Being Full of Shit Isn’t a Reliable Indicator of Neurodivergence

Stop diagnosing yourself and stop wearing it as a badge of honor that you’ve diagnosed yourself.

We’re not impressed and it does nothing to help you with the issues you create in your life because of your “neurodivergence.”

I have 5 kids, 3 of whom are diagnosed ASD, one has epilepsy.

I know what it looks like to actually live with and around – and maybe…

Just maybe…

You’re suffering the sturm und drang* of being human. Like the rest of us sinners.

Get some help for it or get on with it. And PLEASE stop posting it on your Insta bio.

As someone with loved ones on the spectrum, I actually take great offense to self-diagnosing. Autism (in it’s myriad of flavors) is still very misunderstood. It’s been less than 100 years since it became a thing – and understanding causes and “cures” has been woefully funded, researched and supported. I’m CERTAINLY no expert – but I have a lot of direct, hands-on experience with what I’m talking about here.

Thinking that you have something because you can’t do people or you have a nervous tic is kind of like knowing your car is rattling going down and blaming it on a bad transmission when it might just be that you have one low tire. If your car is rattling, you take it to a mechanic and have them look it over – why are you allowing your brain to rattle and deciding that you know what’s going on.

Mental health isn’t something YOU can reliably diagnose in yourself. People are entirely subjective when it comes to observing and/or diagnosing their lives. That’s an incredibly long discussion – but it is absolutely true. For a reliable (or valuable) diagnosis, you need someone who can view things objectively. Not an online test. Not a gut feeling. Not some book you read.

You might be right! You probably are! But… probably only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. Yes – I make up sayings. Sue me.

ASD testing is INCREDIBLY thorough. There’s a reason. The brain is massively complex. Personalities even more so. Nature, nurture – all that. Coming to a real diagnosis requires a capability to parse through all of that and compare it to a baseline of “normal.”

And – if your brain isn’t working properly (self-diagnosed,) how can you rely on yourself being able to parse through all of the above in an objective manner?

Of course (and I would hope it goes without saying,) being a “professional” certainly does not make you infallible, and we all know how easily tests can be skewed – but self-diagnosis is a skewing right off the bat.

All of this is to say…

Neurodivergence (and more specifically ASD) is poorly understood across the board. If you feel that your life is negatively affected by something going on between your ears, find out more. Seek help. I’m not saying you can’t investigate and draw conclusions. DO read up. DO look online – but know that those are just useful ways of getting you a little closer to an answer.

You owe it to yourself.

Thank you for listening to me complain.

I checked this post with ChatGPT to see if it was a valid argument, and it agreed with me – but said that it would be more convincing if it weren’t in such a condescending tone.

LOL. WHATEVER, DUDE.

That’s it. I’m done. I wrote a bunch of blog posts and emails this week and I need to take a break from typing. You can find them on various websites and via my email list – which you can sign up for by clicking here.

Otherwise – listen to pop music. It’s the only thing that can save us as a species.