#pdd nos

[wemovedtodiscord111]

My PT OC Adeel and some other country themed OCs I made for fun

Discord is TherFren and Server https://discord.gg/Zfx94pEjbR (trying to promote my server)

[envystar666]

Is it just me or did anyone else get a diagnosis of pdd-nos as a kid because you had atypical autism and then get it hidden from you only for you having to find out as an adult and then having to get re evaluated again because its no longer a valid dx from the dsm4?

[strohsylvia]

Hi 😊

[tetsunabouquet]

Autism Acceptance Month

Originally, I wanted to post nothing like I usually do with autism acceptance month but then I realized something and knew it was time for me to talk about my autism: It's that I'm part of the 'old' crowd. WIth old I mean, not my age, but the differences of the community.

It's like the 'old' crowd in the gay community who can remember a time before ANY country had legalized gay marriage, and some were resorting to things like gays marrying lesbians and being each other's beard.

It's like the 'old' crowd in the trans community, who can remember a time when bottom surgeries were still rare, more experimental then they were now and all the drama of when it 'first became a thing'.

I can remember a time before people began pointing out that autism can be very different in women and that the diagnostic system is mostly aimed at male symptoms. Before people started saying, 'Who knows, maybe autism occurs just as often as with women but they're just underdiagnosed'. Being diagnosed at the age of 5, which is 20 years ago, I grew up in a boys club. I've already mentioned in comments to mutuals, what a HELL that was once we all hit puberty (poor social skills combined with girls being at best 10% of the student body and puberty are a TERRIBLE combo. I literally had a legend created about my vagina like one of isekai hentai.) I can remember a time before the diagnostic system had scrapped subtypes. Nowadays you just have autism. Because of push-back from the Aspergers crowd who didn't wanted the 'autism' label, people still remember what Aspergers was. Other subtypes are already being forgotten.

My diagnosis was PDD-NOS, and I've actually had to sit down and explain what this meant in the autistic community because people don't know what the fuck PDD-NOS was. PDD-NOS basically was the diagnosis for people who were on the spectrum, but did not fully meet the criteria and showed a few key differences with the subtype they resembled the most. Basically, it was the misfit label within the autistic community. Which was why some people also called it Atypical Autism. As HF PDD-NOS, this meant I did not fully meet Aspergers criteria, and we HF PDD-NOS typically have problems with speech and memory that they didn't (when it comes to memory and intelligence, I'm kind of the opposite of a savant autistic). I've also seen articles and heard people say back in the day that kids with PDD NOS were more prone to daydreaming and being imaginative as Aspergers. As a tween, I liked to see us as the Luna Lovegoods opposed to the Hermione Grangers of the autistic intellectual. But PDD NOS was a subtype meant for everyone who didn't meet the criteria for the 4 more typical autism subtypes, and those with a intellectual disability outnumbered us. I actually have been rejected from a PDD NOS treatment program as a kid, solely because I didn't had an intellectual disability. When subtypes existed, I felt like I didn't even fit in with others on the spectrum, as I wasn't an Aspie or had an intellectual disability. I cheered when they were scrapped. I finally felt like I had a community. Like doctors were seeing how hurt we misfits were, and that it needed to change. I'm still happy about that, 10 years later. Then I am not even talking about how whilst there's still a stigma, it has been reduced and social media helps with people being more informed. People are stil shit, but nowadays more people know they're assholes and will get called out for being ableist. Even casually like the moms at the block crying about how it's a 'waste of such a pretty little girl (or boy)' when the child gets diagnosed with autism (people were seriously acting like I was diagnosed with leprosy when my mom informed them of my diagnosis). I am grateful for these things changing, because it used to be shitty. I am happy for all of you who get diagnosed in a better time, and Gen Alpha and all those who get to grow up living with a better diagnostic system. But I remember the old one, and all of its problems.

I remember a time before autism acceptance month became trendy every year on the internet like Pride Month and whatnot. Hereby, I am sharing a bit of what it was like in the old days. May the system continue to improve.

[witchy-fennec]

Psychiatrist at appointment to re-dx my ADHD: “You’re too social to be autistic. You score high on a lot of autistic traits, but you’re not autistic according to the old DSM criteria based solely on what I observed in very specific situations.”

Congrats, you’ve only seen me on good days where I was likely masking and totally ignored the small cracks in my masking ability. Newsflash, I love stuff to do with psychology, which makes it easier to interact despite your shitty bright lighting.

On report: says good hygiene

Reality: I literally have not brushed my teeth in weeks and most of my morning showers equate to just letting the water run and getting warmth from it, but okay.🙃

On report: many mentions of social anxiety

Reality: It’s not social anxiety. I have GAD, but I do not have social anxiety; I have no idea how the fuck you got social anxiety, especially when saying how apparently social I am.

On report: patient denies aggression and thoughts of aggression

Reality: I never denied thoughts!!! It’s not my fault the self assessment thing doesn’t distinguish between action and thought.🙃

This is an old white man who very vocally said to me “The DSM criteria went from 8 criteria down to 3” as if that meant the latest DSM is wrong for making the autism spectrum more of an actual spectrum. He’s also basing whether I’m autistic or not by my symptoms/traits compared to his 8yo daughter who happens to be nonverbal. As if lower support needs autistics don’t exist. But hey, at least I got my ADHD dx that I needed for stuff. Also very interesting how he was all “Diagnosing autism really blew up in (year)”, but conveniently didn’t do the same regarding ADHD.🤔

I was also diagnosed with PDD-NOS years prior to this, which is on the autism spectrum. I’m also not nearly as social as he thinks I am, especially with how he wasn’t actually listening when I informed him of how I interact normally and my utter disinterest before my first ever friend, who was my only friend for a while and only because she approached me. He seems to think the criteria being updated to accommodate the merging of what used to be called Asperger’s in older DSM criteria somehow allows over half of the human population to meet said criteria, which, no??? That’s not how that works? That’s not what the criteria says. He also got very smirky when he commented whether I knew the diagnostic codes, which wtf does that have to do with symptoms/traits and the actual diagnostics? I liked him when I was in high school getting dxed solely for ADHD because he actually genuinely listened back then. Now, it just feels like he’s on some power trip and not willing to let go of old biases because there was a lot of stuff he didn’t listen to me on throughout everything and seems to think my stimming is solely for the sake of concentration when there’s way more to it than that, there’s the aspect of doing it for the sensory input, during times I’m not focusing on anything at all with no need to focus. He clearly is one of the types of people who doesn’t acknowledge the differences in presentation between ADHD, autism, and AuDHD, and has bias for The Old Ways. Of course I don’t seem autistic to someone like that. I have enough traits that are strong to be confirmed autistic, but his reasoning just seems to be “Can speak and look social on the few days I spoke with them, so any and all possible social issues can only be social anxiety” and that just doesn’t seem right? He never bothered to go in depth with any of the testing, just redid the stuff for ADHD and the self-assessments didn’t have nearly enough questions that could potentially detect autism in someone who can mask with all of it being exactly the same as from when I was originally dxed with ADHD, so absolutely no digging further to be certain nothing was missed. He definitely already made his decision on whether I was autistic or not before we even started. Even though I never made eye contact, even though there is enough overlap in symptoms between ADHD and autism, especially in someone who’s both, that it can be overlooked. There was absolutely no attempt to truly rule out autism beyond assessing ADHD and anxiety, which he dxed me with social anxiety when I am definitely not that, I have GAD because that’s how my brain works and things that have nothing to do with social interaction make me anxious. Like, yes, of course there are gonna be inevitable social things that prod my anxiety; there’s no avoiding that in a society, especially when forced to socialise. But because he’s so set in finding reasons to say I’m not autistic, he refused to listen when I explained, repeatedly (and not exactly all that well because verbal communication and on the spot attempt), why it wasn’t specifically social anxiety of the type of anxiety I have. I’m also apparently very needy of social interaction while at the same time being of “normal” social neediness. I’m pretty sure I was more happy alone in my room than socialising for all my life, but okay.🙃

He really just refuses to acknowledge that I don’t care to socialise because I don’t feel a need to beyond minimum necessity, such as for a job, and with a few select people face to face, the rest preferably being DMs/text only. Socialising is exhausting and I just want to get away from society with the few people I actually want any social interaction from. Also, the first times he saw me, I was more than old enough to have learned from observation what is and is not socially acceptable, especially given my “intelligence”, strong interest in words/vocabulary/grammar/etc., and ability to mask traits apart from certain types of pain as well as experience. He still doesn’t know that my issues with eating have to do with sensory sensitivities. He never asked. I’m guessing that, like my mother, he just assumes it’s related to my sleep troubles? I’ll never know because there’s no point in asking that when he treated me the way he did, especially since I’m never seeing him again.

He was also smug enough to make a comment about how other doctors could have dxed wrong. As if he’s immune to being wrong himself. So sayeth the man who would rather go with outdated criteria as if a lot of research didn’t go into updated portions of the latest DSM. Lost my trust entirely right there.

He also had the nerve to tell me “every action has a reason” as if I said anything otherwise when explaining that my being in verbal shutdown (worded it as not being able to speak) wasn’t an anxiety thing. The reason is my vocal chords just don’t wanna work some days and it’s something other than anxiety because my anxiety was almost nonexistent that day.

[maybe-hikikomori]

Most my school life I wasn't severely bullied (I had two serious incidents though), but is it worth the mood disorders and bullying to have autism?

[beepbeepkazoo]

dont get me wrong the wellbutrins working but also i cannot escape my thoughts of just being a fundamentally broken person

[wemovedtodiscord111]

Discord is TherFren and Server https://discord.gg/Zfx94pEjbR and https://thermoso.straw.page

[maybe-hikikomori]

Me in elementary school.

I hate how often someone suddenly changes how they act towards me the second they find out I'm autistic. I'm still the same person you were talking to before you found out!

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

curious. officially diagnosed autistic people : what your FIRST official autism diagnosis say

note:

it not about whether you think diagnosis right, correct, should or shouldn’t exist, as long as you agree you autistic. e.g you first diagnosed as asperger’s but don’t think asperger’s syndrome as diagnosis should exist, still vote asperger’s. if you first diagnosed as one level n don’t agree n think it something else, still vote that level you first diagnosed with

know pervasive development disorder under DSM 4 technically umbrella term which all autism diagnoses fall under. so only vote that one if you specifically given PDD & not anything more specific

also know rett syndrome & CDD different disorders… but ran out of room n very sad abt it (if don’t know what those are, encourage look it up)

if want to, also tell me in tag or comments or reblog which year you diagnosed. or other nuances

see follow up poll for specifiers other than DSM 5 levels

[sillylandmagic]

Poll to see if any other autistics on here have been diagnosed with classic autism before dsm 5 came out. Also threw in some other options of autism diagnoses during that time:

[horsesource]

PDD-NOS is an ugly acronym but I miss when the category existed (now PDD-NOS is part of ASD) just because everyone was calling it “atypical autism” which I think is hilarious

[autism-unfiltered]

Tracing the History of Autism

The term "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning "self." It was first used in the psychiatric context by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1911 to describe a subset of symptoms related to schizophrenia. He referred to autism as a tendency for individuals to turn inwards, away from the outside world.

However, it wasn't until the 1940s that two scientists, working independently on different continents, started to develop the concept of autism as we understand it today. In the United States, child psychiatrist Leo Kanner, and in Austria, pediatrician Hans Asperger, both noticed that some of the children they were seeing shared a unique cluster of traits, including difficulties in social interaction, communication challenges, and repetitive behaviors. These observations would lay the foundation for our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

In the 1960s and 1970s, the perspective shifted from viewing autism as a symptom of schizophrenia or a form of childhood psychosis, towards understanding it as a separate condition. During this time, researchers such as Bernard Rimland and Ole Ivar Lovaas made significant strides in distinguishing autism from other developmental disorders and started exploring educational interventions and behavioral therapies.

The 1980s and 1990s brought about a broader recognition of the autism spectrum, with conditions such as Asperger's Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) being added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

In the 21st century, we've seen a shift towards understanding and accepting neurodiversity, viewing autism not just as a set of challenges, but also recognizing the unique strengths and abilities that individuals on the spectrum can possess.

Despite these advancements, there's still much more to learn about the causes and manifestations of autism, and the journey towards greater understanding and acceptance continues.

[sapphsorrows]

just followed cause i’m skeptical about transness but a lot of my trans friends follow me

i saw a post that said “autism and trans rights are inherently connected” and i just wanna say that’s bullshit. i have an autism spectrum disorder (PDD-NOS) and i didn’t speak until i was four and have troubles living independently. and that’s just mild autism. autism is a serious developmental disorder, trans rights are an ideology. it’s disgusting

I agree with this but I think autistic people are more prone to gender woo simply because a lot of us are prone to magical thinking. also a lot of gender woo is portrayed as absolute, unquestioned fact. so of course we're going to believe it. Even lots of non-autistic people believe it. I don't think they're inherently connected but I think there is definitely a connection. If you look at people online who ID as trans, many of them also ID as autistic.

[caitas-cooing]

I love how like you look at my medical papers and there's so many like vague diagnosis. Like unspecified depressive disorder. Like why is she sad all the time. We don't know know but she sure is depressed. Or like generalized anxiety disorder. She's just anxious in general about everything and also sometimes for no reason. Or like I used to be diagnosed with pdd-nos before it got lump in with autism as whole. That one was fun because if you say that one out loud people have no idea what you're talking about, so you end up just saying autism anyway. Like the vagueness is just funny to me

[ira-407]

PDA Has No Place Within Neurodiversity

Something you’re likely to come across in online autistic self-advocacy spaces is PDA-otherwise known as pathological demand avoidance, or to some, pervasive demand for autonomy. This is not a new idea-in fact, it has been present in the field of psychology since at least the 1980s, before the neurodiversity movement began in earnest. You can see discussion of PDA in autistic spaces from the late 90s-including skepticism of the idea. It is not an official diagnosis listed in the DSM or the ICD. Some people want it to be. It is considered by some to be part of the autism diagnosis, much like PDD-NOS and Asperger’s, which used to be separate diagnoses in the DSM-IV. I’m unsure whether these advocates wish for PDA to be like that or for it to appear under autism. I think either way, it is not a good idea. There are several reasons why I am against the idea of PDA. I think the condition itself is too broad and more importantly, I am afraid of the implications behind it.

The way I see PDA described leaves open a lot of room for interpretation. This could lead to an overdiagnosis (or false diagnosis altogether), though that’s not so much of a concern of mine as it is that there are many reasons why someone may refuse demands or ignore obligations. It could be as simple as executive dysfunction-which I believe is diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD. People describe PDA as extreme anxiety someone feels when given a task to complete. Again, there are several possible explanations for this behavior-simply chalking it up to “PDA” doesn’t really tell you much. Ok, someone tends to avoid demands-perhaps to a disabling degree-but I feel like the reason for that goes much deeper than just calling it PDA. A lot of things I do probably qualify as PDA to those who believe in it. I have a harder time than most staying on task or starting something I have to do. Also, no, framing it as a “pervasive demand for autonomy” does not change anything. If I don’t want to do something I’m asked to do, it’s definitely not because I only ever do things I want to do. It can sometimes mean that, but it still hardly qualifies as “PDA”. So this leads me to my next point, the implications of PDA.

There are two main concerns I have with the implications behind a PDA diagnosis or label. Not only do I think it’s not specific enough, I am worried about how people use it as an excuse for genuinely shitty behavior. While this does happen with a number of disabilities, including autism, the broadness of PDA, as I previously described, only accentuates this. I’ve already seen it happen. I’ve seen somebody accuse people for their “PDA acting up” simply for not addressing an issue to their satisfaction. That leads me to the second issue-how staff could (and likely already do) use it against people in their care. Pathologization already leads to this in institutional settings. If, hypothetically, someone with a diagnosis of PDA doesn’t stick to their behavior plan, or generally just doesn’t follow directions, the staff could just shrug it off as PDA instead of thinking more critically about the actual cause of their behavior. Alternatively, they could use that against them. This is far from an unrealistic expectation. This already happens with other disabilities. This would just make it worse. Calling it a “pervasive demand for autonomy” would yield the same result. This is also the issue with Cluster B Personality Disorders, which are actual diagnoses. The psychiatric system exists to pathologize and strip people of their self-determination. This isn’t to say the entire DSM is invalid-just that there's a severe power imbalance at play here.

There are traits that are distinctively neurodivergent. Even then, just chalking behaviors up to diagnosis is unhelpful. However, there’s enough evidence that a neurodivergent brain works differently from a neurotypical brain to justify calling it autism, ADHD, tourettes, etc. PDA is not that. It reeks of Asperger’s and PDD-NOS. I thought we were done using Asperger’s? Apparently the only reason why many people don’t like Asperger’s is simply because of Hans Asperger possibly being a nazi and not for the actual issue with it-which was the false sense of hierarchy and separatism that came with it. Supporting the use of PDA is proof of that.