it's to easy for autistic people to be scape goated and get every wrong loaded onto us to carry and then people wonder why we break.

It was interesting to read and alarming, how a high percentage of cases were uncertain,  but the diagnostician gave tge diagnosis because the patient wanted and pushed for that. I don't want such situation. I would like to have a 100% certain diagnosis. 

Thank you

You'll always be welcome here.

Prof Ginny Russell, at the University of Exeter, said: “I do think it’s going to continue until maybe everyone is categorised as neurodiverse.”

I think she meant "categorised as neurodivergent", but could be wrong.

All brains are different (neurodiversity) but neurodivergence is at a significance distance from the norm (and for autism involves disability). But aside from the wording, I fear her prediction is correct.

Her paper "Autism Diagnosis as a Social Process" has an interesting abstract and being a researcher she likely knows a lot, I guess I may read it.

I understand. The diagnosis itself is not being issued just because of autistic traits,  but also how these traits affect someone. It's all not so obvious and clear, many people may not be even aware of being affected negatively, having disadvantages etc. Putting one's experience into words may also be difficult. Till my realisation I used to say that im simply inferior to others and there seemed to be no help for me to become like others. I couldn't find and name the reason. I just feel it. Inferior and not fully grown up. 

Slightly tangential but here are some studies I found pretty interesting (some take a little time to check, some take longer, please feel free to thoroughly ignore them):

1.  WHO-2025 Mental Health Fig. 2.4 on eating disorders, and Section 2.1.2 for children, and figure 2.9 for different continents were all quite interesting.
2. Depression (World In Data) with UK 2nd worldwide below Syria apparently (from this other map).
3. Autism (World In Data) Au's relative rise (2023 compared to 1990) is much higher than depression actually.
   1. So this is a correction to my previous statement; but possibly comparable to other conditions anyways, or to depression with wider (unavailable) range? Still to inspect.
4. WHO article (Info 2021, but updated on 2025) with a nice Overview which I share below (last sentence is a bit weak though):

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a diverse group of conditions. They are characterized by some degree of difficulty with social interaction and communication. Other characteristics are atypical patterns of activities and behaviours, such as difficulty with transition from one activity to another, a focus on details and unusual reactions to sensations.

The abilities and needs of autistic people vary and can evolve over time. While some people with autism can live independently, others have severe disabilities and require life-long care and support. Autism often has an impact on education and employment opportunities. In addition, the demands on families providing care and support can be significant. Societal attitudes and the level of support provided by local and national authorities are important factors determining the quality of life of people with autism.

Characteristics of autism may be detected in early childhood, but autism is often not diagnosed until much later.

People with autism often have co-occurring conditions, including epilepsy, depression, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The level of intellectual functioning among autistic people varies widely, extending from profound impairment to superior levels.

5. Chart on increase over time for many mental health conditions (not autism) Mental Health all charts (World In Data) 

I just wanted to see more analysis across conditions but the papers focus on 1 at a time. WHO is broader in that sense.