Autism Awareness Month

I've known quite a few autistic people in my life in all parts of the spectrum. A couple of them told me casually they were autistic over time. I've never seen them as any different to anyone else, heck if they hadn't told me I wouldnt have known. I do wonder if I'm possibly on the spectrum somewhere myself but I've never had an assessment.

I've seen someone go through the process of being diagnosed with autism and it was a long process that ended after 2 years. (Lots of rearranged appointments and cancellations). Loads of questions asked and no hints to what was being said behind the scenes lead to wonder of being lost in the system. When they finally got the diagnosis it answered a lot of questions for them.

Barnsy! wrote:Cheers for a helpful and thought provoking video - you're a great fella Kerr

Thank you. I was worried about putting It up as I don't think I'm an ideal spokesperson for autism or epilepsy or well anything, but I do think autism speaks needs to go sod off for one.

The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

mcjihge2 wrote:The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

The main thing gettiñg tested did for me was to answer some of my own questions about myself, day to day it's not changed much but it's just tied some loose threads up for me internally if that makes sense. I have thought I was different in some way almost all my life but then I came to work with several lads who were on the spectrum and there was some overlap in how I was and how they were that made me decide to get tested to try to answer some of my internal questions

kerr9000 wrote:

mcjihge2 wrote:The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

The main thing gettiñg tested did for me was to answer some of my own questions about myself, day to day it's not changed much but it's just tied some loose threads up for me internally if that makes sense. I have thought I was different in some way almost all my life but then I came to work with several lads who were on the spectrum and there was some overlap in how I was and how they were that made me decide to get tested to try to answer some of my internal questions

might i ask how old you were?

shy guy 64 wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:

mcjihge2 wrote:The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

The main thing gettiñg tested did for me was to answer some of my own questions about myself, day to day it's not changed much but it's just tied some loose threads up for me internally if that makes sense. I have thought I was different in some way almost all my life but then I came to work with several lads who were on the spectrum and there was some overlap in how I was and how they were that made me decide to get tested to try to answer some of my internal questions

might i ask how old you were?

I'm 40 now, I was 38 when I started asking if I could be referred to see someone about it

I first felt I was different very very early but I started having epileptic fits around 6 ish and I'd seen how hostile some people were to epileptics and others so didn't want to get any other labels attached to me. When I thought about it later I'd had a daughter and was fighting for full custody of her , my x tried to use my PTSD and epilepsy as reasons I shouldn't have custody so I didn't want to add anything to the table, I won full custody of my daughter when she was 9 but I basically waited for her to be 16 before letting myself ask about it. Did I handle it right or should I have looked into it earlier who knows but I made the choices I made at the time.

You can ask almost anything I'm a pretty open person really.

kerr9000 wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:

mcjihge2 wrote:The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

The main thing gettiñg tested did for me was to answer some of my own questions about myself, day to day it's not changed much but it's just tied some loose threads up for me internally if that makes sense. I have thought I was different in some way almost all my life but then I came to work with several lads who were on the spectrum and there was some overlap in how I was and how they were that made me decide to get tested to try to answer some of my internal questions

might i ask how old you were?

I'm 40 now, I was 38 when I started asking if I could be referred to see someone about it

I first felt I was different very very early but I started having epileptic fits around 6 ish and I'd seen how hostile some people were to epileptics and others so didn't want to get any other labels attached to me. When I thought about it later I'd had a daughter and was fighting for full custody of her , my x tried to use my PTSD and epilepsy as reasons I shouldn't have custody so I didn't want to add anything to the table, I won full custody of my daughter when she was 9 but I basically waited for her to be 16 before letting myself ask about it. Did I handle it right or should I have looked into it earlier who knows but I made the choices I made at the time.

You can ask almost anything I'm a pretty open person really.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like having those questions

You’ve had quite a life

I got a 3 on that autism test; I did it a few years ago and got a 7 I think. Conversely I did the ADHD test on that website and got a 37, depression test a similar score; go figure I guess. Those quizzes aren't great imo

I have a few autistic friends, they all seemed to catch on to my sense of humour quicker then most other people do. To my understanding my brother and father are autistic, and from what I have heard about my paternal grandmother she most likely was too (not that she would have even had a conception of what autism is though), but it happened to skip me.

We honestly think my dad and my nan are on the autistic spectrum. But seeing as it's been like since I was born, I'm used to the quirky things they do and the way they behave.

The chances of getting either of them to get a test done are minuscule. I just wonder how many older people have slipped through the net because there wasn't an awareness back when they were younger.

personally i cant stand the way media portrays mutism more often than not. movies treat us a savants, comics as sociopaths, games dont even bother theyll just tag it on to any smart character, tv often conflates it with other things and even then its usually all about the parents.

i can only think of two decent portrayals of autism and thats community and loop

shy guy 64 wrote:personally i cant stand the way media portrays mutism more often than not. movies treat us a savants, comics as sociopaths, games dont even bother theyll just tag it on to any smart character, tv often conflates it with other things and even then its usually all about the parents.

i can only think of two decent portrayals of autism and thats community and loop

Yeah. You won't be happy with Sia's movie "Music" which is ridiculously offensive to autistic people and establishing bad tropes that characterise autistic people in stereotyped ways in general. And who did she consult with for her "loveletter to the autistic community"?? Autism Speaks, not any actually autistic people. One autistic actor even approached her for the film and was told by Sia, "Maybe you're just a bad actor". Great job.

The Good Doctor (Korean version) is OK.

mcjihge2 wrote:The autism test is the first google result that wasnt an ad and had uk in the url,

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/

No idea of any details. I havent really looked into it in any detail. I know that online tests are generally rubbish. Im also Mac from Always sunny in Philadelphia, and Chandler from Friends.

I remember in the late 80s autism was made "famous" by the film Rainman and the kid on Blue Peter who could draw the houses of Parliament from memory. These are the extreme examples - the poster boys for autistic savants. And yeah, these guys are few and far between and not good examples form autism in general.

Whats interests me in Kerrs video is at the start - getting a positive test recently at a "late" age. Im a similar age. I guess this is the interesting thing - Why did you get tested?, what does it now mean to your life? GG made the points about expanding workplace policies which is interesting.

My sentiment that i won't do anything about, it is that i really dont see any benefits to taking an "official" test. From what GG said, i dont think ive got the time either. Even if it could possibly also be ADHD or OCD, Im not sure what my HR dept or any authority would or could do. Will i get any monetary benefit? Will i get a bit of a "free pass" to later deadlines at work? Do i get any drugs? Can i use it as an excuse for my casual racism?

I feel that if i am closer to one side of the spectrum for any of these disorders, I hide it well.

There was a thread recently on reddit with a link for a canadian youtuber who was also giving her story. cant remember it off the top of my head but she was saying that autism "charity" was bad too.

It depends. I had an enormous degree of difficulty coping at college and university to the degree that my life was in danger numerous times. I was was already diagnosed with clinical depression and I was on the verge of a psychotic break. By behaviour was erratic, I wasn't attending classes or even seeing people, I wasn't eating or sleeping properly and I was constantly over and under compensating behaviourally, not in any way to do with my physical state at the time (although I was a least 2 stone underweight and didn't realise I had a severe food allergy as well) but how I was coping with my responses to basic, everyday situations (usually social in nature, or fear of other people or what might happen around them). That might literally be going outside and stepping out into the sunlight, into the wind, or speaking to a new tutor or a doctor. I was academically completely competent but I had serious learning difficulties and memory problems that led me to constantly lose track of what was going on, where I needed to be and when I needed to do certain things, that I could not do because I was that afraid of them. Anxiety which is just normal on the autism spectrum causes the amygdala in the brain (which releases adrenaline in response to high stress stimuli i.e the fight or flight response) to overload, so say for example, you need to face to and speak to someone who've not met before or you are not familiar with, that triggers the same response as in a "normal person" but when they are about to be hit by a car or attacked by a wild animal, or somebody pulls out a gun. I wasn't able to manage my daily living in my own private space and time, never mind properly function an interact with society. Moving away from home and having to 100% start from scratch making new friends, negotiating a new environment in a new town (where I'd lived in the same place, in the same house, with mostly the same friends, attending only two schools each for primary and secondary), my whole life up until that point, was completely overwhelming for me.

I had at that stage no choice but to get the support put in place that I needed to not only succeed but to live a healthy life, something I think everyone has a right to achieve (and it should not be considered an achievement;- good health should be the standard, not the "goal"). Having a diagnosis protects someone against unfair discrimination in the workplace under the equality act (and support at interviews plus a mandate of some sorts for an Access to Work assessment to put in suitable adjustment including occupational therapy or work coaching or environment changes to overcome hypersensitivity, for example, as well as more generally just not being allowed to punish you for things you can't do anything about). It also may make you eligible for personal independence payment (which is a working age benefit), if it makes it difficult for you to get or hold down a job, the severe disability element of the working tax credit, a premium added to housing benefit, and probably some other things. Actually getting those, well, good luck. If you are eligible for those benefits then you are also eligible for things like Disabled Person's Railcard, disabled rates on tickets and some facilities like leisure centre or cinema for example, bus pass. The Disabled Student Allowance for studying further or higher education with support. There's quite a few things you can't access if you don't have proof of your disability.

The maximum Access to Work grant for example is £16,000 a year. The Enhanced Rate of PIP and the Mobility Component (although I initially got the Basic Rate, with DWP scoring me a single point below what I needed to qualify for the Enhanced Rate I was actually eligible for, and I didn't claim at all until I was about 27) is a few hundred pounds per month. You are eligible for that whether you work or not, it's non-income contingent.

It's basically compensation for society being gooseberry fool for disabled people and paying for any extra support needs you might have doing the things that everyone else does, or therapy/counselling.

My therapy for example costs £72 per hour. Specialist support is not cheap.

You may also be eligible for Adult Social Care under the Care Act 2014, so even if you're past working/pension age, you can get practical help from an actual person (not everyone has willing or able family, friends, partners, or a family at all, some can't even speak) to do things like shopping for groceries, attending social events, attending job interviews, help doing any and all the gooseberry fool that can be overwhelmingly difficult or distressing depending on what those difficulties are related to autism or any other disability for that matter.

The trouble is, at least from my perspective, is that some children grow up with an early diagnosis and receive this support for their life, whether or not they accept it, they are eligible. If you didn't know and struggled along anyway, constantly blaming yourself for sucking at certain things like talking to strangers for example, you have to go about a protracted process to actually get a diagnosis because "autistic adults are adults and they've managed on their own so far, so why need help now?" or to quote the DWP again because I won't let it go "however yours is a high functioning condition so [you don't really need any help with this, do you ]" (this is ableist against both so-called "high functioning" Autistics (usually formerly known as Aspergers) and those of a "lower" functioning. Basically fighting against all the presumption - based merely on your appearance and how you present, as well as how well you mask/hide the condition (after years and years of conditioning and rejection like that if you act your true self), that you are ultimately some kind of fraud / fringe case / "not really autistic" and so don't deserve help, when usually that is strawberry floating obvious looking at the facts (and not systematically working against people to get help for their condition, to save money or simply doing nothing is way easier or whatever).

tl;dr a lot of the response to adults with autism, whether they have a diagnosis or not, is "that sounds hard, but we're all a bit autistic really, good luck lol".

You mention Rainman which I have seen a long time ago. I often joke with my support workers that while I feel uncomfortable or "lost" when unexpected things happen or changes happen in my schedule (kind of like a cat that walks into a room where things have changed or there's no food and just sits there staring at you), I don't end up waving my arms around and going off like a siren, but some autistic people do do that. It's just less common when you've been raised as neurotypical or have developed the more "appropriate" response to not do that, or say something instead. More common I think is to just "shut down" and stop talking or even moving completely, I sometimes find my brain just "flatlines" and "switches off" when something completely unexpected happens and I don't know how to process the change. That's the brain right there kind of "error-ing" and just defaulting into "nope", either flight or flight response or withdrawal ("meltdown" as compared to "shutdown"). Most people will just think in such situations, "well strawberry float, oh well LOL" whereas for autistics this is emotionally and physically debilitating and not a nice experience, and not one they are necessarily remotely equipped to deal with. It's very hard to think rationally in such situations because the brain basically just flops around, and gooseberry fool can go very wrong, if you are autistic you may even wind up dead. Although of course it does matter if some racist banana split calls the cops on you because you are black and not already dead, but what I find especially interesting is he was wearing a hood to help his hypersensitivity to cold and wind which I also struggle with, and that provoked the "suspicion" - I wear hoods a lot, but I'm only white autistic so that's OK!

Well not really, I get plenty of weird/awkward looks in the supermarket for example because I'm wearing sunglasses indoors and nope that's a wrong'un right there he must be up to something. No, I just don't want a load of flashing lights strawberry floating my brain up thank you very much. I also wear silicone ear inserts but no you don't have to yell at me, please don't, I can hear strawberry floating everything and probably better than you, cheers.

Green Gecko wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:personally i cant stand the way media portrays mutism more often than not. movies treat us a savants, comics as sociopaths, games dont even bother theyll just tag it on to any smart character, tv often conflates it with other things and even then its usually all about the parents.

i can only think of two decent portrayals of autism and thats community and loop

Yeah. You won't be happy with Sia's movie "Music" which is ridiculously offensive to autistic people and establishing bad tropes that characterise autistic people in stereotyped ways in general. And who did she consult with for her "loveletter to the autistic community"?? Autism Speaks, not any actually autistic people. One autistic actor even approached her for the film and was told by Sia, "Maybe you're just a bad actor". Great job.

The Good Doctor (Korean version) is OK.

oh yeah i heard about all that. it truly sounded dreadful

Have Aspergers (now Autism Spectrum) , was diagnosed at around nursery.

Some AS/Autism forums/reddits can be a buzzkill with their "All NTs (neurotypicals) are terrible" view.

Yeah, that's not going to help them. That's probably just closeted communities for you, "everyone not like me can never understand so strawberry float those people". Well, you can help them understand, perhaps they already understand you more than you know.

Case in point: undiagnosed neurodiverse person speaks to diagnosed neurodiverse person. Oh wow I find that thing really hard too! But I don't write about it on reddit because I'm not "in" with the autism community on one website, in one language, probably largely in one part of the world. That's a clique like any other.

I find more often people are empathetic and understanding, but it depends what kind of power they have over you. People in power tend to be a lot less understanding if they can blame you for xyz rather than simply how you are, have always been, and always will be, in no way that you can do anything about. That's ableism.

Part of the reason I suppose I cope "relatively well", is because I've put myself out there, I've essentially forced myself out of my comfort zone to do quite a lot of things I was never comfortable doing. I still remember, as a child, those times I have sweat right through my school uniform, shaking, my heart pounding, dry mouth, terrified of this great unknown set of consequences that may or may never come to pass, doing something as simple as raising my hand to answer a question. It's baby steps, and although I didn't realise I had to try a bit harder to do some of those "normal" things and still suffer some kind of adverse physiological/psychological reaction, the rewards were usually (eventually) worth it. I live every day knowing that and I try to focus on that.

And there are others days I'm just like, right, I'm gonna be autistic today and I don't give any strawberry floats what the outside world is doing. Those are some of the best days. Or I'll just watch anime or play games for 10 hours and achieve absolutely nothing lol. The point is we all need our escape, to just be ourselves (everyone does, autistic or not), but I'm not sure reserving oneself to only a subset of society that are like you (or even like you, maybe it's better if they don't know you at all) and rejecting everything else is a good way to grow and move forward.

Speaking of Sia she's the last person I'd want making a video on anything I'm connected to she has an unhealthy obsession with that young dancer she hangs around with, she's admitted they've slept in bed together and she has her in skin coloured clothes often dancing provocatively with grown men in pretty much all her music videos , personally she comes across as a creepy pedophile to me.

kerr9000 wrote:Speaking of Sia she's the last person I'd want making a video on anything I'm connected to she has an unhealthy obsession with that young dancer she hangs around with, she's admitted they've slept in bed together and she has her in skin coloured clothes often dancing provocatively with grown men in pretty much all her music videos , personally she comes across as a creepy pedophile to me.

Do you mean Maddie Ziegler? She's over 18 now but plays the embarrassing stereotype Music in that film as well.

Apparently she studied autistic behaviour to fulfil the role, on, I don't know, YouTube?

I have long known I exhibit the usually signs but I have never bothered being tested. I don't see the point. There's no medical intervention or whatever so I'll just continue being the same person with the same flaws. From a practical standpoint it doesn't matter what I call or label my behaviour.

I felt the same way when I was about 16 but then gooseberry fool started getting hard and it didn't seem fair or right even though I didn't understand why that was and that it was not merely my fault. On the other hand it might be my responsibility to access the support I need if I am not doing anything to pursue that when I know it will help. I suppose some of us can manage without but unfortunately you do "gain" equal rights and support if you ever come up against a situation that unfairly discriminates against you, and for that you generally require evidence you weren't merely neglecting your responsibility to "act normal".

I find it easier to not punish myself excessively for misunderstanding others or being misunderstood, over things I can't fully understand such as facial expressions or tone of voice, in some social or very intense overstimulating situations, for example, when I understand there is a difference in how I process the senses rather than simply being "weird". Expanding my field of understanding for the full spectrum of human condition and different neurological and psychological responses to situations has enabled me to take a step back and assess things from a more rational perspective, but then I suppose I do also have a history of depression in my family and a somewhat turbulent childhood that has made it more likely I will blame myself (or others) for such things. I don't think I would have done that if I didn't seek to understand autism in the first place.

Perhaps more critically I would also be much more inclined to hide core aspects of my identity and character, which would, I feel, be terribly exhausting moving into adulthood (or whatever "adult" means, that tends to include subscribing to a seemingly endless and burgeoning list of social norms) to the extent it's emotionally and even physically debilitating (for example I would feel uncomfortable singing or dancing even on my own to work off nervous energy). Feeling permanently and irrevocable "odd" without some form of explanation for that I think ca be debilitating for some people. For example I have more recently spoken about being queer although I knew that and didn't talk about it. And so basically getting a diagnosis or at least some kind of psychiatric opinion can help understand oneself better and perhaps for that alone it is a worthwhile pursuit (especially as even if the waiting list is generally really long it is still free to get that on the NHS). There's definitely situations in which I wouldn't fully understand the value of accessing some support services if I hadn't at some point tried to get that put in place. When I reflect back on my life before I got a diagnosis it was really so much more difficult and punishing than it needed to be, to the extent that there were long periods of time I didn't even necessarily feel I wanted to continue living anymore. Perhaps that's an extreme case.

Besides the extra support I received at university (a few grands worth in monetary terms after spending about a year+ simply failing) and now the ASC grant. For example longer GP appointments and permission to have someone attend things with me free of charge (that might be your carer or family or friend or romantic partner too, for example I can have one free adult ticket along with my train ticket or some other form of concession) are all subtle and free benefits of a diagnosis (with supporting evidence) as well as the non means tested benefit you may be entitled to. Also if you are in or out of work those entitlements increase, including if your income reduces significantly (tax credit). That safety net increases in the worser circumstances where you might need financial support, if for example you lost your job.

I don't know if I was simply gooseberry fool at my jobs or not (or all of them, which seems unlikely to be fair) but pretty much all the work I have done without support in place haven't worked out in the longer term (1 or more years). It would not have been legal to fire me at least for reasons relating to my "oddness" or "not fitting in". There have been some pretty creative ways of getting rid of me instead, it must be said, but then I gave up with all of that crap and just fend for myself like I did in the first place. I've never even once been formally dismissed as an employee for any kind of gross misconduct. I haven't even received a written warning. Same old.

Green Gecko wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:Speaking of Sia she's the last person I'd want making a video on anything I'm connected to she has an unhealthy obsession with that young dancer she hangs around with, she's admitted they've slept in bed together and she has her in skin coloured clothes often dancing provocatively with grown men in pretty much all her music videos , personally she comes across as a creepy pedophile to me.

Do you mean Maddie Ziegler? She's over 18 now but plays the embarrassing stereotype Music in that film as well.

Apparently she studied autistic behaviour to fulfil the role, on, I don't know, YouTube?

Yeah I mean her, she's over 18 now but Sia has been using her in all her videos and dressing her in skin colored clothes and having her dance with adult men and come round and sleep in her bed etc since the girl was 12, so even if she's over 18 now she wasn't when that all went on.

i was diagnosed at 13 but they pretty much knew all along its just the doctor in question didnt believe in labelling children even if it was a label that would have gotten me the help i needed at school. the autism really kicked in, in high school