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Tony Attwood

Why is that? ^
I procreated quite well. So did most of my autistic friends male and female.

Also, psychiatrists seldom know anything about autism, seeing as it's not a mental illness and their job is to treat mental illness.
 

Here is my friend interviewing Tony Attwood.

I'm shocked at how much he doesn't understand, including meltdowns.
 
MNAus said:
I've managed to create a couple more for the ASD clan!!!!
Click to expand...
We discussed the autism success rate on another website.
From memory, we did poorly in terms of relationships.
We scored high in never having a relationship at all, greater than the garden variety NT.

When you think about it, it isn't very surprising since we do have a social disability.
Men have greater problems, based on the research that was mentioned.

Thanks for "Taking one for the team". :tongueout:
 
I'd have to track them down again but the studies I saw indicated autistics have lower reproduction rate, less marriage, significantly shorter lifespans and higher suicide rate. But you have to keep track in case some stat gets updated or even reversed (it happens) but I was satisfied with the veracity of the studies/stats I saw when I last looked maybe 5-6 years ago.

So yeah, not exactly looking like pole position in the evolutionary race. ;)

Yet the number identified as having autism increases. The US CDC now shows 1 in 36 children. If you have been keeping track, thats another significant jump (one of several in recent years).
 
Funny, but women don't need to have relationships or be married to get pregnant and have children.

It's especially easy for autistic women, seeing as there's no shortage of men who find them adorable and want to get with them, in whatever way possible, whether consent is given or not. Autistic girls and women have the highest likelihood of experiencing sexual violence of any other demographic on the planet, regardless of the neurostatus of their assailant.

Another point is that this conversation seems to be about autistic men's chances of dating, when in reality autism is typically inherited from the mother's genes. Again, dating and marriage don't always factor into autistic women's reproductive rates especially now that RvW was overturned in some states.
 
Jonn said:
It would be better to go to a psychiatrist who is familiar with autism, obviously.
Our characteristics can be misinterpreted for something else.
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When my brother was diagnosed being on the spectrum was not a thing, my dad's cousin was a child physiatrist.
I can see it now having diagnosed myself and joining this site.
 
I was diagnosed by a neuropsychologist.

Psychiatrists aren't even allowed to diagnose, here. Psychiatrists push medications and work for big pharma. Autism can't be medicated, except of course for off-label experimental anti-psychotics to help with aggression.

In contrast my ADHD was dx by a neuropsychiatrist, because ADHD is treatable with meds.
 
My brother has undergraduate degree in psychology, I do not have much respect for the so-called soft sciences.
 
I was diagnosed with Autism Level 1 by a psychologist with a related PhD after several days of thorough, research-based neuropsychological testing. Psychiatrists don't administer that type of testing. Psychiatrists around here diagnose conditions that are treatable with medication - ADHD, bipolar, depression, PTSD, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. - by conducting interviews and patient-completed questionnaires.
 
Mine was a PhD called a C.Psych or clinical psychologist, but she also had neuropsychologist credentials. It was a 12 hour assessment with an extra few hours worth of encrypted tests done at home by computer. In addition I wrote a 188 page response to the Developmental History questions.

(I put postcards on the cover to take the picture, to block out my real photograph.)

ASD book.jpeg



There's no way a psychiatrist would have time or the relevant background in developmental neuropsychology to understand autism, or to interpret my scores.


My ADHD testing was actually longer than ASD at 20 hours instead of 12. That's because ADHD can be treated with drugs which increase our heart rate / blood pressure, and I'd already had a stroke at that time. They had to be very specific in diagnosing my exact type of ADHD so they could prescribe the right med without killing me. I actually had a second stroke nine months after starting my ADHD meds. It's serious business and they can be sued if they prescribe the wrong medication based on patient history.
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
When my brother was diagnosed being on the spectrum was not a thing, my dad's cousin was a child physiatrist.
I can see it now having diagnosed myself and joining this site.
Click to expand...
I was diagnosed about 40 years ago by a psychologist.
I didn't even ask for it.
He said I had "very mild autism".
Back then, there was no "Asperger" dx.

I didn't take much interest in researching autism until I was about 40.
Dr Google wasn't around back then, and society was very ignorant.
What a pity.
 
Back on topic, I notice no one's commenting on Attwood's clear lack of understanding about autistic meltdowns. Seems to me that my friend should be the millionaire expert with the PhD and not him.
 
Ella Spell said:
psychiatrists seldom know anything about autism, seeing as it's not a mental illness and their job is to treat mental illness.
Click to expand...
Ella Spell said:
There's no way a psychiatrist would have time or the relevant background in developmental neuropsychology to understand autism
Click to expand...
I agree with a lot of what you've said but I don't think I'd write off psychiatrists like that.

Maybe I've misunderstood your point so I apologise if so. But anyway I wanted to say...

Lots of conditions are like that - there are doctors who are specialists and by comparison all the other doctors don't know the condition very well. The non-specialists might well be useless to me, but I've got on ok so far with the specialists.

I think there's something to be said for training and academic knowledge. A doctor doesn't need to have a condition in order to identify someone with that condition and know what might be a good treatment. They might not have a good insight into the experience of someone with that condition, but they can still be very useful in diagnosing and treating it.

I think there's also a question about whether someone who experiences autism but has no medical knowledge can offer useful advice either. My experience is that they can, but they are specialists in a different way.

And let's not forget that both doctors and autistic people are also human - some of them are competent and sensible and others are not. Just because someone is autistic doesn't mean they can say anything useful to me about the condition. Just because someone is not autistic doesn't mean they have no useful information for me.

Your comment about autism not being a mental illness is very interesting. Perhaps it's different here in the UK, but the psychiatrist who did my autism assessment was very good. The purpose of the assessment was specifically limited to diagnosis and excluded treatment so he had no incentive to prescribe any medication even if some was available.

I agree it's not an illness. That's why I always refer to it as ASC not ASD. It's the way I am. I don't have a problem with autism, I have a problem with living in this world with autism.

I struggle to do certain things. I wouldn't struggle to do those things if I didn't have autism. But I also wouldn't struggle if the world was set up differently and didn't force me to do those things.

I think in the end there's a whole load of information about autism that is useful to have; information that helps me cope with living in this world with this condition. I need a medical understanding of the condition - that helps. I need to speak with other people who also experience the condition - that helps. I need to think critically about both groups and what they're telling me because both can give me duff info at times.
 
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Wow got a good discussion started, only started this thread as I'm keeping an eye on my granddaughter for signs of autism. Tony seemed to have some insights.
 
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