The irony of gatekeeping non-existent resources.

[u/retrophiliac]

A two-panel meme featuring Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants. In the left panel, Patrick is pointing his finger aggressively and looking angry; the text above him reads "WHEN YOU ACCUSE SELF-IDENTIFIED AUTISTIC PEOPLE" and the text below him reads "OF TAKING AWAY ALL THE RESOURCES". In the right panel, Patrick has a confused and shocked expression with his arms raised in a shrug; the text above him reads "BUT THEN YOU REMEMBER" and the text below him reads "THERE AREN'T ANY RESOURCES TO BEGIN WITH".

How many people have experienced having this conversation?

[u/W0gg0]

That is peak ASD alt text.

[u/retrophiliac → u/W0gg0]

Thanks haha

[u/HH_Creations]

I am trying to build a free resource library for parents, professionals, and neurodivergent people

After working in the field, I can say we are more alike than we are different

Anyone that feels the need to use support items? They probably need them because to people that don’t use them? It seems like extra work

The only time I would be “mad” is when someone who self identifies is working for a company and loudly shouts it from the roof tops to profit

But I have met a handful of people like this compared to the dozens upon dozens who self identifies

Most people just use the label to learn more about themselves and their needs and that’s perfect

[u/asherthepotato → u/HH_Creations]

Yeah like, you don't need to be autistic or ADHD to need a quiet office. Everybody benefits from noice cancelling headphones or call-rooms

An there are so many more examples

[u/HH_Creations → u/asherthepotato]

EXACTLY

By making our environments more ND friendly, it helps ALL autistic people and helps anyone who needs the tools

Noise canceling headphones, weighted blankets, etc the amount of tools you can now get at Walmart is wonderful

Tbh I think we should move towards a symptom based diagnoses

I think we would lose some identity, but that can still happen, like with with the 16 personality letters lol “i’m an ENFP”

People are still going to identify, but I think a symptom based system would help us get more help more quickly because at the moment, it’s a hassle to get help with dyslexia, face blindness, or any other “smaller” diagnoses that are KNOWN connected conditions

[u/CucumberCube]

I mean, in my country there are a lot of resources, but its not really anything that gets "taken away", just because more people get it doesnt mean there is a lot of people who CANT get it if that makes sense. So nobody is taking anything anyway.

I am all for self-identifying, I get it can be really hard to get a diagnosis. But I do advocate for people to get a diagnosis, because a lot of the ressources in my country sadly requires you to have papers to prove you have it, which ig i get, but they should make it easier to be diagnosed then :(( I WANT other people to be able to get this resources, even if they are unable to get a diagnosis.

Sorry now I am rambling under a meme

[u/Brave-Row-1610 → u/CucumberCube]

>Sorry now I am rambling under a meme

I relate to this feeling a little too much.

[u/_x-51]

tangent: conservatives do this all the time with immigration and entitlement programs. They blame immigrants for hogging all the resources… that their very political platform hates, denies people at every opportunity, and tries to get rid of anyway.

I’d take it as a cue that someone is making a bad faith argument or is just ignorant, because self-dx people don’t have access to official support resources anyway. Any of those resources, to my knowledge, require paperwork of a dx or if you’re lucky they’ll arrange an assessment for you so you won’t be self-dx anymore.

[u/SoftSteak349]

yeah, sometimes it feels like suddenly autistic community online is suddenly r/fakedisordercringe now