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I've heard people say when it comes to autism and sometimes other things that they don't want to label their kid (who might have autism). They then avoid a diagnosis for this reason. I've also heard people say to me that I should not label myself with autism.
We live with labels all the time. All of the names that we use of different objects, places, animals, people, etc. are all labels. So why do we have a hard time with some types of labels and not others?
For one thing a label saves a lot of time. Saying dog is much easier than saying four legged creature that could be anywhere from 6 to 120 pounds, typically does not climb up trees, makes a barking noise, tends to like the company of people. (even with all these descriptors there are more than a few things that could fit these descriptors and so just saying dog is much more clear.
So when should you label someone as autistic?
Diabetes is a label also, and an incredibly important one. If the label has been correctly applied it clarifies a lot of important things that you must do to maintain your health.
Almost universally from those who have been labelled Autistic, they have been grateful for the label because it added clarity to their life and what they are facing.
There are however reasons to be careful before applying the label:
Make sure that the label fits- Misdiagnosis can be bad
It can keep you from finding what is really going on because of confirmation bias
You can check out my video on confirmation bias here but we tend to only see things that confirm the diagnosis even if its wrong and ignore things that may not fit
This is why I took quite a while studying myself before feeling like the label fit. There were a lot of things that fit and a few things that I thought really didn't fit. I kept studying and talking to people who understood it better than I. I came to find that some of the things that I felt didn't fit were due to my own stereotypes that I had about autism.
I thought that autistic people
Didn't read body language or tone of voice very well
that it was easy to spot they were autistic
I learned that high masking autistic people often didn't follow the stereotypes and that I fit the profile of a high masking autistic person very well.
That was the last piece of the puzzle that took me years to finish. I then realized that the autistic label fit me very well and it has since added clarity. Much like a diabetic label it has given me clarity about what my body can and can't handle and what things I need to do to take care of myself. It has also explained why I have struggled so much in a few different areas of my life.
What I didnt' realize is that confirmation bias was working against me and that by assuming I was a neurotypical I was only focusing on things that confirmed this while ignoring the evidence right in front of me. My tendency to mask my autism was something that was masked from me as well. The label has clarified for me what I need to do in order to live happier and healthier.
For my daughter, when she was diagnosed she said it helped her immensely to know what was going on in her life and to help her manage her future.
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What is Autistic Masking and What are the Costs?
What is Autistic Masking and What are the Costs?
Our understanding of Autism has grown a lot in the last few years. There are a lot more people who fall under the umbrella of autism but who have been missed because they have learned how to camouflage or "mask" some of its traits.
In this video I share some of my own personal experiences in masking my own autism (even from myself)
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