I’m not picky about “official diagnosis” for this question; I know there are a variety of reasons not to have one either intentionally and/or willingly or otherwise.
Do you folks consider your autism a disability? I have seen online a number of people say they don’t think it is, and it may not be so much for them, but someone with higher support needs might think it is. But also I don’t know those posters’ support needs, so I can’t really judge on that basis either. I figured the easiest way to find out would be to directly ask you all. So if you feel comfortable answering, I would appreciate your feedback.
EDIT: Sorry I can’t respond to everyone’s comments; there got to be a whole lot of them! But thank you all for your input!
It’s kinda hard for me to say, tbh.
I don’t really know if a lot of my issues are comorbidities with the heaps of other health issues I have, but I feel like autism has definitely prevented me from doing a lot of things I want to do. For instance, from what I read, there’s been a lot of talk about “autistic burnout” and I think, if it really what I’m suffering from, then it will cause me so many problems (it’s already causing me a lot of problems, but I dread the future.)
I also have a lot of serious mental health issues, and I think a lot of it can be attributed due to the fact that trying to interact with “regular” society has netted me a lot of pain, suffering, and trauma. I also have extreme confidence issues resulting from so much allistic reprimand, where I have a compulsion to believe everything that I say or do is wrong / incorrect, and it’s a living nightmare where I second guess myself all the time and react negatively to criticism.
Overall, my autism has (and probably will) cause me so much trouble and suffering both now and in the future. If I had the chance, would I reject it? Not really, even though I have never beared it’s supposed fruits (people have told me that autism can “help” but I have many doubts) and have only experienced a constant stream of anxiety and pain, but I don’t think it’s inherently negative. Like @SuperZutsuki@hexbear.net and @lilypad@hexbear.net said in this thread, it’s really an impediment brought about by material conditions rather than any hypothetical inherent badness of autism.
I don’t want to vent too much, but yeah, I do consider it to be a disability, and it will probably bar me from many tasks - both necessary (jobs) and recreational (art).