Disclosing an autism diagnosis: A social identity approach
Disclosing an autism diagnosis: A social identity approach
Just a moment...
Abstract
Autistic people face a difficult dilemma around whether or not to disclose their diagnosis because autistic people are a stigmatized social group. The central aim of this study was to examine if a social identity approach could be useful in understanding the factors that predict the likelihood of autistic adults disclosing their autism diagnosis in social settings, in the workplace, in educational settings and in the family. The social identity approach predicts that autistic people may cope with this dilemma by using an individualistic strategy to distance themselves from their autistic social identity. Alternatively, they may embrace their autistic social identity and use a collective strategy to resist stigma and advocate for autistic people. We present a survey based cross-sectional study (n = 175) with autistic adults living in Ireland. Participants completed a series of measures; autism social identification, stigma consciousness, and individualistic and collective strategy use to assess disclosing in the four settings. The overall models in each of the four regressions were significant. Autism social identification positively predicted disclosure in social, workplace and educational settings, while stigma consciousness negatively predicted disclosure in the family and in the workplace. Interestingly, over and above these predictors individualistic strategy use negatively predicted disclosure in each of the four settings, while collective strategy use positively predicted disclosure in social, educational and family settings. Our novel social identity approach was useful for explaining autistic adults' strategies to cope with the complex disclosure dilemma. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
I'd been seeing therapists and psychologists for 3 years. They determined that I am likely autistic. I told my family this. They tried to get me to check myself in to a long term mental care facility in the middle of no where.
I got all my stuff, put it in my car, stayed at a motel... only to find my brother stalking me in his car. He showed up within 50 feet of me 3 or 4 times, ... hilariously he is a person who never wears baseball caps, but he seemed to have gotten one so that he I guess would be incognito.
Every time I saw him I smiled and waved, and he panicked and fled.
I eventually realized he had enabled Google's parental mode on, apparently allowable because he removed me as an authorized user on the T Mobile plan, and was thus the only 'parent'?
I managed to disable nearly all of the extraneous bs google forces into android by installing f droid, then the neo store, them various stuff that allowed me to sort of pseudo root the phone by either totally deactivating and uninstalling every bit of google software or replacing other parts with open source software.
When I had completed this process, within 45 seconds, my whole phone plan was cancelled, data stopped working nearly immediately after i uninstalled the last bit of the parental control bullshit. So... only person who could have done this is my brother. Further, he never again appeared anywhere near me after I disabled the parental control.
I went to T Mobile and explained what was going on, and their customer service would not allow me to remove my phone number from the family plan. I had T Mobile agents at different locations actually screaming at /other/ T Mobile Agents they had to call on their store phone, livid that there was no recourse for me. Later, a T Mobile employee told me /to call the police on T Mobile/.
So yeah that phone number was tied into all my 2FA, so I lost access to nearly every online account I've ever had, including banking!
So I have now been homeless for some months, had my car stolen, been physically beaten multiple times, managed to get held hostage, starved and beaten for 5 days! Got away from that by reverse psychology-ing a fentanyl addict mad man who believed he came from an alternate universe...
Yeah. So all that is from me telling my family, "Hey, the doctors at the best medical organization in the state think I am Autistic!".
PS I am only alive because I qualify for SSDI.
Currently moving across the country via Greyhounds and motels.
Typing this on a crap phone from a grocery store, my phone with all my contact numbers was stolen in a mugging.
Cest La Vie I guess.
Oh, wow. That sounds rough. Do you have someone you're meeting up with at your new location? Will you be able to get setup with social services?