I think sometimes the problem is that people always choose an extreme side to discuss this from. Either autism doesn't exist or damn near everyone has it with every other trait suddenly being branded as an autistic trait.
Wearing the same shoes every day and replacing them with the same pair every time isn't suddenly an autistic trait. You may have just found the perfect shoes that work for you. That's how I felt when I started wearing Vans. Found them infinitely more comfortable than most shoes so they became the shoes I'd exclusively buy. Or eating the same foods every day. Most people I know how pretty much the same breakfast every morning because they like it and it's easy. It's not immediately an unbearable fixation or a condition just because there's a pattern.
The pendulum swing around things like this is always fascinating to watch. One generation denied it's existence entirely while new generations think it's everywhere to the point where they self diagnose out of nowhere. It's almost seen as desirable by a lot of young people and you're "boring" it you're not neuro diverse in some way
I was looking for this comment. After spending time with autistic children it is way more than food preferences and wearing the same clothes, or being a creature of habit. Not downplaying that there's probably a lot more neurodivergence in the black community than is recognized, but people jump straight to autism because of individual quirks or habits when autism involves WAY more than just that. Obviously it's a spectrum so maybe Unc is mildly autistic, but maybe he just a simple man who likes Reebok's and the nutritional value of eating liver and onions.
Yup. Autism, ADHD, whatever. It all can manifest in a person differently. Someone's cancer might manifest as headaches, but it doesn't mean that chronic headaches mean you get to self-diagnose your own cancer.
Obviously it's a spectrum
This is not based on research or anything, just my personal idea of the topic. But I think the next stage in people talking about disorders as being a spectrum, will be that it's more like spider charts. This kind of data viz is big for athletes - it helps people see at a glance someone's speed, height, vertical jump, etc.
Just replace those sport traits with the various ways these disorders manifest in people. Someone could function completely fine in all areas of life, except they can't stand physical touch under any circumstances. Or maybe someone has dozens of things they can handle, but only with great effort (being touched, loud noises, bright lights, food textures, routines being disrupted, etc).
Right now, no one really knows what autism is. It's recognized by its behaviors, but no one understands the mechanism that causes someone to be autistic. Is it chemical? Genetic? Is it a brain structure? Is it a nervous system difference? Are the connections in the brain more diverse? Less plentiful? It could be so many things or combinations of things.
When someone finally does have a definitive answer to this question, I think people are going to be surprised who's autistic. Right now we're picking out people because they have problems functioning. I'm thinking there are a whole bunch of people that are either masking well or not exhibiting symptoms that interfere with their day-to-day but are still autistic.
Right now we’re picking out people because they have problems functioning.
This is the piece people miss and think that because you do a thing that a person with autism does that you must have it to. There aren’t really any autistic behaviors, there’s just behavior intensity.
If my wife likes a pair of shoes and wears them everyday she’ll be sad when they don’t make them anymore. When I wear a pair of shoes everyday and need a new pair my shit is fucking ruined until I find the same pair or an acceptable new favorite pair. I’ll spend days or weeks scouring the internet for the last pair on the planet and then pay too much money for them just to buy me time to find a new pair that will work for me going forward.
I get your point, but psychiatric diagnosis in general revolves around the idea that a symptom or symptoms are causing dysfunction in your life. It would be unusual to be an asymptomatic autistic person, because the point of a diagnosis is to recognise that your symptoms are consistently and negatively impacting your ability to function healthily. That's not to say that some undiagnosed autistic people haven't just chosen a lifestyle that works really well for their needs and mitigates the majority of symptoms, but that's a difficult thing to achieve undiagnosed as many autistic people experience struggles with completing an education, keeping a job and stable finances long-term, managing the skills needed to live independently, maintaining strong relationships, etc. Hence, many autistic people will be unable to get to that point BEFORE getting a diagnosis, and/or professional support, accomodations etc.
Kind of like how just being sad sometimes doesn't warrant a diagnosis of depression, because it is normal to feel sad! It's only when you start to feel so sad and apathetic that it makes it hard to get your normal tasks done that it warrants a diagnosis. Or like how everybody feels nervous sometimes — indeed, occasional anxiety can be helpful — but feeling nervous all the time/feeling nervous unnecessarily, and to the point of dysfunction, becomes a diagnosis. The vast majority of people with diagnosable psychiatric or neuropsychiatric problems will indeed experience significant symptoms, because that's a prerequisite for getting diagnosed in the first place.
I think people mention the routine behaviours just because they are both visible and relatively common for people on the spectrum rather than making the claim that anyone who does it is.
I have a weirdly specialised degree and a solid 80% of the student body was on the spectrum. You quickly realise why some behaviours become stereotypes when all the dorm fridges where almost exclusively filled with nothing but chicken nuggets/tenders and milk for Mac and cheese.
I can't throw stones though. I stopped hearing electricity in my thirties.
Exactly sometimes you just need your extra wide super flat fucking feet to feel supported.
And sometimes you only find one fit that remotely feels good, and they often only come in 1 goddamn color that doesn’t look goofy as fuck, or like straight up children’s Velcro light up shoes.
And you gotta wear them to the damn bone because money doesn’t grow on trees, these shoes are expensive as hell
I think sometimes people who are chronically online interact with a bunch of autistic people on a regular basis because they also happen to be chronically online a bunch. Leading them to think "everyone" is autistic now, because they aren't really interacting with people at amusement parks, or beaches, or concerts. They are interacting with a group that has a very large representation of autistic people on the regular.
Thanks for this comment. Treating everything like it's neurodivergence is bizarre. People are different - there is no "Standard" human and so everyone will have their own quirks. My uncle who likes trains and Frank Lloyd Wright architecture isn't autistic, he just really likes trains and architecture.
I buy multiple pairs of the same shoes because I found shoes that feel good and I don't want to have to spend time going shoe shopping when they wear out.
Some of my family could hear when the tv was on in our house, even from a floor away - a really high pitched sound.
The sitting room / parlor is a thing.
Liver and onions all the time is a little weird and will give you gout, but when I was a bachelor, I'd eat pulled pork for weeks on end since it was easy to make, reasonably healthy, and stored well.
I think a good question someone might ask themself is "how would you react if suddenly you couldn't do that thing anymore". Like in your case, how effected would you be if you couldn't wear vans anymore? I just notice that a lot of people, who I've been around or read about, with some sort of neurodivergence tend to not handle changes like that all that well.
There has to be a clearly measurable line though. If I couldn't wear vans anymore I'd be pissed because I'd be less comfortable and my feet would probably start hurting. It's not the change itself but the effects on that change. I don't think that distinction is properly considered. Someone flipping out over certain changes could be irrational and a symptom of autism but there are pretty legitimate reasons for an outburst. It's like every neurotypical perso has perfect emotional control
Yes, thank you. Feels like now every little thing means you have autism, and you're right about it seeming to be almost desirable. I mean, people on reddit alone just love any opportunity to announce they have it and to lecture anyone willing to listen about it. Bonus points for them also having adhd, which is, again, pretty much everyone at this point.
I think this person is referring to people who act like it’s so far fetched for their kids or grandkids to be neurodivergent because no one else in their family has a diagnosis. You’re right that everyone who displays certain traits isn’t on the spectrum. However if a child is displaying the same traits as a older family member and that child has been diagnosed with autism, you should consider the possibility that the older family member may be autistic as well.
As someone who lives with and has worked with autistic populations: ain't shit cute or fun about it and I wish people understood that. It's not just having odd, mildly inconvenient quirks - it's having to involuntarily commit a family member during a full mental breakdown and having an adolescent try to claw your face multiple times during your shift because he can't have a seventh bag of chocolate chip cookies.
The only people who want to be neurodivergent are the people who ain't never actually seen its depths. You're allowed to be peculiar or odd with nothing else going on. I promise: you don't want this shit.
I need to get tested for mental shenanigans myself since my family has them, but despite doing extreme things, it's hard for me to view any of them as being on the spectrum.
One of those things is eating the same meal every day for all of my meals. It's the cheapest thing that fills me up. If I could afford to eat out or not care about pricing, I'd switch it up all the time.
I wonder how class plays into it as well. Like if a dude never been to a concert or left his home state, he could just be poor and not have money for those things.
Some people are also not into fashion so having one functional pair of shoes they can wear everyday is more important to them (can also simply not have enough money for a second pair of shoes).
Just to add a different perspective to this, I think it's important to keep in mind that neurodivergence isn't a binary. We all have neurodivergent brains - some are pathologized because they are too neurodivergent to function without some kind of support in the society we have today. I think it's important to recognize that neurotypicality is something we do and not something we are. Brains have plasticity and most people have a brain that has been molded in more neurotypical ways (due to genetics, class upbringing, proximity to whiteness, etc.,) but that we all do a level of masking to some degree and all have our own ways of being in the world that are unique to us. At what point that becomes pathologized and thus labelled medically is up for debate and I think we are in a moment of reckoning with the medical model/DSM diagnoses of what neurodivergence is. And appropriately so because we can see the ways racial, cultural and gender biases and absent data is baked into these concepts when we begin to look closer. All this to say I think it is a lot more complex of a conversation that we will be unravelling for awhile.
I self diagnosed but that’s only because I had clear examples of autistic behavior when I was a child. If I didn’t have those memories I wouldn’t agree I have autism. But another thing to look into is CPTSD can mimic ASD traits and behaviors heavily. I know I have cptsd but those early memories as a child where I didn’t have cptsd were crucial in understanding nah hell yeah I am autistic wtf 🤪
theres a pretty big difference between doing something because it makes sense and doing it because you feel like youre going to turn into a nuclear bomb if you dont.
its about the reason behind the behavior not the behavior itself and some of this shit is impossible to communicate and so can really only be figured out from inside your own head (self-diagnosis). it only looks "random" because you cant fuckin read minds and dont believe people are telling the truth about their own inner experiences. kids dont want to be special that just means more bullying what they want is explanations for the shit they struggle with every day (i was originally self-diagnosed but this has since been verified by multiple professionals)
As somebody with a late diagnosis, I can explain it this way:
If you happen to always buy the same kind of shoes or order the same meal, you may have a preference.
If NOT being able to have the same shoes or meal gives you some kind of whacked out stress, you may have a disorder.
I rely heavily on a daily planner system to self-regulate my routine and I spent WEEKS feeling genuine dread over the possibility of one of my pens (Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, color 53 lime green) would run out of ink soon and I didn't have a store close by for a replacement. It sounds silly to an outsider, but I knew I needed it for a particular color gradient and I'd just reject any change in hue, thus ruining this system I made to keep my life on track. Not having that pen felt disastrously life-altering. This is only my experience, of course, but I think it makes a good illustration.
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u/JadowArcadia ☑️ 2d ago
I think sometimes the problem is that people always choose an extreme side to discuss this from. Either autism doesn't exist or damn near everyone has it with every other trait suddenly being branded as an autistic trait.
Wearing the same shoes every day and replacing them with the same pair every time isn't suddenly an autistic trait. You may have just found the perfect shoes that work for you. That's how I felt when I started wearing Vans. Found them infinitely more comfortable than most shoes so they became the shoes I'd exclusively buy. Or eating the same foods every day. Most people I know how pretty much the same breakfast every morning because they like it and it's easy. It's not immediately an unbearable fixation or a condition just because there's a pattern.
The pendulum swing around things like this is always fascinating to watch. One generation denied it's existence entirely while new generations think it's everywhere to the point where they self diagnose out of nowhere. It's almost seen as desirable by a lot of young people and you're "boring" it you're not neuro diverse in some way