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Comment by faeriechangling | Hacker News Reader

I've done a lot of thinking about this issue, and there's two topics I notice. First, disability has become a status symbol in certain circles. Second, the huge rise in self-diagnosed disability.

On the latter point, these kids are acting out these disabilities with such sincerity and 24/7 consistency that they effectively are disabled for all practical purposes, it's just that the diagnosis might be different than the one they self-diagnose themselves with. I think the TikTok videos are a symptom, what's the cause?

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I think the cause may be wanting a way to opt out of the pressure cooker that modern life is.

I'm disabled (I have MS), and the one benefit to it is that I have a 'get out of social expectations free' button I can push if things get too difficult. If I'm not feeling well, it's acceptable for me to cancel plans, call off work, make sub-optimal decisions (putting my health above my earning capacity, etc.).

In short, disabled people are allowed to be fallible, have needs, and make mistakes. I think that the kids feel under too much pressure and want a release valve for it. An invisible disability gives them a 'this is too hard, I need out' button. Disabled people are also given some empathy, and that is at a major premium right now.

One of my friends on my bike racing team has MS.

He does the opposite, and uses it against me all the time. "I have MS, and I can do this, so you'll be at the race with me right?"

It usually works :)

I've seen a lot of people who fail to live up to the perfect idea of themselves fall into thinking they have ADHD as a way of explaining it.

I'm not sure what the answer to that is.

I mean, it's pretty common in general for mental disabilities to get diagnosed after failing to live up to another persons expectations as well. It's not totally unreasonable to think "Man, I/They seem to be unable to do something. Maybe I'm/They're disabled?"

Teens trying to feel special in a world where they're constantly exposed to people better or more exceptional than they are.

>I think the TikTok videos are a symptom, what's the cause?

Why don't you think TikTok videos specifically (and social media generally) are not a cause? At this point, we know the addictive and viral effects of social media, especially as it pertains to teenagers and kids (and especially teenage girls).

Being a symptom and a cause are not mutually exclusive, but blaming the videos alone results in a chicken and egg scenario.

Tuberculosis was once seen as a romantic fashionable disease.

>self diagnosed

I was listening to a cbc program about autism on adults the other day. One person being interviewed stated she "identified as autistic". She had done some online test that said she had 70 out of 100 autism traits or something.

I was incredulous. Are these people for real?

There's people who are like this for purely practical reasons. It's either hard for them to get diagnosed, or they don't see any benefit to it.

There's people who are more like this for more ideological reasons. Some people feel doctors underdiagnose the poor, women, and minorities, and consequently, don't know why they should be obligated to fight an uphill battle to get diagnosed from a system not treating people like them correctly.

In any case, a fair amount of these "I identify as autistic after taking an online quiz" types actually are autistic. So my policy is to give any such person the benefit of the doubt, at least at first.

Let's be honest, here. Psychologists use preponderance of evidence based on both visible and self-reported traits to form diagnoses also.

Psychology is not engineering. They're not diagnosing based on log files or material stress reports. They're using precisely the same criteria and weighting as these silly online tests do.

>I think the TikTok videos are a symptom, what's the cause?

We celebrate failure and not success. As a simple example no one gets praised for not being an addict, but we keep hearing about the stunningly brave addicts who became barely functioning members of society.

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