A new study looked at over 58 million pieces of content shared from 2015 to 2025 in 1,659 conspiratorial groups about autism across 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
If we normalize questioning the diagnosis of others inevitably a sizable amount of people accused of faking it will genuinely be neurodivergent. Same goes with being queer.
100% agreed. A bit of tolerance goes a long way, and the downsides are minuscule.
My point is that it happens, not that we should do anything about it as a society. Hence my final paragraph:
Unfortunately, calling people out on their BS often drags in innocent people who actually have the condition, so I always assume people are being truthful until proven otherwise. It’s dumb, and I wish people would stop it, but I think the existence of fakes largely leads to this issue.
We shouldn’t just cover our eyes and plug our ears and pretend it doesn’t happen, but instead openly acknowledge it and demonstrate that it’s not something worth trying to distinguish. I’m not saying you do this, but I’ve seen enough of it on Lemmy and elsewhere to feel like it’s a big enough problem to call out.
I’m 99% sure I’m not neurodivergent, but I’ve never been tested and I definitely exhibit a lot of the behaviors that people who claim (w/o any testing or proof) to be neurodivergent exhibit. So I don’t consider myself neurodivergent, but I will occasionally suggest to people that what they call neurodivergence could instead be something else, like social anxiety or introversion. I don’t do it to minimize whatever condition they might have, but instead to try to point them in the right direction to hopefully get more appropriate help, should they see those behaviors as problematic. I’m also highly suspicious of a lot of the testing, since a lot of people expect a certain answer and will shop around until they get the diagnosis they want (also happens w/ medical conditions, not just psychological). But ultimately, whether they do or don’t fit a given group is largely irrelevant to me, so if they push back even slightly, I’ll shut up and accept it, because at the end of the day, acceptance tends to have better outcomes than actually solving whatever the problem is.
At the end of the day, a little love goes a long way. Love and accept those around you, and give the best (appropriate) support you can.
100% agreed. A bit of tolerance goes a long way, and the downsides are minuscule.
My point is that it happens, not that we should do anything about it as a society. Hence my final paragraph:
We shouldn’t just cover our eyes and plug our ears and pretend it doesn’t happen, but instead openly acknowledge it and demonstrate that it’s not something worth trying to distinguish. I’m not saying you do this, but I’ve seen enough of it on Lemmy and elsewhere to feel like it’s a big enough problem to call out.
I’m 99% sure I’m not neurodivergent, but I’ve never been tested and I definitely exhibit a lot of the behaviors that people who claim (w/o any testing or proof) to be neurodivergent exhibit. So I don’t consider myself neurodivergent, but I will occasionally suggest to people that what they call neurodivergence could instead be something else, like social anxiety or introversion. I don’t do it to minimize whatever condition they might have, but instead to try to point them in the right direction to hopefully get more appropriate help, should they see those behaviors as problematic. I’m also highly suspicious of a lot of the testing, since a lot of people expect a certain answer and will shop around until they get the diagnosis they want (also happens w/ medical conditions, not just psychological). But ultimately, whether they do or don’t fit a given group is largely irrelevant to me, so if they push back even slightly, I’ll shut up and accept it, because at the end of the day, acceptance tends to have better outcomes than actually solving whatever the problem is.
At the end of the day, a little love goes a long way. Love and accept those around you, and give the best (appropriate) support you can.