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   HebrideanHecate (hebrideanhecate@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 18-Oct-2025 18:01:55 JST HebrideanHecate

   https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/celebrities-making-autism-seem-desirable-and-that-s-misleading/ar-AA1OGgwv?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68f2c9597d5f4fab85d6a96e6a3ecc34&ei=7

   In recent years, a number of celebrities have spoken of being diagnosed with ADHD and autism as adults, some in middle age. “We’re misleading people as a society,” Dr O’Sullivan said during a talk at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. “We’ve got an awful lot of celebrities saying, ‘Well, I got my diagnosis and the world opened up to me.’ And they get book deals and stand-up comedy tours. “The average person who gets diagnosed will not get those things, but we have a culture of leading people to believe that a diagnosis will lead somewhere wonderful. “It’s now being incorporated into people’s personalities as an identity. I work with people with epilepsy. We’ve never called them ‘epileptics’ – we call them ‘people with epilepsy’ because they are people who happen to have that disease. “Whereas now the trend is to say ‘I am autistic’, rather than ‘I’m a person with autism’. And that is a real problem because, once you incorporate your illness into your identity, how do you get better?”

   • KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.
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     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 18-Oct-2025 18:01:55 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to
     @HebrideanHecate

     We’ve never called them ‘epileptics’ – we call them ‘people with epilepsy’ because they are people who happen to have that disease. “Whereas now the trend is to say ‘I am autistic’, rather than ‘I’m a person with autism’.

     I honestly see no point in this particular language game.
     I'm not going to stop saying "I'm allergic" or similar, and it in no way implies I'm incorporating allergy into my personality.

     If people are going to incorporate a given condition into their personality, they are going to do it however you spin the words around.

     Also, it seems to me that identifying with a disease or a condition to the point that it becomes a key piece of one's mental identity is a new thing, while saying "epileptic" or "autistic" is not. So I don't think that supports the writer's argument either.

     KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.
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     KeepTakingTheSoma (keeptakingthesoma@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 18-Oct-2025 18:04:53 JST KeepTakingTheSoma

     in reply to
     @HebrideanHecate What we really need to remember is that 'slebs will say and do anything for money and attention.
     Doesn't make any of it true.