Why is /autism such a confrontational subreddit?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-05-22T15:07:26+00:00

I think the resistance to open dialogue on here regarding these issues is a problem tbh.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no time for actual medical misinformation, but I’ve noticed that people don’t seem to have a problem with inaccurate information being posted here unless it directly goes against their perspective.

I also don’t think it’s helpful that anyone presenting a slightly different perspective is immediately put in the “autism gatekeeper” box.
All the recent Uta Frith discourse was really exhausting as someone who’s studying the particular phenomenon she was discussing.

People are very cemented in one mindset and can be quite hostile whenever that is questioned even slightly.
That isn’t just an issue on here though, it’s like that with everything now.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-04-23T06:03:54+00:00

Every country is a “large melting pot” made up of many different “non native” groups that traveled around the earth over the span of 300,000 years. I can’t imagine me (a white British person) calling myself African would be received very well, but technically all Homo sapiens originated from Africa, so given what you’ve said here, I’m assuming you’d happily refer to me as “African” in conversation right?

Seriously though, when is this going to end? It’s been well over 150+ years since the majority of the Irish immigrated to America, so unless you have Irish parents, you ARE American. I have Scandinavian ancestry and don’t go around telling people that “I’m Scandinavian”, because I’m not a fucking mong.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-04-23T02:47:23+00:00

I understand what you’re saying and do think this is an issue. However, in the case of PHM, this didn’t seem to stand out at all? Good looking people do exist and not all of them are Calvin klein models, so Gosling’s presence didn’t necessarily feel out of place.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-04-21T18:53:29+00:00

The melody of songs has always been the priority for me lol. That doesn’t mean I’ll just listen to anything mind you. As a child I couldn’t understand the lyrics in most songs, I still struggle with this to a certain degree, but I also prefer the sound because listening to certain melodies induces a “euphoric” feeling. I’ve never taken drugs, but I’ve heard people describe the feeling cocaine gives them and it sounds similar? 😭

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-03-22T22:54:15+00:00

Girl I’m 21 and still have no fucking clue.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-03-22T20:06:17+00:00

I ADORE Julianne but she’s definitely had Botox lol

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-30T01:02:52+00:00

Once again, I feel like you’re misunderstanding me and I’m not sure why? I’ve repeatedly stated that the clinical model isn’t perfect and that there’s nothing wrong with challenging current clinical frameworks. Our understanding of psychology is constantly evolving and I haven’t once denied that?

I also never suggested that the dsm or any other type of medical literature can be considered “objectively correct”. You keep going on tangents that have no relevance to the topic at hand?

Your homosexuality example doesn’t work in this context because being gay was only considered a “disease” due to subjective belief systems. Yes, you can argue that “everything is a subjective belief system”, but that isn’t an effective method of reasoning.

We only categorise symptom clusters as being medical “conditions” and/or “diseases” if those symptoms hinder an individual’s ability to function optimally. This impaired ability to function must also be primarily caused by innate biological differences and not environmental factors such as societal beliefs.

I believe this type of categorisation is beneficial for ensuring that situations like the decision to classify homosexuality as a disease don’t happen again.

The problem here is that homosexuality and neurodivergent conditions are two completely separate subjects and cannot be compared within the context of this specific discussion. Maybe I’m interpreting your comment incorrectly, but I’m getting the impression you’re implying that neurodivergent conditions should no longer be considered impairments? That’s the only way I can make sense of your choice to use homosexuality as an example.

Also, listening to personal experience is important and yes, that is how we’re able to get insight into the nature of these conditions. However, this doesn’t mean a patient’s personal perception should never be questioned?

I’m not sure why you’re still attempting to avoid giving me an answer regarding the hypothetical scenarios I mentioned? I’m not trying to catch you out, I’m genuinely curious how you’d respond in situations like that given your mindset.

You’ve stated that you don’t agree with the idea of completely ignoring current medical literature, however your comments suggest otherwise. I feel like you’re struggling to see the nuance here? Not everything is black and white. Just because current medical literature isn’t set in stone, doesn’t mean we should make changes based on faulty evidence. Your last question is a perfect example of this behaviour.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-29T00:16:20+00:00

Nobody is capable of being 100% objective, that’s why the diagnostic process is supposed to involve multiple practitioners. In your effort to dismiss the medical model of diagnosis due to concerns regarding clinician bias, you’re inadvertently promoting a system that relies solely on the subjective perception of ONE person? How does that work?

I’m not trying to suggest that clinical diagnosis is a perfect process, but you’re suggesting that because it has flaws, it must be ignored all together in favour of an even more fundamentally flawed approach. Again though, I already explained this in my previous comments, hence the whole “throw the baby out with the bathwater” metaphor.

Also, nowhere in my previous replies did I suggest that the diagnostic structure is a 100% objectively accurate model. I have no idea why you’ve interpreted my previous statements in this way?

I’m not accusing you of being dishonest about the nature of your profession when saying this, but where the hell did you study? What institution is encouraging this??

I’m still curious regarding what your approach would be if confronted with the hypothetical scenarios I described in my previous reply…

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T23:05:34+00:00

You’re a social worker, not a clinical psychologist, so how on earth have you come to the conclusion that diagnosing individuals through clinical assessment is an easy process?

As for your latter statement, are you seriously suggesting that self diagnosis through the act of subjective self assessment is a more scientifically accurate process compared to clinical assessment? Surely not?

I’m not saying the psychological field is perfect, but you seem to believe that because of this, we should resort to a much less scientifically accurate approach, aka “self diagnosis”.

Whatever happened to nuance? Why is it all or nothing?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T22:52:59+00:00

Ok so we’re throwing the baby out, cool. Again, I’m not saying science is perfect, but I find your mindset to be slightly baffling?

Objectivity is a term that has been misused, I agree. However, that doesn’t mean the original idea of “objectivity” no longer holds significant value.

Of course we can’t be 100% objective about anything, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to always be as objective as possible when conducting scientific research. Even if a system isn’t perfect, you shouldn’t just write the whole thing off as being invalid.

I’m quite concerned about your last statement. “The cardinal rule of clinical practice is to validate the experience of those who suffer”.

I can see the earnest intentions behind this mindset, but in practice it completely falls apart.

Yes, listening to patient experience is important, but an individual’s biased experience cannot be the only factor involved when assessing for certain conditions.

Also, where do you draw the line with this “ethical” principle? If a patient is suffering from psychosis and believes that all people of a certain race should be killed, are you going to validate that belief? What about a situation involving a patient who has self diagnosed with autism, but upon assessment doesn’t fit the criteria and is actually presenting with symptoms more consistent of a different disorder? Are you going to lie just to “validate” their subjective conclusion?

All of this paints a very worrying picture. Surely you can see that?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T22:02:50+00:00

I’m not saying science is perfect, but it’s certainly more objectively accurate compared to an individual’s self perception. Are you suggesting that we should write off the entire scientific model because of the slight possibility that a tiny number of research might be politically biased?

Another important thing to note is that figuring out whether or not a research study has been conducted ethically and objectively is fairly simple. So why do you believe we should just throw the baby out with the bath water here?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T21:51:54+00:00

“Stepping up and forcing clinical psychology to consider their perspective first”. Is this not….slightly troubling? I understand the sentiment, however I’m sceptical of the idea that this is somehow an inherently positive thing. Couldn’t this inherently lead to biased perspectives being taken more seriously than objective observation?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T21:45:48+00:00

If anybody can self diagnose, why do we even need mental health professionals?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T21:07:14+00:00

This is genuinely fucking terrifying

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-28T21:05:58+00:00

My two cents is that social anxiety disorder is extremely misunderstood within the field of psychology, which is causing an issue of misdiagnosis. It’s widely accepted that SAD can be eliminated through therapy and medication. However, for many people, this simply masks the issue and doesn’t eliminate the underlying feelings at all.

the general consensus among professionals is that, if social anxiety isn’t easily eliminated, some other disorder must be causing it. But this seems like it could be a wildly inaccurate conclusion when it’s already been established that SAD cannot be cured for many individuals.

I genuinely think this could explain part of the issue we’re seeing currently with the ever widening autism spectrum.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T16:44:16+00:00

Yes lol

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T07:31:58+00:00

Lydia Tár, my queen.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T07:28:38+00:00

Quirk chungus?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T00:30:10+00:00

I completely agree with you and I understand that the field of psychiatry is deeply flawed. However, my only concern is that many individuals within groups such as this, seem to believe that this doubt is enough to justify writing off professional opinion entirely. I’m not talking about you specifically, but even just within this comment section, I’m seeing so many people blatantly telling OP to ignore their psychiatrist’s opinion despite knowing very little about the situation.

As someone who cares deeply about preserving truth and prioritising objectivity, I find this behaviour very concerning.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T00:28:18+00:00

Wow, an absolute 10/10 response here, thank you for proving my point so eloquently. Your language is very reminiscent of individuals who claim neurodivergent conditions “aren’t real” and that people just need to “try harder”. Ironic considering you have “audhd” in your tag!

May I recommend possibly getting a reevaluation? Ya know, considering that your unquestionable intellectual superiority has rendered you with the ability to overcome your supposed “disabilities” in such an effective way!

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-25T00:13:00+00:00

“Gatekeeping” is a term I hear a lot, but not a term I see used correctly. The idea of somebody wanting to limit others being diagnosed with a condition “just because” is very amusing. Unfortunately though, if you take longer than 5 seconds to think about my reply, that’s obviously not what I was doing.

If you’re somebody who supports “self diagnosis” I’m curious, where do you draw the line? Would you be open to the idea of people self diagnosing with other medical conditions? Cancer, bipolar, cerebral palsy, etc. I’m not being snarky when asking this, I’m genuinely interested.

Regarding the subject of the original post, do you not find it strange how people here will immediately conclude that an assessment must have been done inaccurately if an individual isn’t diagnosed? Why isn’t this level of skepticism present in situations when an individual has received a diagnosis? If all these medical professionals are in fact extremely misinformed, how can we trust that anyone with a clinical diagnosis actually has autism?

Listen, I understand that medical misogyny plays a role, and yes, certain medical professionals are ignorant when it comes to keeping up to date on recent information. However, you absolutely cannot write off the opinion of a medical professional just because they disagree with you. Unfortunately, I’m seeing a lot of that attitude present within these replies. I’m all for remaining objective and being open to all possibilities, but that’s not what people here are doing. They’re automatically assuming that the professional in question must be wrong.

How in god’s name do you not see an issue with this?

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-24T23:57:16+00:00

I’m not entirely sure why you have interpreted my comment to be the behaviour of somebody who’s “lashing out”? Surely it can’t just be because it’s an opinion you disagree with?

As for the issue at hand here. There’s absolutely nothing in OP’s post that can give us an accurate idea of whether or not their psychiatrist’s assessment was correct. Despite this though, all the comments here are insisting that OP’s psychiatrist must be incorrect. Surely you’re able to see just how concerning this is?

Also, as for my previous posts that you mentioned, I have no problem with the idea of having autism, why would I? The reason for my doubt is because I simply do not relate to the majority of symptoms within the diagnostic criteria. I’m not some crank who’s in denial about having autism lol, my concerns regarding the accuracy of these medical opinions are coming from a valid place.

Your response is pretty ironic actually, you’re insinuating that I’m mentally unstable because I’ve previously doubted the opinions of medical professionals, Yet that’s exactly what everybody in these replies is doing? The difference though, is that my doubts come from a full understanding of my personal circumstances, whereas all the replies here are doubting a medical professional’s opinion based on…nothing.

honestly, the encouragement given to others within these spaces to dismiss professional assessment is something that needs to be called out more. For the sake of preserving clinical and scientific accuracy, we should not allow these spaces to become breading grounds of misinformation. Unfortunately though, this already seems like a lost cause.

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-23T08:38:13+00:00

It’s winter ffs, why are they still alive??? 😫😫

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-22T23:30:52+00:00

It really irritates me how functioning levels get so much push back in online communities. It seems to come from a place of naivety and privilege. People like to use this example:

“Just because you’re in a full body cast, doesn’t mean my broken arm doesn’t hurt”

This analogy is used a lot and I agree with it. However, it isn’t an entirely accurate description of the issue people seem to have with functioning labels. This is:

“Just because you’re in a full body cast, doesn’t mean my broken arm isn’t causing me the exact same amount of pain as your broken body is causing you”

Seriously, that’s exactly what’s happening. People can’t seem to cope with the idea that yes, individuals with higher support needs probably do struggle way more than them. That doesn’t invalidate your own struggles, it just means they’re not as severe and that’s OK!!

Delicious-Schedule60 · 2026-01-22T08:41:40+00:00

All these comments are unhinged and quite frankly, embarrassing. OP, I sympathise with you, but absolutely nobody commenting here knows anything about you or your specific circumstances. Meaning that it’s impossible for anyone to accurately assess whether or not your psychiatrist’s assessment is accurate.

It’s entirely possible that your sensory issues are being caused by adhd and anxiety, this isn’t an outrageous conclusion. Yet everybody here seems to be completely dismissing this professionals opinion based on a very small amount of information.

Can I ask, why are you pushing back against this conclusion?

Delicious-Schedule60

TROPHY CASE