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Comment by iliiilliili | Hacker News Reader

The fact that it's considered an illness and needs a cure or special treatment is, though. I was actually diagnosed with Aspergers as a child (whether it was accurately done so or not, I don't care), and the thing that has had the most negative impact on my life wasn't the Autism, but the diagnosis itself. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, getting told something is wrong with you. And with things like ADD the `treatment' was almost always much worse than the condition itself.

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Your personal experience is meaningless. Autism and Aspergers are not the same for everyone. The fact that you are typing this is proof enough. But when you suggest that autistics who stim by slamming their head into a wall don't need special treatment, it's clear you don't understand the full ramifications of what you are suggesting.

Autism is a spectrum. It's not one thing.

> And with things like ADD the `treatment' was almost always much worse than the condition itself.

As someone who was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and is currently taking medication, I can assure you, that's not the case.

While I completely disagree with the (what I hope are troll) comments such as the one you're replying to, one nit-pick: you call him out for judging everything on a single case, then do the same with ADD/ADHD medication. The fact that it works for you doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't "almost always much worse than the condition itself", just as the fact that he thinks he was misdiagnosed doesn't necessarily mean all diagnoses are incorrect / not worth doing.

> you call him out for judging everything on a single case, then do the same with ADD/ADHD medication

My apologies. I read the line as:

"And with things like ADD the `treatment' was always much worse than the condition itself."

And missed or ignored the almost part. The statement read too much as a statement condemning all treatment as worse, which is not what is said.

So, I wasn't hypocritical, just sloppy in my reading. =)

Why does everyone always bring up the one kid they saw on YouTube banging his head on a wall as an example of autism?

I've seen my son do it.

But you're clearly a troll.

I've worked as a neuro tech for several years and have encountered a lot of autistic, ADHD, and epileptic children. The common age of the autistic patients for us was around 2 years old, but we dealt with them up to adult age.

I'm here to tell you that you are spouting harmful nonsense, and that there are definitely children that have a qualitative difference from their peers as described by 'autism'.

Overdiagnosis may be an issue, but that doesn't make it bullshit. Deal with the overdiagnosis on its own merits - but don't just start inventing stuff to simply make yourself feel better, because your misinformation can prevent others from getting appropriate assistance.

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