The aim of this topic is to bring together the huge amount of information in a simple and easy to digest form, that helps carers, parents and the newly diagnosed. Then taking this information, to better understand the situation for everyone involved. Unfortunately there really isn't a list I can copy from, so I'm having to collate all this information from many different sources and bring it into one place.
Waiting for a diagnosis is incredibly hard too. If I'd had this list, I would have been more assured I was doing the right thing getting assessed.
But if I'd had a list like this, then I would have better understood myself and been more at ease after receiving the phone call and subsequent letter. That is my aim, to make self-diagnosis and the pre-and-post assessment process of learning who you are as easy and informative as possible.
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Co-occurring morbidity. Don't go to the worst place possible, it just means that conditions like Autism and ADHD also come with other conditions like OCD, Elhers-Danlos syndrome, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, sleep disorders, bipolar disorder and sadly many many more.
Ableism also known as ablism, disablism, anapirophobia, anapirism, and disability discrimination is discrimination and social prejudice against physically or mentally disabled people. Ableism characterises people as they are defined by their disabilities and it also classifies disabled people as people who are inferior to non-disabled people. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, or character orientations.
Further Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableism
ADHD - Attentions deficit hyperactive disorder.
Characterised by ongoing issues with focus, excessive energy, and difficulty controlling impulses. It affects both children and adults, and can make daily tasks and personal growth challenging. Symptoms include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, which can impair daily functioning.
Further Reading: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adult-adhd/symptoms-causes/syc-20350878
Alexithymia
We have trouble with our emotions, recognising our internal emotions correctly or being so overwhelmed we feel almost nothing, or simply describing how we're feeling. We also have a great deal of trouble reading emotions in other people.
Further Reading: https://www.autistica.org.uk/what-is-autism/anxiety-and-autism-hub/alexithymia
Alien Autistics often feel "different", like an Alien dropped on this Earth to just fit in. It's this feeling that forces us to internalise our differences and think on what and why we are different.
Further Reading: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/the-spectrum/spectrum-collections/alien-archive
Allistic
Allistic is used to describe people NOT who do not have autism. Also known as "normal" (not commonly used as it can be derogatory to people on the spectrum) or neuro-typical. It can also be used to describe people who might be ADHD. Allistic means different from Autism. This also includes ADHD because ADHD'ers experience things differently to people with ASD.
ARFID Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder
Characterised by "picky" eating, restricting certain foods or preferring certain foods over others.
Children with ARFID are extremely selective eaters and sometimes have little interest in eating food. They may eat a limited variety of preferred foods, which can lead to poor growth and poor nutrition.
AuDHD Is formally not recognised clinically, but it is understood by those in the ASD community that we can have symptoms of both Autism and ADHD, just in case you thought life isn't difficult enough already.
For further reading see: https://behavioral-innovations.com/blog/the-sudden-rise-of-audhd/
Autism
Autism is a neuro-developmental condition characterised by difficulties in social interaction and communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviours or interests.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/
Autism Assessment Scary times! An assessment can be anything from a couple of meetings to six sessions. Mine was an hour long video conference, followed up a few days later with an hour long in-person observational test. This part left me feeling completely shell-shocked and very bewildered for a week. I won't go into why, that's a surprise, I will only say that this is meant to be a stressful examination, designed to push you into showing obvious autism or ADHD signs. Plus is helps remove people who are not on the spectrum as they would behave VERY differently. Just be warned, there could be some fallout for some time afterwards. This is normal, don't panic.
Autistic Inertia Autistic inertia describes the difficulty many autistic people experience in starting, stopping, or switching tasks, similar to the physical law of inertia where an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by a force. This challenges executive functions, which are brain processes responsible for planning, initiating, maintaining, and switching between activities.
Right now I'm hungry as I type this, but I can't pull myself away to make something to eat.
Further reading: https://autismunderstood.co.uk/autistic-differences/autistic-inertia/
Autistic Life Expectancy. There is an Australian report which claims that men on the spectrum have an average life expectancy of 54 years and women 56 years. Imagine my distress when I hit 54 and was still waiting for an assessment.
Australian report: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Autism/autism/Report/section?id=committees%2Freportsen%2F024412%2F72470
However a report from the university college London found little difference for men and women without a learning disability, and for men with a learning disability the life expectancy only dropped by 3 years. Sadly women are a little worse off.
A quote from the National Autistic Society: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/research-into-the-life-expectancy-of-autistic-peop
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/nov/premature-death-autistic-people-uk-investigated-first-timeOn average, autistic men without a learning disability had an estimated life expectancy of 74.6 years, and autistic women without a learning disability had an average of 76.8 years.
For autistic people who also had a diagnosed learning disability, average estimated life expectancies were lower, with men having a life expectancy of 71.7 years and women having a life expectancy of 69.6 years. These estimates all have a degree of uncertainty, particularly for women due to the smaller numbers of women who have been diagnosed autistic.
Autism Masking Masking your autism to appear neuro-typical. This is a hard one, many of us show child-like signs of excitement like hand-clapping and jumping on the spot to express excitement. Masking is not doing that, and instead smiling or exclaiming "yeah!" to show excitement. Some people are embarrassed by seeing this behaviour, some of us are embarrassed to have this behaviour and mask as a result. Parents may be embarrassed by a child behaving like this. But you shouldn't stop this. Masking is incredibly damaging to our mental health in the long term, and what's wrong with showing pure unadulterated joy? There are many many traits to autism, and masking is not allowing you to be yourself.
The National Autistic Society has a very lengthy essay on masking, it's small benefits and catastrophic impacts of long term masking.
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/masking
