Is Autism Serious or Not Serious?

[OkRad]

When I first discovered I had this, I was very upset. I was crying and a friend saw me and asked why and I made the mistake of saying I had autism. Their exact words:

"Is that all?" and something or other about it being not so bad, and that it was not MS or anything.

To me, autism has been devastating! I stopped growing, cannot eat, can't work or make friends....you know the schpeel.

Now I tell people who I care about and who I like to know that I have "head trauma" or I say a "neuro disorder" and refuse to tell them which one.

That goes over without ANY invalidation whatsoever. They are much more likely to understand how severe it is if I DO NOT USE THE WORD AUTISM.

THat seems odd to me!!!! I can't even claim my own disorder :-( I ca't claim it because I simply cannot educate everyone about it. It's too complex.

How do you handle this? Is Autism not serious and I just got a bad case of it like MS has replapsing and not replasing? Or there is diabetes one (SEROIUS!) and diabetes 2 (also serious but controllable). Is it like that?

So I have to say Oh, I got a REALLY bad strain of autism???

 

[Suzanne]

In this area, we are not "twins", for I long to be formally diagnosed as having aspergers and please note: aspergers and not autism, otherwise, they would be one and the same, but stupid "professionals" decide and even they get confused!

Oh blast, I just remembered ( rather ironically, I must add) that I was supposed to remind my husband to phone the psychiatrist for me and book another appointment. Ah well, have to wait now, I guess!

Anyway, for me, to be formally diagnosed as an aspie, would help me feel tons better about myself; at the moment, I am just living with the "hope" and so, trying to make it a "reality" and the more I chat with aspies, the more that "reality" exists.

Having lived all my life feeling surreal around others, it will be like taking deep fresh breaths and thinking: ok, perhaps now I can fully relax and not put pressure on myself to do the impossible.

The thing that most scares me really is doing all "adult" things. I really do not function well as an adult I have just learned about accounting and have many regrets that I had not bothered to learn it before, but to my credit, being chronically bad at maths, I figured that I would be hopelss anyway and here I am, being flipping good with accounts lol

 

[StephF]

How long is a piece of string ?

The very nature of the Autism Spectrum means that you cannot answer questions like that because we all have different strengths and weaknesses.

The only thing we can say is "How does it affect me ?"

Sorry I couldn't give you an answer to your question.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

It really depends on how it affects you and your quality of life. It is a serious condition and it deserves respect but it's not degenerative. You're not going to die from it. You are able to live a fulfilling live with it.

 

[Judge]

For some, autism is so easily dismissed or marginalized largely out of complete ignorance. Worse perhaps if their only understanding of such a thing is based on a Hollywood sitcom on television. Even in my own case, for most of my life I never truly understood what autism is. It is very complicated. That we all individually have a myriad of traits and behaviors and all at varying amplitudes.

For others, autism is dismissed over political beliefs. That autism is dismissed as a non-issue in a belief that some attempt to collect entitlements over. Of course this line of political thinking may involve those who are politically opposed to entitlements- period.

And then there's the difference between perceived "high and low" functioning autism. Where medical professionals and the public may bicker over such distinctions much like economists. I know my cousin who works in the healthcare insurance industry considers high-functioning autism a virtual "non-issue".

Learning of being on the spectrum so late in life, it's mind-boggling to me to learn that most people around me were nowhere near as sensitive to so many things as I am. I just went through life assuming everyone's senses were on "overdrive".

Now I know better. But I also realize just how many people around me are most likely not able to relate to what this really amounts to. Even when they really want to know.

Like many others here, through a painful experience of trial and error I came to only one conclusion. "Need-to-know-basis" only. To ration the possibility of telling much of anyone about my neurology. Because no matter who you talk to about it, odds are greater that they will not understand in whole or in part.

 

[OkRad]

I guess that is true. That is why I just say "Neuro Disorder" becaue their brother in law or someone may have autism and not be effected so much. Then I get judged. "Oh, XYZ has that and they are OK!" That makes me so mad.

 

[Judge]

I guess that is true. That is why I just say "Neuro Disorder" becaue their brother in law or someone may have autism and not be effected so much. Then I get judged. "Oh, XYZ has that and they are OK!" That makes me so mad.

One thing you can tell them is that we aren't diagnosed with a "cookie-cutter" mentality. We're all terribly different.

Even for those of us who have managed to make it in society over the years, no one can likely see the scars or the emotional pain we bear to have accomplished this.

 

[toothless]

okrad,you have head injuries on top of aspergers/autism,so it makes more complicated.
its not that the autism is worsened as such but the things around you have which all have an impact on the autistic presentation- there are a lot of issues to factor in like head injury symptoms that appear as autism traits/issues, lack of support,extra pressures to fit into a one size fits all society,your environment, mental health issues etc.

i dont see my autism as serious business, i see it as me and nothing more or less.
i believe in the social model of disability and ive quoted it here before but in my opinion we are not disabled by our autism,we are disabled by society and their lack of support, understanding and adaption.

 

[Judge]

Privately I don't see my autism as any kind of real deficit compared to my OCD or depression. Autism only potentially impacts me when interacting with others.

OCD and depression are something I must grapple with even when I am all alone.

 

[xudo]

I would echo what many have said in that it wholly depends on how you are affected. It's reasonably serious for me I'd say, because of how it affects me in terms of socialisation and being around people. I have always had this problem but didn't know why until I was diagnosed. Having GAD on top has obviously made this worse.

 

[OkRad]

I guess I am wondering what to tell my roomate because I am going back to a different town. You all have clarified to me a lot. Either of my troubles are not serious on thier own. The head trauma was mTBI and the autism was OK but the two together made it bad.

So I can';t say that to my roomate. They would never understsand. They wold thnk I should be better

 

[Bolletje]

It's difficult. At times I have wished for a visible handicap so people wouldn't dismiss my issues, or tell me I'm making up a diagnose as an excuse for my behaviour.

I don't have much to add to what has been sad before, how "serious" your autism is really depends on how it affects you and how well you're able to cope with the effect it has on your life. (This is not me saying that if it's really bad, you're not trying hard enough. Just wanted to clarify that)
When I've got a job that's not too demanding and enough spare time to do what I feel like, my autism doesn't feel serious at all. Weeks go by without me thinking about it.
But when I have either a very demanding job or no job at all and when people request my presence at social gatherings I'm acutely aware of my shortcomings. I need a lot of time to recharge and I need to do that by myself, and explaining that to family and friends doesn't get any easier. So I end up either burnt out from trying to do it all at once, or I flake on both work and social life, which also creates a negative downward spiral. At times like those, I feel like my autism is a pretty serious disorder.

 

[tree]

Some additional views of what being autistic means.
Comments by autistic people:

Autistic people of Reddit, what is autism really like? • /r/AskReddit

 

[dragonwolf]

When I've got a job that's not too demanding and enough spare time to do what I feel like, my autism doesn't feel serious at all. Weeks go by without me thinking about it.

This is how I am, too, though my work can be quite demanding as long as long as my coworkers are supportive (in general; doesn't need to be about my Autism, specifically). A good workplace culture is worth untold amounts.

There have been times where it's become such a non-issue that I question if I even am Autistic. ...and then something will happen that brings the things I struggle with to light.