You reminded me of this. Thank you.
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It’s deprecated in the autistic community, along with ‘low functioning’. (The explanation is that the label of “high functioning” makes the real difficulties invisible, “low functioning” makes the capabilities invisible, and both make uneven and varying capacity invisible. Just because I’m articulate now doesn’t mean I’m not melting down when you’re not around.)
Canonically, if you have an Autism diagnosis, then you’re disabled by definition. The severity is from Level 1 (least severe) to Level 3 (most). I like to think about them as Level 1 is I Can Usually Hide It, Level 2 is I Can Sometimes Hide It, and Level 3 is I Can’t Hide It.
There’s been a push in the last few years for the concept of Profound Autism, which is pushed by Autism Parents (as opposed to Autistic parents), and insofar as it means anything, seems to mean
- Non-verbal
- Cognitive/Intellectual disability as far as you know (see point 1)
- As opposed to you, you attention seeking faker. You’re not autistic like my child is autistic, how dare you.
The general gist seems to be to try to divide the diagnosis into 1. those who can speak and dress themselves, and 2. autistic people.
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No notes!
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I’ve always interpreted high vs low functioning as ‘can mask’ vs ‘can’t mask’.
By those criteria, I’d be high functioning. But masking also takes so much energy it leaves me drained at the end of the day, effectively making me less functional.
Though I do not actually have a diagnosis. As an adult it’s prohibitively expensive and doesn’t really grant me any advantages so I’ve not gone through with testing. But I am a LOT like my kid who does have a diagnosis.
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Medical truism: Boys with autism usually get diagnosed at 5-8 yrs old. Girls with autism usually get diagnosed when their sons do. (Credit @chgoliz) Sad but true. Girls present differently, and (for, probably, female socialization reasons) seem to mask better. No data to the best of my knowledge on trans or nonbinary presentation, though.
ETA proper attribution
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Watching sprog A’s friends is interesting. The art school in question is now a level up; it still selects quite liberally and mutants abound. The good news is that the parents are all chill and the kids are all very much themselves when they are hanging out together at (most of) the respective houses (I’m pretty sure, although I’ve only confirmed it directly with one friend). Wear or don’t wear any mask you like when you’re at our place, it’s just so much easier.
My impression is that diagnosis is happening earlier all round.
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Yeah, I was perceived as a boy back then, but I didn’t show the typical signs of neurodivergence that the boys who were diagnosed did. It wasn’t until after I came out and started HRT, clearing the fog of dysphoria I’d been so immersed in I didn’t even notice it, that I realized I was neurodivergent at all. I have an unofficial ADHD diagnosis, with primarily inattentive type presentation. Medication has helped immeasurably.
Since I’ve been out, I’ve discovered most of the gender diverse friends I’ve made have some form of neurodivergence, and it’s been very enlightening to learn from them. Couple that with my kid’s diagnosis and I’m pretty sure I’m on the spectrum.
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Autism in non-cis people really needs more study. There are so many complicating factors involved, not the least is the stupid “if you are autistic you cannot also be nonbinary” bullshit. Prior to blocking all trans healthcare, the rightwing strategy in a lot of places was to categorize trans care for anyone autistic as abuse by denying the right of autists to make that decision for themselves. Separating the gender dysphoria from the other issues is virtually impossible barring actually treating it, which is becoming more and more difficult. I am honestly amazed that Youngkin has not come after the trans health care at UVA yet. If November goes sideways, I am certain it will happen.
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The same thing happened to me. Prior to HRT I had various issues that made me suspect I was neurodivergent, but those issues were always easy to control so I didn’t give it much thought and dismissed it. Since HRT, those issues have gotten much harder to control. They’re not unmanageable issues, but I’ve had to significantly adapt how I deal with them. I still don’t have any official diagnosis, but I have a group of diagnosed neurodivergent friends and they all tell me I am.
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Literally every single non-binary person I’ve met and discussed neurodivergence with is or believes themselves to be on the spectrum. There’s a very strong correlation there, based on my anecdotal evidence at least, and it would be good to actually be able to back that up with scientific evidence.
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In my very-not-statistically-significant sample, it’s not 100%, but the fraction of my trans kids who are also clearly neurodivergent is very high. I am going to put forth a theory of mine that may be totally wrong, but makes some sense. I suspect that a factor in this is that most neurodivergent folks are not as worried about social acceptance as more neurotypicals are. For that reason, at least some of them find it easier to live a life that does not strictly conform to the mold. Or, rather, makes it more difficult for them to force themselves into a mold that just does not fit them. Obviously, this is a not-ready-for-primetime kinda theory. I would love to hear folks who have lived this experience critique it.
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I certainly don’t believe every trans person is, but the majority are. But then I also tend to attract neurodivergent people to me… birds of a feather I guess. In looking back at my friends from high school, almost every one I’ve maintained contact with is not neurotypical, and of the people currently in my life almost none are NT, with the exception of some of my coworkers.
As to your theory, I very much agree. I don’t really care what other people think of me anymore. I only did in the first place because being myself as a child led to bad outcomes so I learned to mask up very young. I think a large part of why I was finally able to come out when I did, mid pandemic, is that when everything went to work from home, I no longer had to mask up when I left the house every day. The start of the pandemic is really when I started becoming uncomfortable with who I was presenting myself as, and as I had more time in private without being concerned about how I was perceived it got worse and worse.
That discomfort led to some bad decisions, like quitting a job I absolutely loved because I felt trapped and thought a new job might kick me out of the rut it felt like I was in mere months before realizing that the only thing I could do to become unstuck was just accept the truth I’d known since I was a kid and give transition a try. That worked, though it did sort of blow up my life in a way that’s left me trying to dig out from under the rubble of that guy’s life 3 and a bit years on. But at least I’m happy with who I am now!
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Thank you for the info; sincerely.
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Hey dude, you learned that joke from me!!
Yes, and there is now some growing research on the possibility that there is also a different path for at least a large minority of autistic women/girls: the unfortunately named PDA (pathological demand avoidance).
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I find data like this really interesting and evocative: is this yet another proof that your brain really was female all along?
(Narrator: yes, yes it is.)
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Actually, it is a known working theory, at least among neurodivergent folks. You came to it from the medical provider POV, but a lot of autistic people, for example, would absolutely agree with you.
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Oh hey, it’s me!
Seriously, the best way to get me to not do something is to tell me to do it. Only real, concrete consequences will let me overcome that urge to tell the asker to GFY.
Yep, I’ve often thought that myself. I’ve always behaved more like the girls in social settings, which was a huge problem for me when I was a kid. I’ve never related to men/boys like, at all. It’s hardly surprising I learned my coping strategies by modeling the girls I did relate to.
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I knew I had heard it here (well, “there”) but couldn’t remember who said it. Proper attribution shall be made!
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I’ve posted academic studies on this one before. Amazingly enough, on fMRI studies, trans women have brain structures characteristic of women, trans men that of men. Weird that, huh? What makes us us is our brains. Much more so than genetalia or chromosomes. That really should end the argument about “are trans women women,” but of course it does not.
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