CP and AS???
sunshinescj
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 16 Mar 2014
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Posts: 183
Location: Ohio, USA
Hi everyone it's been a long time since her post anything on here because my parents were getting a little bit sick of my wrongplanet obsession . However I have questions to ask that of been bothering me lately, 1) many doctors and psychologists I have been to say that because I have CP or cerebral palsy, for those of you who aren't familiar with the abbreviation, they can't properly diagnose AS also. Due to the fact that CP developmental delays etc.just like AS. is it possible to have both?
2) over the past couple of years I have done a lot of research pertaining to autism and it's varying forms and realize that I exhibit many if not all of the characteristics for a point of reference my aspie score is 155. Also I am a female and I know that diagnosis manifest itself differently between genders for now I have been diagnosed with nonverbal learning disorder but the diagnosis of AS just seems to fit me better is it a safe bet to assume I am an aspie?
3) are there any other wheelchairbound aspies out there how does being in a wheelchair chair affect your AS / autism or vice versa? Ps. i'm 14
I know a guy who's Aspie and blind. They missed his diagnosis for quite a while too because they thought he was socially awkward because of his blindness. But he's definitely, obviously, glaringly autistic; anyone who knows what autism looks like can see it.
Multiple disabilities like CP and autism can exist together, but yeah, it can be harder for the doctors to catch an autism diagnosis when there's an obvious physical disability in the picture.
Your non-verbal learning disorder diagnosis puts you on the autism spectrum. NVLD is essentially Asperger's, or close enough so as to make very little difference, seen from a neurological and learning-based perspective. I'm not sure of the exact figures, but I would be willing to bet that most people diagnosed with NVLD can also be diagnosed with autism.
The doctors most likely feel better not explicitly giving you the autism diagnosis, for some reason. Maybe they like the idea of NVLD, which stresses it as a learning disability that's best compensated for with extra lessons in things that are difficult for you and learning ways to do things that you can't (much the way a dyslexic kid gets audiobooks and reading lessons). Some doctors just don't like to say "autism" because they think it's a scary word (which it is, for some people, because autism has a reputation as being severe, obvious, extreme autism that takes over your life as though you weren't a person but a blob of autism... needless to say that's pretty stupid, but some people really do think of it that way).
I think if your NVLD diagnosis gets you the help you need, then you don't really need to worry about getting them to admit that you can be described as "autistic" just as easily as "NVLD". The label's not the important thing; we have quite a few people here who are diagnosed with NVLD and they are pretty much integrated into WP so you can't tell who's got what diagnosis. I can't tell unless they mention it, anyway.
If it helps you to read and learn about autism and apply those lessons to help yourself, then by all means do it. It's not like autism is some kind of exclusive club. It's an extremely diverse disorder and I don't think I'll ever stop being surprised by the variety of experiences, skill sets, and developmental pathways that autistic people have.
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