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	piggelin 2004-10-04 01:19 pm UTC (link)
	Having AS, I'm very tempted to join in on the wanking. I'm not self diagnosed, but hell, I read the post as "the lot of you are just making this up". In my mind, that's like saying to a depressed person "cheer up, you just ahve to think positive/get a job/get a girlfriend/etc". Oy, I'm wanky. (Reply to this)(Thread)

mistressrenet
2004-10-04 09:35 pm UTC (link)

See, I first read the OP as a comment on all the self-diagnosed people on LJ-- I mean, there are a ton of people on the Net who have Asperger's/ADHD/Whatever Disorder of the Week Seems Popular, and not all of them...er...have it, they just seem to think it's cool/is a good excuse for whatever obnoxious behavior they're trying to justify.

But I didn't realize there was so much 'you're making it up'/misdiagnosis of Asperger's around, either.

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	lurker32 2004-10-04 02:34 pm UTC (link)
	I was just coming over here to post this. uran seems to bring the wank every time she posts over there. "Well, why didn't you pick up on my completely harmless intent?!" Uh... not that you're talking to a bunch of people who a) have a tendency to take everything at face value and b) are used to people telling them to suck it up, there's nothing wrong with them. Or anything. (Reply to this)

redwarrior
2004-10-04 03:24 pm UTC (link)

I have Tourette, but, dammit, every time I see a NeurologicalDisorder!Wank I am tempted to tell these people my life story. Really.

Like the time the Special Ed supervisor at my high school tried to pust the Asperger diagnosis on me because I wasn't one of the jocks, and I was interested in science and languages. *groans* (I readily admit that Touretters have some Aspie traits, but ~~hardly~~ not enough for a full-blown diagnosis...it's one of the so-called "sister disorders", I think. But STOP representing our mental state, it's making our mental state look stupid.)

...But from there, I told people NOT to treat me differently, because I could do stuff that anyone else could do. And it got me to a Ph.D. program in translation studies (skipping over my M.A. if I get good grades this sem). ^__^

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melange
2004-10-04 05:36 pm UTC (link)

I have Tourette, but, dammit, every time I see a NeurologicalDisorder!Wank I am tempted to tell these people my life story.

Heh, me too. Especially when the wank involves the infallibility of doctors. While I agree it's better to get your diagnoses checked out by an actual doctor (especially if you're planning to seek out any sort of treatment), they do make mistakes. The first three doctors I saw (all fully accredited psychiatrists, of course) misdiagnosed my Tourette's Syndrome as 'attention seeking behavior', and another one thought it was a brain tumor. All a doctor can do in cases like these is try and fit the symptoms to a specific disorder; which is exactly what all these self-diagnosing people are doing. There's no test that proves whether or not you have Asperger's (or Tourette's, or most neuro-psychiatric disorders) so guesswork is really all we have.

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beccastareyes
2004-10-05 04:19 am UTC (link)

Amen. I didn't have many problems because my my mother both fought tooth and nail for what I did need and made sure I knew that my AS was not my ticket to a excuse-filled life. She's still doing it (with a bit more of the fighting and less of the other thign) for my little brother, who has high-developmental autism -- he's actually probably the only reason I was diagnosed, since Mom decided she needed to learn everything about Autism-spectrum disorders after Ben was diagnosed, and pretty soon she was down at the school psych's office with a bunch of research about AS, and a request for them to take a look at me.

But my best friend -- who was far worse off than me -- was a different case. She has alternated from her folks refusing to believe anything was wrong with her, to using her AS as a crutch to avoid dealing with things. I think she is getting better, finally, now that she is out of the house.

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	notapirate 2004-10-04 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	Yay no one is a winner in this wank except the person who made the level-headed reply. Moggymania seems to have the classic, "Help! I'm being oppressed!" syndrome. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	Icon khym_chanur 2004-10-05 01:08 am UTC (link)
	Who's the kid with the football head? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Icon visp 2004-10-05 03:25 am UTC (link)
	gasp You don't know who Stewie is? He's from a TV show called The Family Guy and he's kinda like Brain (From Pinky and the Brain) only much more funny. (Reply to this)(Parent)

katsue
2004-10-04 04:14 pm UTC (link)

I'm not AS but Uran still managed to make my blood boil with her holier-than-thou attitude about "pulling your weight" and being able to support yourself, as well as with her link to the cyberchondria article.

The reason she got me, personally, so annoyed is that as someone who has CFS and chronic depression, and who also has friends with various disabilities/learning disorders/psychological illnesses, I come across the "You're just using it as an excuse; you're imagining it; get over it; you're not trying to get better/function normally; you're just a useless loser; I'm living a "normal" life so why can't you?" attitude spectrum on a fairly regular basis.

Although I know people with Aspergers, I don't know what it's like to have it, *but*... I *do* know what it's like to have problems that make trying to lead a "normal" life with a regular job etc not only near-impossible but inadvisable (will exacerbate problem).

Excuse semi-OT rantage - Uran's comments were the second heap of infuriating-and-unhelpful-type crap that I came across today!

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	big_bad_wolf 2004-10-04 04:32 pm UTC (link)
	I was quite impressed to hear that anyone who doesn't have a job as, say, a sex worker and is on benefits instead "is stealing oxygen". Because all of us are capable of having sex with random strangers for money, and all of use SHOULD, rather than using a system put in place to help us and argh... The whole thing gave me a headache and it still hasn't gone away. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lurker32 2004-10-04 06:14 pm UTC (link)
	But she /suffers/, dammit! The sex is /really lousy/, but do you hear her complaining? OMGRESPECTHERSTRUGGLE. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	big_bad_wolf 2004-10-04 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm, well, obviously she ISN'T TRYING HARD ENOUGH, or the sex would be good. Clearly she's not pulling her weight! groan (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lurker32 2004-10-04 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	ICON <3 (Reply to this)(Parent)

	necronomist 2004-10-05 01:53 am UTC (link)
	I thought that one argument for state benefits is that people won't have to become prostitutes to feed themselves. Oh, right, earth logic. Tara (Has AS. Has ADD. Has a job. Dislike it. Not what I am good at. Worked damn hard to get it too. However, everyone's circumstances are different) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2004-10-06 01:40 am UTC (link)
	Y'know... I'm all for legalizing prostitution, but maybe somebody should point out that, at the moment, it is NOT legalized. This reminds me of the people who get mad when you only drive 20 miles above the speed limit. Except worse. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lurker32 2004-10-06 03:29 pm UTC (link)
	She's Australian apparently. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	geekmagirl 2004-10-04 06:53 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, Aspie comm, how I miss you--only not. (Reply to this)

	blackjackrocket 2004-10-04 08:27 pm UTC (link)
	My dad is self-diagnosed and he's a retired teacher of 20+ years. I'd say he's 'pulled his own weight'. Of course, they'd probably jump all over the 'retired' part since he's only 51, and wouldn't listen when I said it was due to back problems... ...Hell, they'd probably jump all over the back problems and tell him to suck it up or something. (Reply to this)

	lindentree 2004-10-05 12:48 am UTC (link)
	moggymania: When it comes to autism, self-dx is a fairly sure bet, generally more* accurate than randomly asking doctors that might not know jack about the spectrum.* So... self-diagnosis is more accurate than a physician's opinion, now? Okay! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	virago 2004-10-05 12:59 am UTC (link)
	Because it tells you what you want to hear! Obviously. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lindentree 2004-10-05 01:23 am UTC (link)
	Oh, right. Hey, I think I might have Asperger's! I skimmed a few websites and took some test, so I clearly do! 'Cause some of the indicators sort of apply to me sometimes. No need to consult a trained physician, I know best. (Reply to this)(Parent)

melange
2004-10-05 01:45 am UTC (link)

Well... like I said above, there aren't any objective tests for most of these disorders. A doctor can't just check your blood to make sure that you have Asperger's. Usually doctor's diagnose these disorders the same way that most people who self-diagnose do: by checking the symptoms against various disorders until they find one that matches. Of course, it's pretty easy for a doctor to make a mistake, especially considering that many patients don't tell their doctors everything, and because there are so many disorders with overlapping symptoms. And because one doctor may have a lot of experience with a certain kind of disorder, while being totally unfamiliar with another. So, yeah, there's a lot of room for error. And since someone with Asperger's (or any similar disorder) is going to be more familiar with their symptoms than a doctor, if only because they live with them every day, rather than relying on another person's descriptions, I don't see why someone can't properly diagnose themselves, provided that they put some time into researching it.

Of course, if doctors are prone to mistakes in this area, an amateur wouldn't be totally exempt from error, either. But I don't think that not having an official diagnosis doesn't mean that you don't actually have the disorder.

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	lindentree 2004-10-05 01:57 am UTC (link)
	You're right, not having had an official diagnosis doesn't mean that you don't actually have the disorder. I'm sure there are plenty of people with Asperger's who haven't been officially diagnosed by a physician. I just think that self-diagnosis is very sketchy at best, no matter what the disorder. (Reply to this)(Parent)

virago
2004-10-06 01:03 am UTC (link)

I don't think that was what was being meant here. It's not that people CAN'T self-diagnose correctly. (I first heard of dysthymia after taking a [granted, rather long and serious] internet questionnaire, and hey-presto, a year later was diagnosed the same way by real-live shrinks.) Or that doctors are infallible.

There's just a bad trend of people reading a short synopsis of something, jumping to conclusions without reading up on it, and slapping a label on themselves that may or may not fit without seriously reading up on it or asking themselves if the parameters apply enough. I've also heard it called the first-year medical student syndrome - if you hear a little about a vague diagnosis, you start wondering if it applies to you, because that one time you kind of felt like not talking to people and blah blah blah...

I didn't take it as an absolute statement, just a comment on the distressing frequency that people jump to conclusions too fast.

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	(Anonymous) 2004-10-06 01:32 am UTC (link)
	This reminds me of the teacher I had a long time ago who called my mother and I liars, and said that she "didn't believe in learning disorders". I don't know when the last time I saw that woman is, but I swear that if I saw her today, I would STILL bitch her out. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2004-10-06 01:37 am UTC (link)
	Oh, and to clarify: I was professionally diagnosed and the teacher knew this. But apparently your average History teacher knows better about this kind of thing... (Reply to this)(Parent)

drworm
2004-10-16 07:33 am UTC (link)

I'm so incredibly late, but I had no idea anyone had posted about this. I didn't even think to check, although the whole thing is obviously wank central.

Mostly I was just irked by the fact that someone out there had felt the need to create a superfluous name for something that already has a perfectly good name. Hypochondria is hypochondria, with or without the Internet.

Besides that, it's just a way of throwing a blanket statement over something when it simply isn't wise to do so. As human beings seem to be so fond of doing.

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