Is it just me or is the online autism community becoming more and more absorbed by the trans community?

Before anyone tries to say it, NO I don't have a problem with trans people.

But lately it seems like autism and trans are being considered as one and the same in many communities. I'm not trans and this doesn't represent me, so it does alienate me from a community that I can't really relate to.

Is this just something I'm seeing? Maybe my feeds are coincidentally showing a disproportionate amount of things that associate the two? Or is this a trend?

i notice a few toxic tendencies i have sometimes whether minuscule or more serious, but one specific one is that if im socially depleted or im overwhelmed by impatience, ill choose to be mute or purposefully respond in a passive and uninterested way until the hint is caught that i don’t want to speak anymore.

another one is i have a tendency to bluntly and straight faced call out people in front of other people sometimes but mostly if i don’t like them.

i was curious to know everyone else’s. this is a safe space (hopefully) 😭

edit: i am sorry if my use of the word toxic ruffled a feather. i just meant a trait that isn’t ideal. thanks.

Like seriously? Remember a decade ago when if you said you’re autistic and somebody asked who diagnosed you and if you said “myself”, you’d get crazy looks? I cannot fathom why people think that they are psychologists now. And if you say politely, “as a diagnosed autistic person I would prefer if people did not claim to be autistic if they don’t know whether they are or not”, you get massive downvotes and hate. It is delusional.

I saw this question being asked on tiktok. The person who asked this question said she won't take it because she doesn't want to lose the "magical" part of autism. The comments are 50-50. My answer is I would definitely take it if there's no side effects. I don't get people who think there are more advantages than disadvantages of being autistic. Neurotypicals have cool hobbies too. It's not like all of them are boring. If we become like them we would struggle less. What do you guys think?

I'm very confused about how and why some people take Early Diagnosis as a privilege, and yes i am aware that this has been posted many times before either by myself or by someone else, but i could never understand why some think so.

I think it likely stems to me not really being able to understand privilege in general, all i understand is its' definition but that's all. Or maybe i do but the way it has been explained was with words i don't really "understand", so maybe it would be best for me and any other lurkers here to explain it as simply as possible.

Thanks and sorry again! I know this sort of post exists everywhere and people used to post the shit out of this question but i really need help understanding. Especially if I, myself, am privileged with an early diagnosis. I talked to my mom about this once and i think she was neutral about it, didn't really seem to explain it or even answer to me.

I see self-DXers saying this all the time. Obviously, for most of us who do have an autism diagnosis, this is not true. However, does anyone here actually consider their autism to be a gift? No judgement, I’m just curious to hear the reasoning behind that.

Dear Americans, please acknowledge that I’m from the UK 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 so this question might not apply to you.

I was diagnosed through the NHS, only a couple of years ago as a young adult.

My diagnostic report detailed the assessor’s findings, evidence to support my diagnosis and the criteria that I met (all), and the conclusion was simply that I met the criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder. That’s my diagnosis and I’m happy with that.

I’m not here to debate the use of levels, but I personally prefer not to be assigned one.

But I was wondering if other English autistic people have been given levels? Has this changed in recent years? Is it different if you get the diagnosis through a private practice?

If you don’t have a level, how do you feel about that? For me, I feel a little excluded in communities now as a lot of discussions now involve levels rather than talking about autism generally.

Ive never had any obession with any cutesy stuff, nor even girly one. Are there actually people out there diagnosed with autism that have tons of sensory toys, act like kids and are obessed with hello kitty or simular stuff?

As the title says. I feel like autism and other mental disabilities are sort of regarded as trendy or quirky, even something desirable, by my generation (gen z), in part due to the rise of tiktok (and its shit ton of misinformation) and neurodiversity movement. Is this ever going to be over?

Just out of curiosity, do you typically get along with other autistic people? In my experience, it’s the same with the neurotypical people i know. Sometimes i get on well with them, sometimes i don’t.

Only asking because i’ve seen some who exclusively talk to other autistic people and others who haven’t had a good experience with them.

I was arguing with someone who believes that group homes shouldn’t exist, even for developmentally disabled people who need 24/7 assistance. They mentioned that statistically, most incidences of abuse take place in group homes, as opposed to someone living in their own unit and having rotating caregivers come in to assist them. But I feel like the latter option would actually be more dangerous, because an abusive caretaker would be able to get away with a lot more if there’s no witnesses around. Especially for disabled people who can’t communicate with language in any form.

And those statistics aren’t accounting for the fact that incidences of abuse taking place in the latter model are probably much less likely to be reported.

Not trying to argue that group homes are great, I know that they’re extremely prone to abuse. I just feel like the alternative models being pushed by LSN disability activists are equally bad, and don’t really solve any issues. What are your thoughts on this?

Disclaimer: I’m not trying to be ableist, I’m just curious. Might delete if it’s offensive.

Okay, why so many autistic people are mostly using DeviantArt? I’m autistic myself and use Deviantart. But this made me curious on how autistic people are drawn to DeviantArt.

For context, it’s where mentally disabled students get to be in mainstream classrooms no matter how severe their disability is or how disruptive or destructive they are.

Hey guys! So I had a regular check in with my doctor about meds and as we were going through my current meds, i mentioned that one of them led to an embarrassing side effect. She started laughing saying she’s never heard of it. When I look up the medication on WebMD it mentions my side effect as a common one. I kept trying to tell her it was real and she just discounted it, blamed it on other stuff, still kinda laughing silently to herself. I felt so sad after that. I didn’t feel heard and I felt like some freak. Am i overreacting and should I keep seeing her? Or maybe find someone else?

I don't think I have special interests at the moment. I used to have them stereotypically but now in my current state of it I don't think so. I just go down rabbit holes. I go on Reddit and read science/maths topics, anything science/maths related and wait for something to pique my interest. Then I go down a rabbit hole on it. When I'm on a rabbit hole I get very fixated on it but it lasts a day. The next day it's a new topic. I sometimes pick up old topics.

But anyway can anyone here define what a special interest is? I'm interested in a definition as well.

I feel like the vast majority of the time when I join some kind of online autism group, it is just full of people who are not diagnosed with autism, and most of these people's posts are asking about how to get diagnosed, or something else about their process of wanting to get diagnosed. Just posts like "Should I get diagnosed? How did you get diagnosed (if you have a diagnosis)? Is it worth getting diagnosed?" And sometimes more egregious ones bragging about how no one "needs" to be diagnosed, or even directly asking "give me all details from your assessment and guide me on what to say, I'm afraid I won't get diagnosed " (which seems very suspicious).

I feel like there should be specific groups for that kind of stuff (people who don't have diagnoses but all of their questions are about diagnosis process or wanting to pursue it), because it doesn't make sense to me that groups branded as ones specifically for autistic people to talk about their struggles, instead just become 99% people who aren't diagnosed with autism talking about wanting to be diagnosed.

While I have never been to one; based on the description, it seems to be a sensory nightmare to me. Why is that? It’s where people can move around and make noise which can overwhelm me. Also, the lights would be on the whole time as the darkness in the theater makes me feel calm. The only good thing about this for me is that the movies play at a lower volume as I have sensitive hearing.

I understand that there is a lot of over diagnosis and just came across the term mill. while I’m not sure how much of it is self-diagnosis, I definitely see too much on social media. A few people have inquired if I was autistic in the past few years and I didn’t take it seriously until I happened to learn about meltdowns. It really did feel nice to hear maybe I wasn’t alone in this experience and that I wasn’t just being a baby who needed to grow up and it’s been helpful in managing but maybe it is just anxiety. Maybe both. I also have a problem with self diagnosis or diagnosing others. Every few years it seems to be a new thing in the dsm everyone suddenly has. I remember when it was bpd and also narcissism

Sine I’m Black and a woman, I don’t see it being unfeasible to have been missed especially coming from a family that often goes against medical advice out of distrust. I also went to gifted schools and did well so we had more important things to worry about. Like mental health issues and my self harm I suppose.

So that’s why I specifically sought out this assessment to see. I worry what if they are a mill and they are wrong. They do offer regular therapy but their site just focuses on autism. I’m not sure if that is a red flag but they are the only place that would accept my insurance so another assessment is off the table. I did look into it and saw a 2 people upset about not getting a diagnosis from them but that’s all.

I thought the assessment missed some of the traits I personally thought were symptoms in myself but I’m not sure how it works. The first she just asked me to do a bunch of random things that I have a sense were not random. Then it seemed she asked a questionnaire. She didn’t inquire super much into some of my answers. Others she did.

So I’m not sure. Sorry this was long and much context was not needed. Just also thinking.

Do you all know of any places that are likely mills or any signs of such?

Honest question? Because I see a lot of people on TikTok and other forms of social media say they are level 2 one of them being Stephen Hilton (a Russell Brand knock off). I know that level 2 requires substantial support, but how is that compared to level 3? Or Level 1?

When I look online on social media, level 1 looks so broad. There are level 1s who have reached milestones such as education/career/raising family/have friends and other level 1s who still live with parents, failed education or struggle to work full time.

I'm in the second group, living alone is difficult, working full time makes me suicidal and took me way longer than 4 years (almost 10 years) to get a degree because I kept failing or pausing my degree because of burnout. I can't maintain friendships and I'm not the high masking type. I need someone with me as support in social events to know what to do so I always attend social events with my brother, if he can't make it or he isn't invited I stay home.

Does anyone else get irritated when they see videos the “influences” post of their “meltdowns” or “stimming”? I’m not sure about the rest of you but in the middle of an actual true meltdown I am unable to think and I don’t have control over my body so I’ve never once thought “maybe i should set up my phone..” the same goes for stimming. I just stim. I don’t record it because I don’t even realize I am doing it almost 100% of the time. Just my rant for today.