this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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Autism
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I'm sorry you experienced this. My assessment had the same outcome.
I find it helpful to remember that diagnostic assessments are set somewhat arbitrarily and are more concerned with the question "do these symptoms negatively affect your life to the extent they need intervention?". That question is purely subjective and isn't reflective of you.
Thank you. However the voiced outcome made me notice old wording and leads me to suspect they're not on the current scientific standard. So I can accept a negative (as in diagnosis) outcome but it needs to be based on facts. And the ones they told me aren't used anymore.
So I need it written to criticize.
I work in the field and am constantly shocked at the number of otherwise skilled practitioners that have a huge blind spots for autism, especially mild or low support need individuals.
The thing about masking is that it can also hide “impairment” so a good diagnostician should ask about the ways you might mask and the physical and emotional costs of the masking. Sure you can socialize with the best of them, but are you a hollowed out shell at the end of the day? Does the masking leave you with zero resources for your hobbies, less capacity to deal with stress, and burnout? High maskers tend to have higher burnout because they are working hard to function in a world that expects them to appear counter to their nature. All too often someone can appear to function typically but a few times a month or a year they have epic drops in functioning and can’t get out of bed or leave their dark room. They’re diagnosed with depression, which admittedly can be exacerbated by burnout. However, treating burnout with depression coping skills might miss the mark. Anyway, this is a huge frustration for me professionally and I’m sorry you are dealing with it.
I have experienced the fatigue toward the end of the day. After a full day of work, I would be depleated. Before figuring out I'm autistic, my wife would call me before I left work to come home, and ask me to stop at the store for something she needed. I was always resistant to make that stop, and now I understand why.