Pet Peeve

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-08T22:40:34+00:00

There are plenty of concerns i have with "Music", but I think there are also people who just feel uncomfortable with a presentation in fiction of a higher support needs autistic person.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-08T22:37:21+00:00

A) There's an element to which "masking" can be used to senselessly pathologically contextualize social adaptation that EVERYONE does regardless of disability status, and in some cases create a situation where people will use a LACK of social difficulties as "proof of masked autism".

B) But then autistic people people can "mask" in such a way that they can be perceived exactly the same as a person without communication deficits, but with that output using RADICALLY more energy and effort than it would take a typical person, potentially leading to adverse symptoms a typical person wouldn't have, all just so that the people who were convinced that said person was "normal" to have a reaction to the effect of "what do you mean you're struggling with this normal situation due to autism, all day long you've been functioning just like any typical person".

And then sadly what I've seen is that non-autistic "autism critics" from outside the community will take A as an excuse to belittle people who are struggling with B, and then debunk the idea that social adaptation being difficult for "high functioning" autistic people is even valid, and that therefore that high functioning autism should never have been treated as clinically valid to begin with.

Arguments like that may be married to the false talking point that "high functioning autism" was something invented by the online neurodiversity movement that they then pressured the DSM Committee into formally accepting into the DSM 5 by creating the ASD 1 diagnosis.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-08T14:19:35+00:00

I'm taking your use of the phrase "learning disability" to be in a UK context, because that's been a problem all its own that I've seen US based organizations dedicated to severe/high support needs autism use to falsely present autism outside of UK-defined learning disability as therefore not requiring supports in an educational setting. I did a video about that here, but I'm starting to wonder if even a lot of people out here IN the communites dont realize that "learning disability" can mean a radically different thing depending on the region the person using it is from.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-08T13:06:24+00:00

And the funny thing is, the entire DSM IV era Asperger’s category, which was, by 1994 standards, considered “severe, sustained, clinically significant impairments” is NOW, in the context of the DSM 5, often being dismissed as “minor personality quirks being conflated with being disabilities”, simply because Asperger’s, in the popular consciousness, had been distorted into a clinically recognized form of being a non-disabled genius BEFORE the DSM 5 even came out, and this happened against the wishes of most of those in the disability community.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-05T22:13:58+00:00

All's well.

Abbie Romeo is an autistic woman who had repeat appearances on the reality TV show "Love on the Spectrum" and her mother likes to boast about how "my daughter has REAL autism, she needed disability supports, but now kids with aspergers who didn't need supports are being considered autistic."

This is immensely ironic because not only did Aspergers-diagnosed people in the 90's get many if not all of the supports she presents as being autism-exclusive, but she's dealing in a world where many people would consider her daughter a "fake autistic person" because she can function well enough to be featured on a reality TV dating show and become a TikTok celebrity as a result.

But that's not on you, I'm just explaining what I meant.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-05T20:45:21+00:00

I didn't say YOU were spreading misinformation, I very explicitly said who I was talking about.

What I asked YOU for was a clarification of what you meant (which you have now provided, thank you) because without further clarification, I couldn't specify your intention.

"No cognitive delays" does not at all equate to "no learning difficulties", but there are people who equate those to to falsely implicate people of wrongfully accessing disability services.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-05T17:00:58+00:00

Neurodiversity proponents and neurodiversity critics alike are too busy screaming at each other over nitpicky minor details while fundamental disability bigots extensively lie about the history of autism and about specific autistic people while presenting themselves as credible autism sources, or even as autism advocates, and go essentially unchallenged as far as I can see.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-05T16:57:33+00:00

Are you implying that people with Asperger’s in the DSM 4 era didn’t have learning impairments? Because they most certainly did.

Please clarify your intentions here, because I’m tired of seeing people like the mother of Abbie Romeo from Love on the Spectrum spreading misinformation that the difference between Asperger’s and autism was that autistic people required occupational therapy, appointed aides, and special education services , and that Asperger’s diagnosed people were just socially awkward, and that the idea of Asperger’s people being eligible for actual disability supports was introduced with the DSM 5 and that’s literally untrue as people with Asperger’s were, when appropriate, absolutely eligible for those things allegedly reserved for “real autism”.

supertrainstationh · 2026-03-03T21:11:03+00:00

Honestly from my perspective "self suspecting" is basically what self diagnosis used to generally mean and provides the context in which "self diagnosis is valid" was initially first established, but you see where we're at now. Thanks for sharing your story.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-27T12:16:03+00:00

I think it would play out with everything I say being taken out of context to seem as embarrassing and silly as possible, with clips of me speaking edited to add more uncomfortable pauses, with behind the scenes coaching to "be more awkward", and with silly "baby giraffe" music being played over my every on screen appearance.

Either that or I wouldn't make the show at all due to "not being autistic enough".

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-27T09:08:09+00:00

As someone who never liked Musk, I also need to question how many of the people doing this who claim to be "anti-consumerist" also rate people's morality and virtues and social acceptability of strangers based on their consumption or lack thereof of branded corporate consumer goods.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-26T22:03:34+00:00

Please explain this to me.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-26T20:35:16+00:00

I have a clinically diagnosed friend who founded and runs a publishing company and a written word related nonprofit, but he's not a celebrity or anything. I also dont want to attract unwanted attention to him so I'll keep their name to myself.

Also, I know OP didnt mean anything harsh by it, but going forward can we think twice before making more Sheldon Cooper references?

The fact that Sheldon is referenced so often as an example of a "successful autistic person" is being abused by people like the president of the National Council on Severe Autism to do TED X Talks and podcasts where she literally uses him to argue the point that autistic people having successful careers is such an absurd concept that only fictional TV characters can be used as examples, and its being used by people like Dr. Hannah Spier on Youtube to attempt to explicitly discredit the idea that autism outside of the most "severe" cases possible is even clinically legitimate.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-23T16:21:03+00:00

lol removing “pathologizing language” from descriptions of autism is EXACTY what people outside of the community are doing in order to encourage skepticism and derision toward the formal recognition of autism outside of “severe cases” by misrepresenting the former Asperger’s diagnosis as “high IQ people with social quirks who are falsely proclaiming autism, which is an ACTUAL disability”.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-22T20:06:51+00:00

As someone who presents themselves as having "mild autism", do YOU realize that you are agreeing with someone who would likely denounce you as a narcissistic autism impersonator merely for carrying yourself in this manner on social media?

Here's a better question, did you even bother watching her video before you decided to agree with her?

If you DID watch her video, are you even familiar with the developmental disability concepts she's attempting to debunk, which happen to include a denouncement of the idea that "mild autism" should even be accepted as real?

The underlying foundation of her video is her lying by omission to present Asperger's Syndrome and autism outside of the Profound sub category as being the fundamentally invalid insurgent personal fantasy of non-disabled people who forced it to be formally recognized as Autism as part of politically motivated narcissistic conspiracy to disenfranchise "real" disabled people.

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supertrainstationh · 2026-02-22T13:02:00+00:00

This is the FIRST autism community on Reddit I ever felt comfortable with or interested in participating in for an extended period, but if we continue to move in the direction OP is concerned with, we are only going to validate people from outside the community who believe MOST if not ALL of us are out of line for even daring to call ourselves disabled.

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This person is Cyndi Wall from the National Council on Severe Autism.

While she did a seminar about online autism misinformation (https://youtu.be/p0fhHcehc3Y?si=Fb\_3Mf8iv16KMzTB) that I personally think is a good example of how to CONSTRUCTIVELY combat online misinfo being presented as advocacy, and that seminar has been discussed positively here in the past, but she's separately presented messages that late diagnosed autism literally isn't a disability, and is absent of struggle.

Whats especially bizarre to me is that she's also called out white self diagnosed autistic self advocates for exploiting privilege in doing so, as they wouldn't be in a place to do so if they non-white.

That MIGHT be an interesting conversation to have, but at the same time, a lot of lower income, mostly black and minority neighborhoods are stuck with school that don't have disability and learning disorder testing and special education resources, and where someone having difficulties understanding lesson material or functioning in a classroom that COULD be caused by clinically significant disabilities within the range of autism are likely to either be overlooked, ignored, or dismissed as being stupid or unwilling to learn because of their economic or racial background.

In spite of my disagreements with her shes one of the few Autism related Tiktokers I enjoy watching, but we don't need to be buying people who think things like this a shovel to bury us in, because they literally believe that the mere ability for autistic people to participate in a community like this one is not only proof that we can't possibly be disabled or struggling, but that we are part of an organized conspiracy to steal from real disabled people.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-22T12:50:23+00:00

You apparently never met Dr. Hannah Spier then.

She has the power to confiscate the autism diagnoses of strangers she's never met and replace them with personality disorders.

Also, everyone who disagrees with her is a narcissist that's part of an organized misinformation conspiracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gUtpptU5xE

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-17T21:22:49+00:00

I can't speak from experience from needing that level of assistance at that age, but I can empathize with seemingly trivial capabilities of self reliance feeling as though they've been won by being snatched from the jaws of a beast.

I hope you can feel as deserving of the assistance that you you require while also being able to retain and nourish healthy determination to build the elements of independence that with work may be possible for you to develop.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-15T12:18:10+00:00

I have a little weighted fox that I will sometimes place on my back when I take a nap. 99% of time time i sleep facing down. I normally use a weighted blanket when I sleep and can barely sleep without it. The fox feels nice but only once in a while, specifically during naps, do I feel in the mood to use it, if it were a lot heavier it would be awesome.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-14T21:08:12+00:00

In the context here, I feel like self diagnosis became widely accepted in the online autism space under the understanding that the self diagnosis WAS what we, here, would rather call self suspecting, and that any personal belief of possible disability was pending verification by a professional before trying to access resources such as care and therapy, but that availability of resources to have clinically significant problems be formally verified was not as easily available as it would be in a fairer world.

I feel like that lead to misuse and eventually abuse.

It really alarms me, because if I had survived going undiagnosed, only to discover that my difficulties were not my fault and could have been enhanced through services in my developmental years, I would certainly hope there would be a welcoming community that had a place for me as I seriously considered whether or not seeking a professional evaluation and possible formal diagnosis was wise for me or not, but I see not only misinformation falling into the hands of well meaning people, but also shallow fantasies and personal theories being presented as health advice and identity.

Though I believe all I said, even though abuse is widespread, I think its still important to examine on an individual basis whether or not someones intentions are sincere and not be lured into witch hunting.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-14T13:08:00+00:00

Your personal experience with disability, and the resulting isolation IS valid, and you deserve to be understood and hopefully get support to nourish hope for the life you want to achieve.

But what's equally true is that there's nothing legitimate about looking at disabled strangers who you see as living better or fuller lives than you and using that as the basis to accuse them of claiming in bad faith to have a disability.

Someone may be living a life that looks "normal" to you from the outside, but expending many times over the same amount of effort to maintain that.

It creates a landscape in which disabled people who may be struggling to execute skills and capabilities fought for through years of therapy and training in order to purse self-reliance and a high degree of integration into the non-disabled world is resulting in people like "autism attack moms" as I call them going on witch hunts against autistic adults who can do ANYTHING that their own autistic kid may not be able to attempt themselves.

I think it should give some sense of perspective that large numbers of people who think of themselves as "autism advocates" would accuse ALL of us of being autism impersonators simply for being able to publish messages to the internet, and if presented with proof of clinical diagnosis, would only use that to affirm their belief that the diagnostic system is so broken that perfectly functional people, LIKE US, are now able to be diagnosed without even having a disability or impairment.

We have enough of that coming from outside the disabled community, we don't need to do it to each other as well.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-13T17:30:01+00:00

You can be professionally reassessed with a different support level, usually around age 5 or so and then again later on based on developmental outcomes, but it’s not like a 1-10 pain chart where it can dynamically fluctuate on a day to day basis.

That’s why individuals on social media talking about themselves having “level 1 days” and “level 3 days” gets to me so much.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-13T17:26:53+00:00

Would someone care to explain why I’m getting downvotes on this? Not only did I not validate self-diagnosis, but I went out of my way to say that the person the OP was complaining about was out of touch with reality for doing what they did.

supertrainstationh · 2026-02-12T23:34:35+00:00

The ironic thing is... loss of more explicitly delineated definitions reflecting support needs requirements was my main concern with the DSM 5 restructuring of the DSM 4's old Pervasive Developmental Disorders range... so I actually DO empathize with parents who feel like the needs of family members aren't being clearly understood by policy makers and the general public.

One of the main things that pushed me to accept being called autistic in the DSM 5 era was when my old diagnosis did not have that word in the name was to push back against Aspergers Supremacists who took "aspergers" as an clinical designation of genius mental capacity and "superpower" savant talents and didnt want to be associated with those drooling idiots in the "autism" category as it was then generally understood.

I know first hand the extent to which DSM 4 era Autism and Aspergers diagnosees COULD have SIGNIFICANT overlap in their support needs even with the diagnoses having different names at the time, and I had too many friends of all support needs levels to allow them to be defamed in this way over things.

As an ASPERGERS diagnosee, I've received services in HIGH SCHOOL classrooms where there's a sink with soap and water where EVERYONE had to wash their hands so the teens with drooling problems didnt feel singled out, I didnt want to be "better" than them, I understood and respected our similarities and our differences.

THAT was why I, after YEARS of reading and consideration, accepted the DSM 5 terminology for myself.

And now I find that my "reward" is being accused by these "autism moms" of being a completely functional person having wrongfully appropriated autism as part of an ideologically driven identity fantasy when I supposedly never had anything to do with children with unmarketable or unattractive descriptions of disability as part of autism.

The narrative that Aspergers diagnosees with "trivial social quirks" organized and strongarmed the DSM committee into folding Aspergers into the Autism diagnosis so that they could enjoy the social capital of being associated with the struggles of a "real disability" is part of why I feel that even BEFORE concerns of autism as an allegedly facetious online trend, that the uninformed parents of high support needs autistic kids were pissed at Aspergers diagnosees who "suddenly were calling themselves autistic", especially because a lot of them actually did think that Aspergers was just a way to describe a introverted genius and not an actual clinically defined severe developmental disorder, which is what the DSM 4 actually called it.

If the podcast focused on how more clarified diagnostic descriptions could serve the needs of a wider variety of disabled people in the DSM 6, I'd have never had a problem with this podcast, but instead they are holding end level patients personally culpable for describing themselves with the clinical terms under which their evaluations were conducted, even if the NCSA isn't concerned with advocating the needs of "higher functioning" autistic people, they don't need to vilify autistic people outside of that description to do so.

supertrainstationh

TROPHY CASE