stray_kid

This is another small rant.

So a common thing for a lot of people who are recently diagnosed with Autism or start looking into Autism for self-dx, is that they tend to go down a rabbit whole of "reasearch" for what Autism is and what symptoms it has.

They then start to realise that these symptoms really do match their experiences and after that start "seeing" these symptoms in other people, especially those around them.

Upon a quick google, there seems to be a name for what I'm thinking about. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. It's where when you have an increased awareness to something and you start feeling like you see it everywhere.

As good as it is that you finally feel like you're learning more about yourself, it can be dangerous to start making assumptions about other people and then go and tell those people that they might have Autism too.

Autism is one of those conditions that have a lot of other conditions that overlap with that. When you don't have the information on those other conditions and only have information on Autism, that's where it can be dangerous to go around telling people that they might have Autism. Because the truth is, they may not have Autism at all and telling that person may cause them distress or make them question themself or go through unecessary things when there's aboslutely no need.

When you don't have all the information, you should not be going around telling people about something they may or may not have.

"Oh, you do this thing? That's an Autism thing!" - yes that may be the case but it's often a thing of so so many other things. Making generalised sweeping statements about things you don't have all the information on should not be something you do.

Many allistics may say "Oh, but everyone's a little Autistic" when you tell them about your struggles with Autism.

There also seems to be an increase of Autistics who will say "My needs fluctuate. Some days I have Low Support Needs and other days I have High Support Needs." When you tell them about your Level/Support Needs.

I wish people would understand that saying you have "fluctuating needs" and that you "also have high support needs some days" feels not too different to any allistic that says "everyone's a little Autistic". The thing is? Not everyone is Autistic, the same way not all Autistics have high support needs.

Yes, Allistics can experience Autistic like symptoms, but that doesn't make them Autistic. Yes, some autistics have bad days and feel like their support needs are higher, but that doesn't make them High Support Needs.

It's really important that Autistic people learn that this can be very offensive and feels like lateral ableism. A Low Support Needs bad days will never be the same as a High Supports Needs. A bad day doesn't determine your support needs.

High Support Needs autistics, even on their good days, will/may never know what being Low Support Needs feels like. Their good days are still filled with difficulties.

Some autistics may want to abolish levels. They may feel like it's no different to "functioning labels". They may not want terms like "severe" or "disorder". But if you take that all away, what does that do for those who can't necessarily help themselves, who can't advocate for themselves? Levels/Support Needs aren't great but they're better than nothing and they play a big part in the lives of the people who need them.

Some Autistics do have severe symptoms. They do have severe Autism. Those are just facts. Trying to take that away bcus "Autism is a spectrum" is stupid. Autism is definitely a spectrum. That also means severity of symptoms is part of that spectrum. And some autistics have severe symptoms and many of them. That literally says they have "severe" autism or "High Support Needs".

I just needed to rant. Sorry if it doesn't make sense.