People diagnosed with autism only

[Outdated]

I don't have very good social skills, but I like honour and responibility. What did you mean by it being old fashioned?

First - sorry if my attitude seemed a bit harsh but we meet a lot of strange people on the net.

Over the years it's something people have said that they appreciate about me, my "old fashioned sense of honour". I'm not young any more and I have a superb memory, I know things weren't better in times long gone, but "old fashioned" is how people usually express it.

 

[Judge]

Hey, what gives, us Aspies with co-morbids not good enough for ya? (ONLY JOKING!)

Don't worry, it's cool. I'm more ADHD than autistic, but there are a lot of autistic autistics here who will PM you. Welcome to the site.

That's an interesting perspective. To consider from very personal terms whether our comorbidities are more of a concern than autism. I've posted for years that I thought my OCD was more problematic than autism. My issues with autism end mostly when I close my front door and am alone. Whereas my OCD follows me everywhere, 24/7.

 

[Crossbreed]

I see a lot of people talk about having cormorbid things now but I used to see people who only had Autism so I am looking for them

The severity level assigned to autistics (ASD1-3) is, essentially, a grade on the degree of impairment caused by one's co-morbid condition(s).

 

[vergil96]

Face-blindness and sound sensitivity are both symptoms of Autism though, ADHD is something else. I see a lot of people talk about having cormorbid things now but I used to see people who only had Autism so I am looking for them

Maybe it would be easier to be more specific about which personality traits you don't like about ADHD, because it's not like... not everyone with a certain diagnosis is the same, not everyone will have these traits. It narrows down your social circle unnecessarily if you use an external trait or a "bucket" trait instead of the actual behavior or personality trait that you don't like as a filter.

 

[Misty Avich]

I see the OP's point. It seems that often autistics are like "as well as autism I have A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H", and I think, "all of those?" I mean, probably some of those disorders overlap so much that it's not really worth being diagnosed with.
I mean I have PDD-NOS, ADHD and anxiety (all diagnosed). I think I have OCD too, but how do I know my OCD tendencies aren't just a combination of all 3? I might as well put OCD down to those instead of getting another diagnosis, then another for something else, then another for something else, then another, then another...

Not invalidating those who do have a number of disorders, but mental disorders/disabilities are more complex than physical disorders/disabilities so it's not something that can be diagnosed via a blood test. It counts from behaviour patterns, development, etc, and can sometimes be difficult to decipher which behaviours come from what, the more diagnoses you have. Autism just steals all traits from all diagnoses, as I'm pretty sure I have heard every human trait possible (even normal NT traits) be "an autism thing".

One time RSD was more associated with ADHD, but nope, now it's part of autism, just like everything else. Lol.

 

[Dagan]

Catch-22. I'm autistic...but I have a Co. that does Morbid depictions on camera.

 

[Crossbreed]

Autism just steals all traits from all diagnoses, as I'm pretty sure I have heard every human trait possible (even normal NT traits) be "an autism thing".

According to Dr. Lorna Wing, the defining trait of all ASD is that we all have a greatly diminished social instinct. Every other condition we might have (that is not a direct consequence of our oddness) is co-morbid. (And our marginal immune systems make us more susceptible to them.)

It is the unprecedented rise in such severe co-morbids among us that is troubling, not the base autism by itself.

 

[Misty Avich]

According to Dr. Lorna Wing, the defining trait of all ASD is that we all have a greatly diminished social instinct. Every other condition we might have (that is not a direct consequence of our oddness) is co-morbid. (And our marginal immune systems make us more susceptible to them.)

It is the unprecedented rise in such severe co-morbids among us that is troubling, not the base autism by itself.

I don't think that's an accurate way to describe autism, as sensory issues and repetitive behaviours are also defining traits of autism. Also other conditions can cause diminished social instinct too. The young man who lives down my road is very intellectually impaired but not autism, but probably has less social skills than I have. He can't even speak, while I could speak at the age of two.

 

[Crossbreed]

I don't think that's an accurate way to describe autism,...

You are arguing with Wing, who defined the spectrum as we currently understand it...

 

[Misty Avich]

But I don't lack social instinct, I just have a few differences, not lacking.

 

[Crossbreed]

But I don't lack social instinct, I just have a few differences, not lacking.

That is the basis for an autism diagnosis, though biological female autistics are notably better at masking.

 

[Misty Avich]

Well I guess what I say needn't be taken as fact. Just because I say something it doesn't make it so.

It's just that, unlike the majority of people on the spectrum, whenever I read most information about autism it doesn't all fit into place or make sense of my life. Some does but most don't, especially in adulthood. It's like I'm half-autistic, half-NT, but because these days autism is black and white (You're Either Autistic Or You're Not) then it's even harder to decipher who I am. But almost all information about ADHD fits me so well that my life could be a perfect textbook example of a woman living with ADHD.

 

[Crossbreed]

It's just that, unlike the majority of people on the spectrum, whenever I read most information about autism it doesn't all fit into place or make sense of my life. Some does but most don't, especially in adulthood. It's like I'm half-autistic, half-NT, but because these days autism is black and white (You're Either Autistic Or You're Not) then it's even harder to decipher who I am. But almost all information about ADHD fits me so well that my life could be a perfect textbook example of a woman living with ADHD.

Autism (w/o severe co-morbids), ADHD, giftedness and even left-handedness are all expressions of neuro-diversity. Maybe that is the common ground you feel here...

 

[bard]

Well I guess what I say needn't be taken as fact. Just because I say something it doesn't make it so.

It's just that, unlike the majority of people on the spectrum, whenever I read most information about autism it doesn't all fit into place or make sense of my life. Some does but most don't, especially in adulthood. It's like I'm half-autistic, half-NT, but because these days autism is black and white (You're Either Autistic Or You're Not) then it's even harder to decipher who I am. But almost all information about ADHD fits me so well that my life could be a perfect textbook example of a woman living with ADHD.

You're either autistic or you're not? Again, I find myself wondering what part of the star trek 3d chess board(TNG) I've been put on.

 

[Crossbreed]

Again, I find myself wondering what part of the star trek 3d chess board(TNG) I've been put on.

I am still confounded by garden-variety 2D chess...!
(And I'm in Mensa.

)

 

[vergil96]

Yeah, I can't say autism "makes sense" of my life either. There are symptoms and ways to deal with difficulties that are explained by it. That's about it.

 

[bard]

Face-blindness and sound sensitivity are both symptoms of Autism though

I'm going to say something that is going to sound so weird if you're reading this, @Sand.

This is part of a collection of lacking social instinct that the Autistic do not possess naturally, but can learn.

A person who's autistic can open a face dictionary of expressions... they actually have them and they are not cheap... and learn the hard way what one face in an expression is supposed to look like. You see this sort of interesting education in Japanese literature, like Manga Moods and More Manga Moods. A person who's autistic may not naturally know what a face means, but they are able to intellectually learn(with perhaps some degree of error). This is why some professions in artistry and care have people who at some point had face-blindness, but now do not.

I think a lot of Autism is like that. The lacking social instinct creates a vast amount of instinctual information become intellectual information. If this were not true, why is there so many apps that try to teach kids with autism the most rudimentary social skills that other kids already possess by instinct.

Access to instinct is faster than knowledge, which is why the test of faces to recognize them has become timed of recent, to attempt to make the score more accurate by seeing how much is recognized by instinct and how much is recognized by knowledge.

"Cartooning the Head and Figure" by Jack Hamm also has facial instruction.

 

[Misty Avich]

But how do we know what's instinct and what's learned? I've never sat down and read books about facial expressions, body language, etc. Of course I've made some mistakes and have learnt from them, but that's more my behaviour, not the behaviour of others.

 

[bard]

But how do we know what's instinct and what's learned? I've never sat down and read books about facial expressions, body language, etc. Of course I've made some mistakes and have learnt from them, but that's more my behaviour, not the behaviour of others.

I really, really, really didn't want to say this, Misty. You're like that adorable kid who wants the honest answer and no one wants to say it out loud.

Social instinct is most naturally learned through long term nursing skin-to-skin and lots of brothers and sisters. Like six kids or more. That's not cultural reality these days, so some kids with a little more social talent get lucky, and some kids who do not have a little more social talent do not.

 

[Misty Avich]

I really, really, really didn't want to say this, Misty.

You really, really didn't want to say what?