For those that did not get a diagnosis as a kid, self-diagnosing is how they begin to discover that component about themselves (I’m newly there right now in my 30’s, parent present in my life didn’t even know what autism was until the 2010’s, I am going to be seeking a professional diagnosis), so I would be mindful that some of the self-diagnoses may be telling the truth and it’s not all fad joiners/charlatans/attention seekers
To your credit, fakers probably would be somewhat obvious, but I don’t have real life experience with a fake autist, mostly the opposite, autists thinking they’re NT.
Most people have no clue what autism actually looks like, and the most exposure they have to autism are autism-coded characters like Sheldon Cooper and Sterling Archer. In other words, characters who are self absorbed and asshole-y for comedic effect. To them, fakers can definitely seem on-brand.
And those that do have actual exposure to autism usually fare no better, because autism is a very wide spectrum, and some symptoms and issues, to the untrained eye, look no different from simple assholeism. What looks like a simple unprovoked tantrum could infact be an autistic person lashing out in frustration because they don’t know how to properly communicate something.
For those that did not get a diagnosis as a kid, self-diagnosing is how they begin to discover that component about themselves (I’m newly there right now in my 30’s, parent present in my life didn’t even know what autism was until the 2010’s, I am going to be seeking a professional diagnosis), so I would be mindful that some of the self-diagnoses may be telling the truth and it’s not all fad joiners/charlatans/attention seekers
To your credit, fakers probably would be somewhat obvious, but I don’t have real life experience with a fake autist, mostly the opposite, autists thinking they’re NT.
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Fakers aren’t obvious at all unfortunately.
Most people have no clue what autism actually looks like, and the most exposure they have to autism are autism-coded characters like Sheldon Cooper and Sterling Archer. In other words, characters who are self absorbed and asshole-y for comedic effect. To them, fakers can definitely seem on-brand.
And those that do have actual exposure to autism usually fare no better, because autism is a very wide spectrum, and some symptoms and issues, to the untrained eye, look no different from simple assholeism. What looks like a simple unprovoked tantrum could infact be an autistic person lashing out in frustration because they don’t know how to properly communicate something.