Auties, Aspies, and other CloudCuckooLanders!

Yes. Which is not fun, because it makes people think I am 12 or under - that may also be my face though. But when I speak, people think it's a boy and look at a boy in the room instead.

I am almost 17, and female.

That's indeed a bit odd.

Yes, I'd say so as well.

I'm also very quiet. I'm almost unable to speak up, I feel like something is holding me back...

Could be that you're nervous. I've had the same feeling before, and I've tried fighting it.

My voice is my most androgynous feature. And when I get stressed, it stops sounding normal and gets sing-songey. It sounds whiny to some.

You already know what I sound like Adric, I will not torture your eardrums with my voice again.

(has seen one of my You Tube videos and heard first hand how awful I sound.)

edited 26th Jun '16 4:40:02 PM by Troperfrom95

Actually I don't know what you sound like.

I thought e seen my You... +facepalm+ That was on a different forum! Duh, that was on Halo nation. Sorry.

My voice is horrible, BTW.

I saw your You Tube, but I didn't watch any videos.

Don't, your ears will thank you.

I was constantly mocked throught middle school because of my voice. But then again, I sound like a man. Keep in mind that I am 16. And female.

I have trouble getting my volume right. When nervous I mumble without realising, and others often have to tell me when I'm getting too loud. I also occasionally use the wrong tone of voice by accident, making people think I'm feeling a different emotion than I really am.

edited 27th Jun '16 3:14:41 AM by Murataku

I doubt there are many rap fans in here but I'ma share this anyway

I listen to Public Enemy every now and then. They're pretty good.

I'm more of a video game soundtrack person, but I also listen to the music on "Café Music BGM Channel" on You Tube as background music a lot, particularly at work.

Anyway, reading more articles, and I saw one about a documentary on an autistic individual with a lot of input from the individual herself.

The comments section was where a lot of the interesting stuff was, as is often the case on articles like these. One major point of contention is the idea that autistic self-advocates are taking the megaphone, so to speak, for themselves and distorting the view of autism to include only those who are "high functioning".

While I understand the controversy around the use of terms such as "high" and "low" "functioning" (and the author of NeuroTribes pointed out the flaws in such terms), the fact remains that we get situations like this:

Historically, it was psychologist Lorna Wing who discovered the sheer breadth of the autism spectrum and insisted on the term "Aspergers Syndrome" being invented so parents won't have to claim their little professors had "autism". Even though she recognized Aspergers was in fact a form of autism. She played politics to help others.

What do you think about the idea of splitting autism into multiple labels/descriptions? To claim that two people with a massive gulf in their needs have the same condition, particularly when there's massive differences between them that drastically affect their abilities and needs, is in my opinion a bad idea. At the same time, it's called a "spectrum" for a reason, and I myself was nonverbal at the age of 3, having been diagnosed with autism before people in the US had heard of Aspergers Syndrome. You had to be pretty damn profoundly affected to be diagnosed at the age of 3, when I was a kid. And yet I'm obviously not the same now as I was then.

From my experience, the people who say "don't believe in labels" are people that labels don't apply to. "They make children feel different" (We already know we're different, genius) "It's never good to define a person as one thing." (This I agree with, but just because someone has a certain label, it doesn't mean that label defines them) For people who do need labels, labels mean that we get the specific services that we need. People with different types and severities of autism need different services. Lumping us together in one group would be like lumping every person with a heart defect, for example, into one treatment plan. When labels escape the medical field and begin being used by the general public to describe the level of humanity someone has, like the "high functioning" and "low functioning" labels have turned into, that's where the problem starts. But using labels in diagnostics is very necessary if you want the best treatment possible

Instead of splitting the spectrum up, essentially defining autism to mean something it is not, it would be much better to identify subtypes. This would help with both diagnostics and understanding.

Then those parents who need it can say: My child has A. It is a type of autism.

Low functioning has been problematic as it was defined since the beginning as autistic person with a low measured IQ. I think an IQ below 75. It is no longer part of any diagnostics manual at all.

edited 27th Jun '16 12:28:36 PM by war877

I don't care about the parents. Also the issue it doesn't define the whole thing, it assumes since one has one set of skills they must have it all and if they are lacking other skills they must have none.

If people simply pay attention to the definition, which to be fair I am having trouble with, then the problem goes away. Autism is like allism. Everyone with the condition is different and has different skillsets.

You could actually say the same thing about any psychological condition. A condition does not tell you what job a person has, and it does not tell you what entertainment they like, and it does not tell you what things they study, and it does not tell you how smart they are. Usually, it doesn't even tell you what a person's personality is like.

Autism is not a type of person. It is a condition that any type of person could have.

Yeah. I don't know if I should be speaking for it I'm not autistic my cognitive issues are unrelated besides in the ways they overlap but.

edited 27th Jun '16 1:19:17 PM by phantom1

A psychologist who's used to diagnosing her patients, finds autism in her own son.

See, I always tell my mom about my suicidal thoughts.

She assumes it's "teen stuff"...

Even if it were, what makes her think that bypassing suicidal thoughts is okay?

A few years back, I remember telling my parents about my suicidal thoughts, and them being told to be quiet so I didn't "bother the neighbors" (I live in an apartment so "you're bothering the neighbors" is how I'm kept from showing anything emotion)

If you need help, I'd go to a school counselor. School counselors aren't always the most helpful though, so if yours isn't, ask for a referral to psychiatric services outside school. There are also psychiatric hotlines you can call at any time of day. The number is different depending on where you live, but you can Google it. If it's an emergency, just call 911. I hope you're okay.

Unfortunately, my mom acts as the school counselor. She doesn't even help with people's issues though; I've gotten reports from very good friends of mine who struggle with depression and anxiety far more than I do, and they almost always tell me "your mom doesn't really care... does she?"

I feel as though she is just not a decent human being. Bonsai will tell you - I've said a lot of stuff to him about her.

Kids Help Line maybe? But yeah that's a shame.