It's something that perturbs me, too.
On the one hand, I'm fundamentally opposed to the idea of any kind of official 'diagnosis'. I kind of keep repeating myself by making analogies with homosexuality (I have this fantastic old Penguin classic called Sexual Deviancy from the 1950s or 60s, really quaint).
The attitudes in that old text towards homosexuality are quite archaic. Back in those days, homoexuality was diagnosed and treated as a psychiatric illness.
I believe we're in a similar phase as Aspies. In 20 years time (hopefully more like 10), AS will no longer be a diagnosable psychiatric condition, it will simply be accepted as a difference in life's rich tapestry, much like societal attitudes towards homosexuality have moved on.
Because of that, I do object to the idea that I had to be 'diagnosed'. I strongly believe AS is not a psychiatric condition, it's just a neurological difference, the way homosexuality is a difference in sexuality from heterosexuality. Neither is right nor wrong. Yes, one is in the majority, heterosexuality, but that doesn't make being in the minority, homosexual, wrong or an illness.
I strongly believe we're just different and that in time society will come round to that idea. But despite my inner turmoil, I did get myself diagnosed earlier this year. And it wasn't just a simple matter of going to my doctor and getting a referral. Oh no. My diagnosis this February was a culmination of a four year long battle with my local health authority to get them to pay for a referral to a specialist in a different region. (I wasn't working at the time for physical reasons, and couldn't afford to pay for it myself at the time, and anyway, the local medical professionals I'd seen locally had misdiagnosed me, so it was only right that the local health authority should pay for my diagnosis and to have my records correctly updated!)
Even though I don't really believe in being 'diagnosed' because I don't think it's an illness or a psychiatric condition, I believe we're just different, it was very important to me to get the diagnosis, so that I could get the previous misdiagnosis corrected and overwritten.
If I didn't have the previous misdiagnosis, would I have been so adamant? I don't know, I don't think so. Btw, the misdiagnosis was Borderline Personality Disorder (the catch all they seem to use in the psychiatric/psychology profession for females when you're not totally 'normal' but they can't find anything in particular 'wrong' with you).
With the misdiagnosis, I felt like a fraud. I knew it was wrong. I've known for over a decade that I'm Aspie.
One of the traits of Aspies is being very blunt and straightforward and inadvertently and inappropriately blurting out truths.
I really struggle with telling untruths. (At school, instead of saying 'the dog ate my homework' or 'I left my schoolbook on the bus', I'd just say to the teacher 'I haven't done my homework', and they didn't know how to deal with me or my honesty, which was often taken for insolence.)
So I've had this struggle for years, having a misdiagnosis. I couldn't tell people I had BPD, because deep down, I knew it wasn't true. I *knew* I was Aspie. I'm intelligent, I'd researched it, I'd read the diagnostic criteria, I fit them. I knew.
But conversely, I felt as though I couldn't be Aspie either, because the professionals (I won't say 'experts' because they weren't, they weren't experts in AS, which was the problem), said I wasn't. (Until I got referred to a real expert, who agreed I was Aspie.)
Just having confirmed what I already knew for over a decade has led to a lot of peace of mind. I've been heartily relieved.
Now, if there are any misunderstandings or upsets about miscommunication, I can just say I'm Aspie, this is who I am. The diagnosis has enabled me to be me.
It's something that perturbs me, too.
On the one hand, I'm fundamentally opposed to the idea of any kind of official 'diagnosis'. I kind of keep repeating myself by making analogies with homosexuality (I have this fantastic old Penguin classic called Sexual Deviancy from the 1950s or 60s, really quaint).
The attitudes in that old text towards homosexuality are quite archaic. Back in those days, homoexuality was diagnosed and treated as a psychiatric illness.
I believe we're in a similar phase as Aspies. In 20 years time (hopefully more like 10), AS will no longer be a diagnosable psychiatric condition, it will simply be accepted as a difference in life's rich tapestry, much like societal attitudes towards homosexuality have moved on.
Because of that, I do object to the idea that I had to be 'diagnosed'. I strongly believe AS is not a psychiatric condition, it's just a neurological difference, the way homosexuality is a difference in sexuality from heterosexuality. Neither is right nor wrong. Yes, one is in the majority, heterosexuality, but that doesn't make being in the minority, homosexual, wrong or an illness.
I strongly believe we're just different and that in time society will come round to that idea. But despite my inner turmoil, I did get myself diagnosed earlier this year. And it wasn't just a simple matter of going to my doctor and getting a referral. Oh no. My diagnosis this February was a culmination of a four year long battle with my local health authority to get them to pay for a referral to a specialist in a different region. (I wasn't working at the time for physical reasons, and couldn't afford to pay for it myself at the time, and anyway, the local medical professionals I'd seen locally had misdiagnosed me, so it was only right that the local health authority should pay for my diagnosis and to have my records correctly updated!)
Even though I don't really believe in being 'diagnosed' because I don't think it's an illness or a psychiatric condition, I believe we're just different, it was very important to me to get the diagnosis, so that I could get the previous misdiagnosis corrected and overwritten.
If I didn't have the previous misdiagnosis, would I have been so adamant? I don't know, I don't think so. Btw, the misdiagnosis was Borderline Personality Disorder (the catch all they seem to use in the psychiatric/psychology profession for females when you're not totally 'normal' but they can't find anything in particular 'wrong' with you).
With the misdiagnosis, I felt like a fraud. I knew it was wrong. I've known for over a decade that I'm Aspie.
One of the traits of Aspies is being very blunt and straightforward and inadvertently and inappropriately blurting out truths.
I really struggle with telling untruths. (At school, instead of saying 'the dog ate my homework' or 'I left my schoolbook on the bus', I'd just say to the teacher 'I haven't done my homework', and they didn't know how to deal with me or my honesty, which was often taken for insolence.)
So I've had this struggle for years, having a misdiagnosis. I couldn't tell people I had BPD, because deep down, I knew it wasn't true. I *knew* I was Aspie. I'm intelligent, I'd researched it, I'd read the diagnostic criteria, I fit them. I knew.
But conversely, I felt as though I couldn't be Aspie either, because the professionals (I won't say 'experts' because they weren't, they weren't experts in AS, which was the problem), said I wasn't. (Until I got referred to a real expert, who agreed I was Aspie.)
Just having confirmed what I already knew for over a decade has led to a lot of peace of mind. I've been heartily relieved.
Now, if there are any misunderstandings or upsets about miscommunication, I can just say I'm Aspie, this is who I am. The diagnosis has enabled me to be me.
I think what you say has a lot of merit, just how many of us ( in particular females ) have been misdiagnosed by so called ' experts ' ?
For me to obtain a diagnosis would provide an acceptable explanation to give to others' & like you...allow me just to be me.
Some positive things about more diagnoses may well be more acceptance that it isn't an illness, that it is much more common than previously thought & that many more females are in the spectrum thus updating the statistics & hopefully providing more support to all of those who need it.
