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this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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Now that I think about it, was Data autistic?
well, i don't know about that, but it would certainly be accurate to describe him as neuroatypical.
although... now you have me wondering if I'm on the spectrum.
Autism and ADHD are just things everyone does to some extent, just dialed up to the point of it impacting their lives. Everyone forgets things, everyone can be distracted, everyone can take things literally, everyone can feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar settings, or be overwhelmed by noises. Most people just have a higher tolerance for a lot of those things, or may even have the reverse where too much familiarity or silence can be uncomfortable.
Nuerotypical tends to describe people who cope with those kinds of feelings, or who don't obsess about their mistakes and roll with it in a way that doesn't have a significant impact on their lives.
So while you could be on the spectrum, it is also likely that you just became aware of something everyone does and if it doesn't cause you problems often then you wouldn't be on the spectrum, which tends to describe a spectrum of symptoms that doe cause problems.
oh, ok. i mean, i do have issues, although they're likely caused by my raging depression and anxiety disorders, lol
There's some significant comorbidity between ASD and anxiety disorders, so it wouldn't be too surprising.
It's also a spectrum, so you could be "more autistic" than the average neurotypical, while still not "autistic enough" to actually receive a diagnosis.
true, but there's also a lot of comorbidity between anxiety disorders & depression and the amazing fuckton of life issues i'm experiencing atm, so it's probably that. and, not for nothing, but in the decades of therapy i've undergone, none of my psychologists or psychiatrists have ever thought to wonder if i had ASD. that's not to say that i don't, but one would think that, if i did, one of those many, many doctors would have thought to, at least, test me for it.
perhaps i'll ask again, though.
I think it really depends on whether you think there's any benefit that could come from that. In whether you believe having an official label to describe the problem and receiving treatment for it would be worth it for you, or if it would be getting a diagnosis purely for the sake of having the diagnosis. And that's something only you can know for your own situation.
Well, what I seek is answers and relief from my symptoms, not “labels” really. That’s my motivation, if that’s what you’re wondering.
Ya know, perhaps it’s best to just trust my doctors on this one.
I will say that as someone who was diagnosed somewhat later in life, I think part of why it wasn't caught sooner for me was that doctors seemed to assume "oh, this would've surely been investigated already", because I was such a complex blob of issues. Certainly the severity of my anxiety and depression made more sense in the context of autism.
I don't know if you've ever done a quiz such as the Autism Quotient test before, but you might be interested in trying it. I like this version here, because it discusses some of the many problems that this and other similar tests have. Many diagnostic processes involve at least one of these silly little quizzes, usually the AQ, which I linked. Both doctors and autistics alike agree on the limited utility of these tests though, especially on their own, so take anything it says with a pinch of salt.
Stalking me across communities now?
Very sane and healthy.
I'm not sure whether or not the android Data could be considered autistic from an in-universe perspective, but I would say that as a character Data was inspired by autistic humans and written in a way that neurodivergent viewers would empathize with. At least that's how he's always come across to me, as a neurodivergent trekkie.
Well that's redundant...
/s
Yes. So was Spock.
I assume human mental diagnoses wouldn't "work" on other species
Data has very much been adopted by the autistic community, but it's debatable to what extent we can think of Data as being autistic. Certainly his character resonated with a lot of autistic and other neurodivergent folk, but it's likely that this wasn't even intentional.