Maybe there should be Autistic Personality Type
I'm going to list what I want to say in bullet point so that I don't lose my train of thought 80Xs over.
1.)I quite frankly have a bit of a problem with the idea of low functioning and high functioning, and I think it can create unnecessary schisms in the autism community.
2.)Can someone please explain why long paragraphs are meltdown inducing? I don't quite understand why. Does it make your eyes hurt or something or... visually over whelming? When I get that for long pages of text or what not I just cut off a chunk and focus on that and then I'm good. But maybe that is not what you are talking about- so again I don't understand that point in this discussion. Also, can't you just not read it if it is bothering you? I don't quite get it- sorry.
3.)I thought it was pretty well-established that people can fluctuate between high and low on the spectrum. Depending on their circumstances/stress levels sometimes even how much they have slept.
4.)Someone else said it already but just because you are teenagers does not mean you are not responsible for your reactions to things or that you are let off the hook from being introspective about both your prospective and that of the people or person that you disagreed with or differed from. That is a condition of life.
5.) The main and biggest reason why it doesn't make sense to make these comparisons is because autistic diagnosis and autism itself is and never has been about how autistic people compare to EACH OTHER but instead how they compare to NTs. For example, I was completely non-verbal until I was 3. My friend's cousin was non-verbal until she was 6 and a half. Just because in my more "HF" developmental trajectory I talked after the age of 3 but this other more "severely autistic person" didn't talk until they were past the age of six when most NT kids are in kindergarten means that I wasn't/am not autistic enough??
If you take both cases and (as normal psychiatrists do) and compare them to the developmental trajectory of an average nonPDD NT child, they are both worryingly abnormal and thus a piece of the criteria for diagnosing autism.
In other words the yardstick isn't oppression/disability Olympics in the autism/aspie community but instead simply how we all compare to NTs, by whose metric we all seem bizarre and off-kilter or "Impared" if you will.
6.) I've always felt that Aspie or more HF people were like in the uncanny valley of people, they seem normal enough, but upon closer inspection they still "creep people out" by not being NT. They aren't truly NT, they stare for just a bit too long/don't look long enough/ their posture or wording seems a bit too stiff to be comfortable and upsets others by the very nature of their indigenous mannerisms. And the processing that takes place in the brain (the important differentiator) is fundamentally different from a "normal NT". Sorry if that characterization bothers anyone- I don't mean it to disparage anyone simply I mean to reflect a specific train of thought that SOME NT people have in regards to autistic people. (i.e.: all of the NTs I personally talk to on a regular basis).
7.) I don't think (this is just my personal opinion) that any level/type/variation of autism should be solely characterized by its deficiencies. To me that feels like describing a problem not on its underlying processes but instead of the behaviors that in worst case scenarios they manifest as. Even something as simple as "protracted difficulties socializing with peers" can be extremely subjective. For example, who are the peers? I get along FABULOUSLY and have wonderful fluid conversations with people that are nerdy and autistic, but people (I like to call super/ultra-NTs) who immediate project 3rd derivative T.O.M motives and stories onto others, yep we are like oil and water, they never understand why I say and do certain things, and I never understand their veiled meanings and however the f**k they communicate. I swear it's like they all have in-group telekinesis and I'm just left in outfield twiddling my thumbs and later I'm told I was staring aggressively or ... i don't know some other such nonsense that makes exactly zero sense to me....
HOWEVER, my point is that in one setting I would be socially competent but in the other I run at an insane social skills deficit and suffer "profound social skills impairments in comparison with people in my age cohort." But my skillset or I didn't change- the situation did.
8.) In regards to other people's difficulties which has already been said can be masked in all manner of ways, just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.
Honestly, that part of this discussion reminds me of a child that "hides" in the middle of a room during hide and seek and covers itself and assumes it is hidden because it can't see anything ergo no one else can either (classic lack of T.O.M. if you will).
9.) Also, I've mentioned in before, but I really don't think it makes to compare yourself to others- it doesn't make you feel better and doesn't help. Never made me feel any better. ![]()
AGAIN, im not calling people out on their diagnoses if theyre problems are small, im saying if they have no SIGNIFICANT impairments!!
WHICH MEANS IF A PERSON CAN MAKE FRIENDS EASILY, HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH SENSORY SENSITIVITY OTHER THAN ITS JUST IRRITATING TO THEM OR THE EXTENT OF THEIR OBSESSIONS IS ITS A PASS TIME THEN MAYBE THEY WOULD BE A BETTER FIT FOR A AUTISM PERSONALITY TYPE!! !
I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE WONT f*****g GET THAT.
_________________
Obsessing over Sonic the Hedgehog since 2009
Diagnosed with Aspergers' syndrome in 2012.
Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1 severity without intellectual disability and without language impairment in 2015.
DA: http://mephilesdark123.deviantart.com
WHICH MEANS IF A PERSON CAN MAKE FRIENDS EASILY, HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH SENSORY SENSITIVITY OTHER THAN ITS JUST IRRITATING TO THEM OR THE EXTENT OF THEIR OBSESSIONS IS ITS A PASS TIME THEN MAYBE THEY WOULD BE A BETTER FIT FOR A AUTISM PERSONALITY TYPE!! !
I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE WONT f*****g GET THAT.
If you think people are beating up on you, report them. I would agree with your sentiment about the BAP. I just don't know of a lot of people who could be positively identified with it by their scant testaments. Not everyone is inclined to constantly post about their issues either, especially when they're trying to focus on the positives and get on with their lives. Many adults can actively avoid situations that will prey on their impairments unlike children and teens who are forced into the fighting pit that is the school systems. I understand your frustration with the concept of fakers. You're melting down again, I hope your dog is there for you. Maybe request for this thread to be locked so it doesn't bring you further anguish.

