Category: Diagnosis

• January 28, 2023

  ”At least you know at the end of each day if you’ve completed your goal!”

  WARNING: If this is triggering for you, or someone that you know needs help, stop reading immediately and find appropriate resources to help. Some of these are listed at the end of my post on autism and suicide. At times, I’ve told people, “my only goal in life was to not kill myself.” That is…
• October 24, 2022

  On “labelling,” PART 3. Conclusion: a big autistic mistake?

  

  For at least as many times as there have been days in my life, I have forgotten a simple truth: not everyone perceives the world as I do. A common trait, if not a defining one in autism, is not being able to understand what most people instinctively know about human behavior and communication. There…
• October 5, 2022

  You might as well call me an avocado from Mexico. (“On Labelling,” Part 2)

  

  In my “On Labelling” post, I explained why I thought it would be good if one considers a label to be a diagnosis. Isn’t more information better? Ironically, more information may prove otherwise. Many of my interpersonal catastrophes have an element of – what shall I call it? — excessive data collection (EDC)— as a…
• September 27, 2022

  On “Labelling*” (An Autistic Perspective)

  

  In general, “labelling” a person with a mental health condition tends to be met with disdain. Therapists especially tend to encourage not focusing on labels but on behaviors and symptoms. However, I have tended to argue that I believe it’s not that simple, that behaviors and symptoms are surface problems that don’t allow for a…