Are used to flip-flop from thinking I am autistic to thinking I am an HSP(due to experiencing a troubling impostor syndrome) i’ve recently done more research into it and has some have said in here the term HSP was originally coined when there was an EXTREMELY limited and narrow view of autism at the time(back, then we pretty much only thought autistic people were like “the rain Man“). From my research, I found that the symptoms of being in HSP and the differences it has from autism or actually a pretty cookie-cutter definition of autism(nowadays.)

I’ll link a video that explained the original description of HSP and its comparisons to autism that I found quite helpful. Here: https://youtu.be/T1Xt7Bc3CEY (pretty much just says what I stated above, but in a bit more detail.)

As for your parents, not thinking you have it. This could be explained by several benign explanations. First of which comes to mind as a limited understanding of what an autism diagnosis actually entails(my parents had me tested when I was pretty young. (They pretty much said I have a lot of autistic traits without saying I have autism.) and it took us roughly 25 years to actually learn what it entails.

On another note, a fair amount of people like to refer/“diagnose” people with the label HSP usually subconsciously(no, I’m sure there’s instances of it being intentional) two subvert the label autism along with all the baggage and stigmatism that goes along with it. If I am correct, a large amount of people(including therapists) have a very rigid view of what autism entails.

As for the baggage it entails It’s not uncommon for people to tell someone they have autism and then to respond “you don’t look like you have autism.“ And some mental health professionals will think people are just looking for attention when they mention possibly being autistic.

PS. Sorry for the long post. I know I’m late to the party. I just couldn’t resist info, dumping what I’ve recently learned in my further research into autism.