r/AutismTranslated

I am in a weird half diagnosis place currently and unsure if I can use the label. all my life I presented heavily with autistic traits but it was never caught until my teens because my own parents are neurodivergent, and because I'm highly independent and good at masking (masking caused a lot of mental health issues for me in my childhood unfortunately) they also didn't even know what neurodivergency was for a large majority of my childhood.

I have been assessed by a psychiatrist and a psychologist, both agreeing I'm autistic, but they didn't have the exact phd required in my state for me to "count" as autistic or get accommodations. I also have a therapist who Ive been currently working with for a long time, who definitely agrees I'm autistic based off of our work together.

I don't know if I'm discrediting anyone or taking advantage of the autism community by saying I'm autistic. I don't tell everyone I'm autistic, just my doctors when I need certain things (example, I was getting an IUD placed for gender affirming care and needed sensory tools to stay regulated so I let my doctor know beforehand) and sometimes my friends if they are neurodivergent too.

my parents also say I'm autistic. my family comes from a long line of largely undiagnosed neurodivergency and there's a lot of teaching I'm still trying to give my parents because they are still learning what neurodivergence is (they are trying very hard lol.)

I'm currently working with my local school to get diagnosed there so I can get the accomodations I need when I need them. the only way for me to get a 504/accomodations is if I was diagnosed through the school. unfortunately they don't gaf if you were diagnosed by a psychiatrist or psychologist, it only "counts" to them if it's through the school. it sucks and it's tricky.

I'm currently diagnosed with bipolar 1 and hEds, working on a POTS diagnosis too and I have an endoscopy coming up because I have some weird stomach issues. I know autism can come with a lot of comorbidities.

please give me ur honest opinions, they would be much appreciated! and if anyone else can relate to this specific situation I would appreciate your advice too. thank you.

I just got a space heater and as soon as I plugged it in it loudly went BEEP. Then every button went BEEP. And I said, nope. No way am I having that sound in my head whenever I want to adjust the temperature or even just plug this thing in. Turns out it has a mute feature on the remote, but as soon as the unit is unplugged or loses power it gets vocal again. I feel like a bit of a crazy person admitting this, but I was not going to accept this. It was only $40 for the unit, so I took the risk and got out my screwdriver and went to work finding the little black cylinder housing the piezo disc, popped it open, and threw the piezo disc in the trash. Closed it up, and now it's PERFECT.

I've pulled piezos from fridges, cookers, etc. I put masking tape over displays or power indicators that don't turn off automatically (you can still see it, it's just dimmer depending on how many layers of masking tape). I've cut out tags in clothes, oc, but it goes much farther than that. I remove any decal or label that's not strictly necessary. I don't take all the labels off the condiments or anything, but if something is visual in my space I want it to be subtle. The same goes for sounds.

Does anyone else find themselves having to customize their appliances?

Anything you're proud of?

I’m tired now so unlike my usual Reddit posts I’ll try not to overchat, but speak in relevant points.

So I’m female 24, diagnosed with adhd since 22 (University). Currently on a year or semester off cause I’m at a ‘day care’ thing for mental health strugglers.

So I may not understand or comprehend what being autistic truly means - and that’s not for lack of trying, but probably not a ton of trying.

I’ll say a few points about myself that make me suspect or unsuspect the possibility of me being Autistic:

- so now I do have ADHD (if that’s even correct) which is a big co-morbidity factor
- I do occasionally get tantrums that are unfit for my age of 24. These would never occur in Public though, they would instead appear as anxiety attack (perhaps severe - I’m not sure)
- the concept of ‘special interest’ or diving into details is very familiar, but I hear this may be an adhd thing too.
- I do feel like I catch all social cues, I mean most, and sometimes perhaps too many. I don’t feel like an outsider in social situation, I always feel like I can detect someone that is more of an outsider than I am, but I do also get the “oh you’re so unique and authentic and so in your world” thing.
- I do have anxiety and some bits of depression, enough to make me unfunctional and need a time in this day care thing. And I’m one of the few in there who do not have ptsd. And beneath those who don’t suffer any trauma I’m the only one I know of to have not received a BPD diagnosis (but I also only saw the psychiatrist once so it doesn’t really count)
- My girlfriend once casually mentioned that they just consider me autistic, 10 months into our relationship. And when I asked why, or how it presents itself all they said was something along the lines of “idk, vibes”.
- I’ve no clue if a genetic component gives anything in here but I do have a 13 year old cousin who’s autistic. I need to check up on him, see if he still does the Cotton Eyed Joe.

Just some dry facts, I’m not used to writing like this. It’s just Autism feels so unexplained to me it’s infuriating. Like I understood it as mostly a social issue, but that might not even be true.
I have no clue if reciving a diagnosis will cause a deep personality crisis in me or not, but oh well - we only live once. I don’t think I can get more benefits from the state but who knows.