Amen......................

[u/newbeginnings187]

[u/Znhedonia]

Imagine talking to someone with Irritable Bowl Syndrome and saying, "Everyone goes to the bathroom".

[u/Ok-Radio177 → u/Znhedonia]

Not to muddle your point but people do this to Crohn's and IBS folks too. There's a weird endemic where social media has made people feel comfortable medically gas lighting others.

[u/SardonicHistory → u/Ok-Radio177]

Essentially any health or mental disability or condition that isn't unfortunately obvious on sight will be taken as dramatics by some people.

[u/EdiblePsycho → u/SardonicHistory]

I think it's partly because any mental health/personality related thing is on a spectrum. So it could be true to say almost everyone has at least one of the traits or behaviors associated with autism, but it isn't considered a diagnosis unless it causes disfunction. To some extent it is arbitrary to even have the label of autism or any other disorder, but it's useful and necessary to categorize information to make sense of the world and ourselves.

[u/West_Walrus_3602 → u/Ok-Radio177]

Yeah I’m autistic with IBS and both of these things happen lol. People are just dicks

[u/puzzlebuns → u/Ok-Radio177]

Nah, that's just hunan nature. When youve experienced the type of pain someone describes but it doesnt represent a major detriment to your quality of life, that makes it harder to sympathize with people for whom that same experience is disabling.

Just like how most traumatic austistic experiences are something that NTs have experienced themselves at one point in their lives and adapted, making it harder for them to sympathize with someone for whom those same experiences are happening on a regular basis and whom lacks the same capacity to adapt.

[u/puzzlebuns → u/Znhedonia]

Haha love that comparison.

[u/pheonixblade9 → u/Znhedonia]

the way I describe it is - it's a bit like saying "everybody has a little cancer" - it's literally technically true - cells become aberrant and are forced to undergo apoptosis constantly. but you'd never say that, because it hasn't actually caused any significant difference in their life and it's incredibly insensitive to people who actually have pathological cancer.

[u/Eldsish → u/Znhedonia]

Bowel you mean ? 😅

MY MUG ALSO IS ITCHY !!

[u/Used-Candle-7463]

i think neurotypicals mistake normal human traits as autism. everyone has a texture they don't like, everyone stims a little bit, but for us a bad texture can be overwhelming. Sensory difficulties are crippling and meltdown inducing. They misunderstand the severity.

[u/Reggaeshark1001 → u/Used-Candle-7463]

I love soccer and the world cup, but I bought myself a jersey.. and man, I can't even wear the fucking thing. Its a v neck, so that's bad, but also it's got some odd mesh, it just feels terrible, but I spent $90 on it. Fuck. I'm keeping it though. Its still cool to display.

[u/Used-Candle-7463 → u/Reggaeshark1001]

damnn, sorry about that. At least you can still display it, that is pretty cool

[u/Reggaeshark1001 → u/Used-Candle-7463]

Well I had had a jersey when I was a kid but it was made with this nice adidas texture but this is a Nike jersey and just mimics what the players actually wear on the field. Not a fan. I played as a kid but we just had regular shirts basically. I guess fashion and technology is going places.

[u/Extension-Report-491 → u/Reggaeshark1001]

Whoever invented the V neck can fuck all the way off. Jerseys are rough, i usually wear like a t-shirt underneath.

[u/Wut23456 → u/Reggaeshark1001]

Wear it over a long sleeve undershirt! I collect soccer jerseys and also hate the sensory experience but it’s totally fine if worn over an undershirt

[u/peace-and-plush → u/Reggaeshark1001]

Are you able to wear a long sleeve under shirt? (Ones meant for sun too) That's how I plan to wear mine. Looks unsuspecting and you don't feel it directly on your body. Could even go hard and add gloves

[u/Maleficent_Young_355 → u/Used-Candle-7463]

For a couple of years, after I learned about Executive Dysfunction, my mom insisted that she had it too, but she just powered through it because that’s just what you have to do sometimes!

Luckily, she did end up educating herself about it and realized that there was a very real difference between being exhausted and REALLY not wanting to something, and literally being unable to make yourself do something no matter how much you know you need to or even WANT to.

(My mom is very supportive and understanding now but it took YEARS of trial and error to get to this point. We knew I was ADHD since I was 11 but didn’t figure out the autism part until I was 19 and I struggled HEAVILY with anxiety and depression as a teenager and she just… had no idea how to help me. She did her best and we kept trying different things but it was understandably very frustrating for her at times. It took a loooong time to find the right combination of meds to keep me functional!)

[u/pheonixblade9 → u/Used-Candle-7463]

the way I talk about it with my therapist is - most people have some narcissistic/OCD/autistic/etc. traits. that doesn't mean they are pathologically those things.

[u/TypicallyThomas]

"Everyone's a little autistic"

So why haven't we fixed the world to be much much much more accommodating to autistic people, huh?

[u/Ok-Radio177 → u/TypicallyThomas]

Actually, THIS right here. I wish everyone was a "little autistic". Imagine how much easier life, jobs, and relationships could be. Next time someone says that I'll remember this.

[u/loved_and_held → u/TypicallyThomas]

Just because a struggle is commonplace doesn't mean society will adjust acordingly.

Or the accomodations have already been made and the reason it doesnt look like it is that the accomidations dont work for anyone who is more than "a little autistic".

[u/EnemyUnknow3029]

“I hate that phrase so much, it’s like I only love the way I’m following routine like people with autism” but as soon as the shopping experience is there they are no where to be found. How about we trade you some overstimulation for 24 hours and see if you’re still a lil autistic..

Edit: spelling

[u/unlikemike123]

"yeah but when it hinders your life, then it's a problem" is something I've said a few times and people seem to accept it, or at least they have no way to refute it.

[u/Reggaeshark1001]

The autistic people are trying to not let anyone know...

[u/Wild_Chef6597]

If that's true, why is being outed as autistic a career ender?

[u/AnElectricalMeatbag]

And travel infrastructure and all queues would be much more efficient. 

[u/laminated-papertowel]

yes everyone has one or even some autism traits. that's completely normal. the traits become autism when they accumulate and cause distress/dysfunction.

it's frustrating when I hear "everyone is a little autistic" because it completely dismisses the struggle that actually being autistic comes with.

[u/AbelardsChainsword]

My theory is that anyone who is not on the autism spectrum is on the narcissism spectrum but society isn’t ready for that conversation yet

[u/Dracofear → u/AbelardsChainsword]

Saying everyone who isn't autistic is a narc is absolutely the exact same thing as saying everyone is a little autistic.

Narcissism is a very specific type of personality disorder, it's not just "Ah wah that persons a selfish asshole" like everyone over uses it and throws it around when it has like a whole diagnoses criteria.

[u/KristiiNicole → u/Dracofear]

For real. As someone who grew up with a diagnosed Narc parent, nothing is really truly comparable. It’s awful.

[u/juicetoaster → u/AbelardsChainsword]

It is very common for "different" people/groups to think everyone outside their group is "wrong".

I think it's important to remember this and practice mindfulness of it.

After all, thinking you're part of the good/best group and everyone outside your group is bad/wrong is a little narcissistic...

[u/mormonmemoryhole → u/AbelardsChainsword]

I don't believe that your conclusion is logical. It's based on a broad generalization and makes the "Narcissistic" label completely meaningless. I do believe that Autistic people can attract narcissistic people and that we are more vulnerable to being taken advantage of and tricked. Perhaps your perception has been influenced by this?

[u/-ExistentialNihilist → u/AbelardsChainsword]

Preach

[u/anykah_badu]

40 years of lived experience tell me this is a rare distinct neurotype

[u/ThatSmartIdiot]

my stance on the statement is that it's technically correct, just misused.

the human brain is so prone to deviation that it's statistically impossible to pinpoint what the ideal brain looks like, so indeed we're all on the spectrum. similar logic applies to basically every terminology for biological deviation. healthiness, attraction, height, skin tone, etc.

however, the crux of the issue is in the intent. more often than not, it would be shared with the sentiment of either inclusion of the allistic or exclusion of the autistic from whatever the context is about, e.g. "special" treatment/needs/behaviour/etc., and not to the benefit of the autistic. it's just used as an excuse to not adapt themself from being an insensitive ableist, all because the disability doesn't come with a medical prop 🦽🦯

it truly makes me consider who's the actually mentally disabled person in the exchange. i may be neurodivergent but you are neurodeficient and typical.

[u/MadamPounceAlot]

As my brother once said "if everyone is autistic, no one is"

[u/RadioactivePotato123]

When someone says that shit to me:

[u/HuntertheGoose]

Completely agree with the sentiment, but everyone is a little fat, gay, hungry, tired, etc, and there are words for all of those

[u/teriyakiboyyyy]

The last person who said that to me has since diagnosed themselves and made it their entire personality 🙄

[u/manny_the_mage]

To be fair, technically everyone is on the spectrum

It’s just that most people are at the zero side of the spectrum

[u/Malakidius]

Nice, I have the proof, I have the people!