Elmo has aspergers, a form of autism. RFK says people with autism can’t use the bathroom by themselves.

  • @[email protected]
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    -29 days ago

    As much as I hate to say this in response to your comment, self diagnosis is valid.

    Mostly the context is for people without resources, however, so your point is fair. Taking away validity for marginalized groups’ experiences is at risk with that stance though.

    Thanks if you read this and I hope you have a great day otherwise. /gen

    • 74 183.84
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      79 days ago

      Self diagnosis is not valid. Stop pretending it is

      • @[email protected]
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        239 days ago

        Self diagnosis for adhd and asd is a pretty strong predictor for an actual diagnosis. Also self help is a huge part of therapy/management anyway, so why not do some self help and acceptance? theres no 'cure ’ to either. making it your personality and an excuse for being an asshole is a symptom of assholism. That, however, is really hard to self diagnose due to the nature of being an unreflected selfish manbaby egomaniac.

      • @[email protected]
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        9 days ago

        I am fairly confident (as are my therapists) that I am somewhere on some sort of spectrum. However, when I looked at the process of getting a formal diagnosis, it was several thousand dollars which would not be covered by insurance and would be a full year at least on a waiting list. (I believe they also want to talk to your family…)

        The average age of diagnosis for AFAB folks is around 30. Clinicians are not trained in recognizing the way that ASD presents in girls, and are to this day often taught that it doesn’t really present in girls at all (a current gig is tutoring intro psych - this was in a students textbook!)

        Self-diagnosis is problematic, but you also must acknowledge that accessing resources to even get evaluated are often completely out of reach.

        • kn0wmad1c
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          139 days ago

          They are for most people, but he’s literally the richest man in the world.

      • @[email protected]
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        79 days ago

        It is dangerous in some countries to get an official diagnosis for a disability. I respect that some people know they have a problem, but fear a label

        • @[email protected]
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          149 days ago

          Some people also wear a label as a badge of honor, or as an excuse for their malign actions. Elon has little to lose with his claims, and so much to excuse.

          • @[email protected]
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            109 days ago

            is it? do we really think autistic people or others with disabilities won’t be targeted by the current administration in the US? they’re following the Nazis playbook pretty accurately so far and that was kind of a major point for them. I mean the term Asperger’s was coined by a Nazi scientist after performing experiments on the disabled people they rounded up and out in camps.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 days ago

        From someone with two major surgeries behind me, one of them involving a tumour inside my head, this sounds outright idiotic.

        I’d be dead unless I realized something was wrong other than what the doctors at the time described as “just a few headaches”. Took me upwards of 10+ different doctors before they finally listened and found it. Exactly where I described the pain and pressure coming from.

        Listen to your body, and for fucks sake stop giving bad advice to people.

          • @[email protected]
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            19 days ago

            It’s certainly in the same vein, but you’re right, not exactly the same.

            Though as far as self diagnosis with autism is concerned, I don’t see that as a bad thing. Even if they aren’t on the spectrum, realizing they have some shared personality traits will cause more “normies” to have a sympathetic view towards autism, causing it to have less stigma. People hear that certain traits are related to autism and recognize those same traits in themselves, and then they can relate better. If only more people could do this with race, religion and gender, people would have more compassion for others as a whole.

            But Elon? Fuck that guy.

            • GladiusB
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              09 days ago

              I don’t agree this is self diagnosis unless you set up an MRI and analyzed the data yourself. Having self awareness to think that something wasn’t right? Yea. That’s what it sounds like.

              • @[email protected]
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                09 days ago

                Setting up an MRI and interpreting the images yourself is obviously impossible, but I did work in a related field so it wasn’t just guesswork either. Do you think any of the doctors I met gave a shit about my thoughts on the matter regardless?

                • GladiusB
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                  08 days ago

                  Yes. Since I was raised around medical people. Most get into the profession because they like helping people.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    7 days ago

                    I’ve been a nurse for over a decade and I disagree strongly. Way too many of the doctors I’ve had to do with both outside and inside my work have been overworked, arrogant or simply too jaded to do their work properly.

                    There have been exceptions, of course. I survived both surgeries, after all. Maybe I could have avoided having to learn how to walk again if someone had listened a bit earlier. Maybe not.

                    But yes, we get into this line of work to help people initially, at least generally, I’ll give you that.

          • @[email protected]
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            09 days ago

            I knew it wasn’t just random headaches but something else, potentially a lot worse. I was right in that instance, at the very least. You’re right that I couldn’t tell them exactly what it was, but since it was quite localised I had my suspicions.

            Trying to tell a doctor that you suspect something isn’t exactly easy unless they actually happen to listen, which they didn’t, for far too long.

            When they finally did the surgery it was a lot worse than it could’ve been. I was lucky enough that it was a pre-cancerous tumor though. A few months more and it would probably have been too late.

            I’ll admit that I worked in a related field at the time though, so I wasn’t entirely relying on guesswork. Not that that meant anything to a single one of the doctors I met before the last one that actually gave me the MRI scan I had begged for for months. I was in surgery the next week.

            So you tell me, was the right course of action to just listen to what the doctors said, or not?

            • You did the right thing. I’m not disputing that.

              I’m saying it’s a very different thing from people who self-diagnose psychological issues or other diseases, without confirming with a doctor.

              You didn’t go “I have a brain tumour, where’s the surgeon”, you persisted in getting a proper diagnosis from a doctor who finally did the right tests.

              • @[email protected]
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                27 days ago

                I’ll concede that there’s a difference between physical and psychological diagnoses, but I’ll stand by the main point I was trying to convey, which in this case is that simply blindly following whatever a doctor says can go very wrong.

                At the very least there’s always a good reason to get a second opinion if there’s even a little bit of doubt. Obviously there’s also the difference between a lifelong psychological issue and an acute medical emergency.

                I simply felt that OP was giving really bad advice and I’m fairly sure he’s got no medical training whatsoever, while I’ve been a nurse for over a decade. Maybe I’m wrong and he’s a doctor, but I highly doubt it.

      • @[email protected]
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        09 days ago

        Because the psychiatrist is able to read the text book better than you?

        They’re not magic. It’s check boxes.

        • 74 183.84
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          -19 days ago

          It has nothing to do with how well you can read a book. People are not good at self-judgement. It is very common that people under or over estimate themselves. It is easier to have an outsider make a judgement. I am convinced that you put pretty much zero thought into your comment. Maybe: try to think

    • @[email protected]
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      18 days ago

      self diagnosis is valid.

      I agree. And in my country, waiting lists for any professional diagnosis are extremely long, especially for adults.