Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Compendium Thread

'We have all noticed that the autism spectrum has widened massively in the past three decades, partly owing to the removal of the Asperger’s diagnosis. When my brother was formally diagnosed at four years old, in 1997, you usually had to be what they then called “severe”. Nowadays, there are children who are verbal and able to be in mainstream school who have diagnoses. This surge deserves examination, too. However, I am not one of the people saying this must mean that those people aren’t autistic, or that they don’t face enormous challenges. Heterogenous and multifactoral disorders tend to be that way.

It isn’t the existence of books on overdiagnosis that perturbs me. I have a lot of respect for the opinions of doctors, especially those who ask vital questions about how we treat patients with chronic illness, mental distress and neurodivergence. What is alarming is how the concept of overdiagnosis is being deployed by culture warriors as a battering ram to beat ill and disabled people with, to cast doubt on their diagnoses, to mock them and, in the case of politicians, to justify further punitive cuts to their support systems.

Take this paragraph from a Sunday Times review of Searching for Normal by Sami Timimi: “Instead of operating on the Socratic principles of doctors talking with patients to find the emotional and historical source of their unhappiness, too many have pivoted to treating mental health like physical health. They diagnose their patients with a ‘disorder’, slap them with a pathologising label (ADHD, autism etc) and medicate them.”

Where to start? The fact that autism and ADHD aren’t mental illnesses? Autism and ADHD are neurodevelopmental disorders (they can both co-occur with mental-health issues). But what I find most troubling is the suggestion that doctors are slapping diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders on to patients willy nilly.

Presumably we must now mistrust the neurologists, the developmental paediatricians, the psychiatrists, the geneticists and the speech and occupational therapists involved in a diagnosis? The parents who have noticed that their child is struggling to meet their milestones, the school special educational needs coordinators, and the GPs and health visitors who refer?'

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ure-warriors-overdiagnosis-mental-health-cuts
 
Yes it's not doctors who do the diagnosis, just the referral. The psychologists they refer to have no skin in the game. They presumably get paid for the assessment not the result.

Now the people who assess for benefits are an entirely different matter. They're not always qualified and they do have targets. The percentage of claimants who win their appeals suggests to me that the system is stacked against the applicant at the first application as they know not everyone will have the stamina to appeal. It is not at all as easy as the journalists and politicians are making out.
 
I agree @staticgirl :) Lots and lots! :twothumbs:

We all have to learn and to start somewhere. I know I was woefully ignorant when I was diagnosed, and I'd taught many autistics at various levels! Done all the inservice I could get hold of and taken an interest.

Somehow the ignorance seems worse when it's groups like teachers and medics and the police who deal with people officially and in situations where neurology plays a very big part in outcomes.
 

'I felt lost with autism - then I found skiing'​


'A skier who felt there was nothing for her in life until she discovered the thrill of the slopes said she was "super surprised" to win gold for Great Britain at the Special Olympics.

Annabelle Lamb, from Norwich, came first in her division in the advanced giant slalom at the World Winter Games in Turin earlier this month.

The 26-year-old, who has autism, triumphed over 36 athletes from North America and Europe to qualify for the final.'

It's a slippery slope ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4v9111e0go
 
staticgirl said:
Yes it's not doctors who do the diagnosis, just the referral. The psychologists they refer to have no skin in the game. They presumably get paid for the assessment not the result.

Now the people who assess for benefits are an entirely different matter. They're not always qualified and they do have targets. The percentage of claimants who win their appeals suggests to me that the system is stacked against the applicant at the first application as they know not everyone will have the stamina to appeal. It is not at all as easy as the journalists and politicians are making out.
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I find it horrific that in a certain specific part of the North West of the UK those with Autism (and some have other problems as well) are treated with what amounts to contempt by those whose job is to look after them, including the NHS. It really is awful and no amount of safeguarding reports alters the situation.
 
I've mentioned already somewhere in this forum a 17 year old I had to work with who was a bit of a handful to say the least.

A few days after we started working together, she let me know she had autism so if she had to do any washing up at work, it would cause her stress because she'd obsess over if she'd done it well enough.

I told her I'd be supportive with that and do all of the washing up always. It was only about ten minutes work anyway.

A couple of days before we were shutting down for the year, she cheerfully announced (and without me asking) "I'm not actually diagnosed with autism by the way, I just think I might be."

How convenient. She'd spent the whole season bullshitting me basically just to get out of doing any washing up.

We need to stop diagnosing each other with autism and ADHD​


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/ot...1&cvid=e248fe609b2644e6841f6c1224b70897&ei=28
 
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Mythopoeika said:
What do you imagine me to speak like?
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Sorry Mytho I meant to get back to you on this.
I don't really have a voice for you, but I get a bit of Ade Edmonson, lookswise.

Now Chas, I can clearly picture and hear.

Listen yous two limey punks, I'm gonna count to tree, then yous ull be swimming with the fishes alongside fat Tony.
Capiche?
 
Floyd said:
Sorry Mytho I meant to get back to you on this.
I don't really have a voice for you, but I get a bit of Ade Edmonson, lookswise.

Now Chas, I can clearly picture and hear.

Listen yous two limey punks, I'm gonna count to tree, then yous ull be swimming with the fishes alongside fat Tony.
Capiche?
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:chuckle:Is @ChasFink from the Bronx? I don’t think he is.
 
Geier is a worrying choice.

A Vaccine Skeptic Has Been Hired To Lead A Controversial Autism Study — And Medical Experts Are Appalled

David Geier, a known vaccine skeptic, has been hired to head the analysis.

Geier’s leadership role was reported to the Washington Post by anonymous federal health officials.
According to the Washington Post, Geier has touted anti-vaccine beliefs and, along with his father, has published papers, including some that are now retracted, about the “link” between vaccines and autism, which has, once again, been debunked.

Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology, told HuffPost that she is appalled by this appointment. “The Geiers (David and his father, Mark) were among the first to publish a link between thimerosal [a vaccine ingredient] and autism,” Smith said.

“Geier has a history of publishing shoddy studies in this area. Some papers have been retracted. The Institute of Medicine examined their publications when they looked at the autism/vaccination connection and found them not to be credible,” Smith said.

“If you are going to do a study like this, which the CDC has said that they want to do, then we need to make sure that it’s done correctly and in a way that we can actually trust the results that they get from their study,” said Elisabeth Marnik, a scientist and science communicator based in Maine.

“So, choosing David Geier to analyze this data and to do this study is a very poor choice,” Marnik said, for all of the reasons mentioned above and then some.

“He’s had sanctions from Maryland for practicing medicine without a license, so there’s just so many reasons why we can’t trust anything that he could potentially put out about this potential link between vaccines and autism,” Marnik added.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hhs-study-vaccines-autism-david-geier_l_67e42a1ae4b05205243a5c98
 
I'm hoping that someone here can tell me whether this is part of my ADHD or whether it's just a 'me' thing...

today I got the hoover out to clean through downstairs. It's a pullalong hoover, not quite of the Henry persuasion, but similar. To plug the hoover in I had to move the exercise bike. Despite this, the cord of the hoover managed to get wrapped around the bike, as I tried to untangle it the hoover fell over and it was like that stupid Mousetrap game, where the toppling hoover managed to catch the edge of a bag of bottles of essential oils that were hanging on a hook, which then fell off and my attempts to catch everything caused the bike to get pulled by the wrapped cord and slide over sideways.

And this keeps happening. I think I'll do one simple job 'but better remember to mind out for (extremely fragile, and imbued with much sentimental memory) item' - and almost inevitably one thing will catch on another thing which will end up smashing said fragile item into a thousand bits. It's like I can see what might happen but am physically unable to take precautions to prevent it>

My mother always used to say I was a clumsy bargearse, and I don't know whether the impulse to do stuff NOW is stopping me from properly assessing what I should do first, or whether this is just ordinary everyday gawkiness.

I'm hoping someone else can relate...
 
sounds adhd like to me :) especially the one thing leads to another and it dominos along with your ability to stop it all just behind the moving edge :(

Many autistics have this, but I don't know if they also have/could get the double diagnosis.

dyspraxia, vestibular and proprioceptive systems.... it's all part of the spectrum of autism and friends :rollingw:

edit to add: the only "cure" is the ritalin/similar route but you can make your environment more helpful.
 
Frideswide said:
sounds adhd like to me :) especially the one thing leads to another and it dominos along with your ability to stop it all just behind the moving edge :(

Many autistics have this, but I don't know if they also have/could get the double diagnosis.

dyspraxia, vestibular and proprioceptive systems.... it's all part of the spectrum of autism and firends :rollingw:
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I am most definitely ADHD (diagnosed). The question of autism remains unanswered and I wouldn't even bother with a diagnosis at this stage because it doesn't affect my day to day life (although it probably plagues the living daylights out of people I interact with). I just wasn't sure whether the...what I'd probably refer to as unwarranted clumsiness was part of it. It's just ridiculous how often it happens - I can be doing some perfectly normal household task and something utterly random will happen and cause complete chaos. Like I will wipe down a work surface and the edge of the cloth will catch a jar (how? HOW?) which will topple over and the lid (which, of course, has been inadequately fastened) will come off and spill a liquid which will run underneath every electrical item on the side. So my attempts to carry out one job will spiral into having to clean the whole kitchen and the smell of vinegar being everywhere for a month.

Sod it, I'm going back to bed.
 
staticgirl said:
Just checked the NHS website and yes dyspraxia is another condition that can affect autistic people.
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agreed. Not everyone but enough for it to feel like it is ubiquitous somehow.

Slightly off this theme but on thread topic :) People who have both dyspraxia and EDS (Ehrlers-Danlos Syndrome) say they feed into each other. My experience too.

Are you dyspraxic @staticgirl ? forgive the impertinant question :rasp:
 
catseye said:
I am most definitely ADHD (diagnosed). The question of autism remains unanswered and I wouldn't even bother with a diagnosis at this stage because it doesn't affect my day to day life (although it probably plagues the living daylights out of people I interact with). I just wasn't sure whether the...what I'd probably refer to as unwarranted clumsiness was part of it. It's just ridiculous how often it happens - I can be doing some perfectly normal household task and something utterly random will happen and cause complete chaos. Like I will wipe down a work surface and the edge of the cloth will catch a jar (how? HOW?) which will topple over and the lid (which, of course, has been inadequately fastened) will come off and spill a liquid which will run underneath every electrical item on the side. So my attempts to carry out one job will spiral into having to clean the whole kitchen and the smell of vinegar being everywhere for a month.

Sod it, I'm going back to bed.
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Whether it's down to ADHD or not I couldn't say, but it could simply be the ageing process. I started experiencing incidents like you describe a while ago. Simple example - dropping stuff into an empty kitchen bin, usually hitting the side of the bin and falling where I can't reach it without difficulty. Now I find I have to concentrate on virtually every task I do , otherwise the results are pretty much as you have described. Also as I've mentioned before those Henry type things are particularly vicious, (referring to Ms P's broken finger and 2 painful ops to fix it). To be avoided at all costs.
 
catseye said:
I'm hoping that someone here can tell me whether this is part of my ADHD or whether it's just a 'me' thing...

today I got the hoover out to clean through downstairs. It's a pullalong hoover, not quite of the Henry persuasion, but similar. To plug the hoover in I had to move the exercise bike. Despite this, the cord of the hoover managed to get wrapped around the bike, as I tried to untangle it the hoover fell over and it was like that stupid Mousetrap game, where the toppling hoover managed to catch the edge of a bag of bottles of essential oils that were hanging on a hook, which then fell off and my attempts to catch everything caused the bike to get pulled by the wrapped cord and slide over sideways.

And this keeps happening. I think I'll do one simple job 'but better remember to mind out for (extremely fragile, and imbued with much sentimental memory) item' - and almost inevitably one thing will catch on another thing which will end up smashing said fragile item into a thousand bits. It's like I can see what might happen but am physically unable to take precautions to prevent it>

My mother always used to say I was a clumsy bargearse, and I don't know whether the impulse to do stuff NOW is stopping me from properly assessing what I should do first, or whether this is just ordinary everyday gawkiness.

I'm hoping someone else can relate...
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I don't know about ADHD but I can certainly relate to this.

Now, being honest (and I'm not suggesting this with you) but in my case I think some of it is caused by me rushing and one particular unwelcome trait I have is turning away before I have properly completed the task, making it more likely that something with happen.

I'm not as bad as I was, but the impulse thing is also still there and that can't help either.

Of course, small-(ish) houses with lots of clutter items in are going to make these accidents more likely as well.


thebluescarecrow AKA 'Robocop' (who wasn't around very long) recently mentioned this sort of thing- basically; what can go wrong, will (for some of us anyway).
 
Maybe I’m Amazed by John Harris: review – a father and James, his autistic son, bond through music
An honest and intensely moving book about the struggle of parenthood and the power of connection

'Maybe I’m Amazed opens with John Harris’s 15-year-old son, James, ecstatically absorbed in a live performance by Paul McCartney, “so held in the moment that he is almost in an altered state."'

----

'Threaded throughout this are he and his wife Ginny’s struggles and anxieties around parenthood, and James’s emerging strengths and challenges. He demonstrates absolute pitch – the ability to instantly identify individual notes – and can name the keys of random songs played to him on Spotify. “Imagine having as instinctive and vivid a connection with music as this,” muses Harris. “From time to time, James speaks to me using songs,” he writes, recounting a moment when, after refusing to go to school, James commands Alexa to play the Smiths’ The Headmaster Ritual, with its lyrics “Give up education as a bad mistake.”'

----

'But, as an autistic person, I sometimes found it hard reading about behaviours and tendencies I’ve exhibited all my life viewed through the lens of neurotypicality. Harris is left “flummoxed and sad” when, on a trip to Chester zoo, James ignores the penguins and plays with the wood chips covering the path, picking them up and dropping them. “I get the sense if he was left to his own devices, he might repeat the cycle indefinitely.” James is absorbed by the wrong thing – wood chips’ splendid tactile diversity, and the miracle of gravity.'

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...ather-and-his-autistic-son-bond-through-music
 
PeteS said:
Whether it's down to ADHD or not I couldn't say, but it could simply be the ageing process. I started experiencing incidents like you describe a while ago. Simple example - dropping stuff into an empty kitchen bin, usually hitting the side of the bin and falling where I can't reach it without difficulty. Now I find I have to concentrate on virtually every task I do , otherwise the results are pretty much as you have described. Also as I've mentioned before those Henry type things are particularly vicious, (referring to Ms P's broken finger and 2 painful ops to fix it). To be avoided at all costs.
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It's happened all my life - hence my mum describing me as a bargearse. I seem to occasionally lack spatial awareness, and foresight, but only sometimes! I don't think it's dyspraxia, although I do have problems telling left and right and with clocks, but nothing else particularly noteable, which was why I wondered if it was an ADHD thing. It's like I can't forward plan sufficiently to think 'well, if I move everything breakable out of the way now, it will make it far quicker when I actually start hoovering.' I can only move stuff as I approach it - which is when the hoover lead wraps around it and knocks it over... and that exercise bike is bloody heavy. I don't want to have to ring work and tell them I can't come in because I broke my arm hoovering (although they'd probably believe me...)
 
@catseye Whenever I mentioned ADHD-like 'clumsiness' and 'inattention' to my autism advisers (and assessors), they linked these behaviours with autism (and not ADHD). In truth, and though I've no qualification to provide a properly-informed opinion, I just always assumed that you are autistic; because of the things you've mentioned in posts past & present.
 
Steven said:
@catseye Whenever I mentioned ADHD-like 'clumsiness' and 'inattention' to my autism advisers (and assessors), they linked these behaviours with autism (and not ADHD). In truth, and though I've no qualification to provide a properly-informed opinion, I just always assumed that you are autistic; because of the things you've mentioned in posts past & present.
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I think there's a strong possibility. I tend to only talk about the ADHD because that is a diagnosed thing that I KNOW I have. Autism could well be present too (my eldest daughter has autism and ADHD) but as it doesn't really interfere with my life or stop me doing what I want to do, I haven't bothered looking for a diagnosis there. Although it does frustrate the hell out of me when I'm trying to, say, hoover through quickly...
 
merricat said:
Ah, you again. Aren't you the poster who spent far too many kilojoules dissecting one of my recent, benign comments on the 'missing in action' thread? Feel free to put me on ignore.
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It was a simple question.

Who are the people who have been 'agitating' this thread?
 
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