News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:It all made sense when we found out we were autistic by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday March 26, 2018 @01:52PM (#16680929)
In society we often interpret certain traits as moral failings, but if we put a label on it and make it a condition those traits become a result of bad luck instead of weak character.

The label has a net-positive value in that it can allow others, and yourself, to forgive more easily. Now if we could just learn to forgive without the labels, that'd be really valuable.

Re:It all made sense when we found out we were autistic by hinkley on Monday March 26, 2018 @02:09PM (#16681052)
For some reason there has been a common theme in some of the movies and TV shows I've been watching recently, where the characters are dealing with their own history and they or someone else declare that "you can't change the past". I found this wasn't sitting right with me.

People change the past all the time, for tons of reasons. But specific to this topic, a powerful tool in a therapist's toolbox is 'reframing', where you look at your experiences and find some new perspective. You change your narrative to have more compassion for yourself and the other players (or lay blame on someone more deserving) so that you can move past it now.

One aspect of that can be identifying that you had some special need that wasn't met. Or that your parents or siblings did. Everyone was trying but they weren't equipped to give you what you needed, and it was what it was. Especially for newly diagnosed conditions, your parents 20 years ago wouldn't have had access to the info you have now.

So a diagnosis can in some cases help people reframe all of this stuff.

Re:It all made sense when we found out we were autistic by TomK32 on Monday March 26, 2018 @03:27PM (#16681686)
Am I over-generalizing, or are "moral failings" something that autists really can develop?