People on the autism spectrum live an average of 18 fewer years than everyone else, study finds - Polidicks

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/03/18/people-on-the-autism-spectrum-live-an-average-of-18-years-less-than-everyone-else-study-finds/"]Article[/URL] [QUOTE]Researchers looking into mortality trends and autism have made a troubling discovery: People on the autism spectrum are dying young — some 12 to 30 years earlier than might otherwise be expected. The analysis, conducted by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that the leading cause of premature death in autistic adults isn't due to diseases, such as heart ailments or cancer, that are the main killers in the general population. [B]It's suicide[/B].[/QUOTE] Even in a country as advanced as Sweden, suicide is an epidemic among autistics. I wonder what similar statistics would suggest for the US and poorer European nations.

It's not pleasant, but many autistic people from my experience are very overweight and rarely do anything with themselves. I'm not surprised. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Did not read the article" - Starpluck))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=download;49970006]It's not pleasant, but many autistic people from my experience are very overweight and rarely do anything with themselves. I'm not surprised.[/QUOTE] [quote]the leading cause of premature death in autistic adults isn't due to diseases, such as heart ailments or cancer, that are the main killers in the general population. [B]It's suicide[/B][/quote]

[QUOTE=download;49970006]It's not pleasant, but many autistic people from my experience are very overweight and rarely do anything with themselves. I'm not surprised. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Did not read the article" - Starpluck))[/highlight][/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Coyoteze;49970007][QUOTE]the leading cause of premature death in autistic adults isn't due to diseases, such as heart ailments or cancer, that are the main killers in the general population. [B]It's suicide[/B][/QUOTE][/QUOTE] A mod should probably amend the title to include this, come to think of it

[QUOTE=Moronic;49970011]A mod should probably amend the title to include this, come to think of it[/QUOTE] OR people could, you know, read the article

Maybe because autistic people don't make good friends?

[QUOTE=download;49970006]It's not pleasant, but many autistic people from my experience are very overweight and rarely do anything with themselves. I'm not surprised.[/QUOTE] Gee, thanks. It's weird hearing that people in my classification (the "high functioning" before the reclass) are at high risks of suiciding when young, but in hindsight given the harassment and outright knowing from everyone why I had to be treated differently because of the way my mind worked differently from others, I can see why the stress would get to a lot of autistics. Although this doesn't give me a lot of confidence for the long haul, honestly.

Honestly? Not surprised, the lack of social development tends to lead to a ridiculous amount of depression.

In my personal experience, it's the way that the diagnosis changes the way everyone treats you that makes you want to off yourself. Your parents and teachers suddenly start talking to you like you're a baby, you get dumped in special ed classes like a daycare, you get paraded around in front of quack doctors and taken to 'autistic socials' so you can 'socialise with other people like you'. When it comes down to it all most autistic people want is to be treated like actual fucking humans regardless of their impairments.

[QUOTE=1239the;49970133]In my personal experience, it's the way that the diagnosis changes the way everyone treats you that makes you want to off yourself. Your parents and teachers suddenly start talking to you like you're a baby, you get dumped in special ed classes like a daycare, you get paraded around in front of quack doctors and taken to 'autistic socials' so you can 'socialise with other people like you'. When it comes down to it all most autistic people want is to be treated like actual fucking humans regardless of their impairments.[/QUOTE] The whole stigma around autism and aspergers definitely needs to change. I'm positive that there's a much higher number of people on the spectrum but aren't diagnosed because of this mentality.

Maybe it might have something to do with the fact that autistic people are treated as a joke by everyone. Because when I grew up under the misdiagnosis that I had aspergers, the idea that I was just a punchline and that I was just this natural creep that would never have any friends and was bound to make people uncomfortable no matter what I did made me constantly paranoid and depressed. I sincerely felt inferior to everyone else like they were on a different level of comprehension that I couldn't understand. I left every conversation wondering if I just did something bad and creeped that person out, or I would perceive something I would say as being creepy or weird or off or just not something worth mentioning, I would hate myself over it for days. I constantly felt like I needed to cut everyone I did know out of my life, for their sake and mine, and be a hermit. I was also afraid to let anyone find out I had aspergers because I knew they would treat me differently, and I knew that so many people would assume I had self-diagnosed and was just looking for attention. And I never did get better either! I never got any swell in confidence or self esteem or any of that shit, I literally just got lucky, talked to a new psychologist, and was diagnosed as not having aspergers at all. And while I'm better off now, that's relatively speaking. I still struggle with the same thoughts, just less frequently, and if I were to find out that the new psychologist was wrong somehow and I do have aspergers after all, I think I would not be able to cope. I dunno if autistic/aspergers people have the same experience I do, but yeah, it wasn't a good time. Maybe don't treat autism and aspergers as a punchline and don't use it as a go-to word for anyone weird or creepy or obsessive, that'd be a step in the right direction.

Seeing how society treats young people within the autism spectrum I'm not surprised at all.

[QUOTE=Mister Sandman;49970157]Maybe it might have something to do with the fact that autistic people are treated as a joke by everyone. Because when I grew up under the misdiagnosis that I had aspergers, the idea that I was just a punchline and that I was just this natural creep that would never have any friends and was bound to make people uncomfortable no matter what I did made me constantly paranoid and depressed. I sincerely felt inferior to everyone else like they were on a different level of comprehension that I couldn't understand. I left every conversation wondering if I just did something bad and creeped that person out, or I would perceive something I would say as being creepy or weird or off or just not something worth mentioning, I would hate myself over it for days. I constantly felt like I needed to cut everyone I did know out of my life, for their sake and mine, and be a hermit. I was also afraid to let anyone find out I had aspergers because I knew they would treat me differently, and I knew that so many people would assume I had self-diagnosed and was just looking for attention. And I never did get better either! I never got any swell in confidence or self esteem or any of that shit, I literally just got lucky, talked to a new psychologist, and was diagnosed as not having aspergers at all. And while I'm better off now, that's relatively speaking. I still struggle with the same thoughts, just less frequently, and if I were to find out that the new psychologist was wrong somehow and I do have aspergers after all, I think I would not be able to cope. I dunno if autistic/aspergers people have the same experience I do, but yeah, it wasn't a good time. Maybe don't treat autism and aspergers as a punchline and don't use it as a go-to word for anyone weird or creepy or obsessive, that'd be a step in the right direction.[/QUOTE] Even if you did/do have aspergers, the social norms and appropriateness which you don't naturally pick up can actually be learned to perform better in social situations. This video provides a great explanation of what I'm talking about.. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-xgdqNtcDI[/media]

[QUOTE=Badballer;49970219]Even if you did/do have aspergers, the social norms and appropriateness which you don't naturally pick up can actually be learned to perform better in social situations.[/QUOTE] I was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 4 or 5 and for the bigger part of my childhood I was a bit of an outcast, I was weird, threw massive tantrums. With time I just kind of learned to control that and adapt to society. Now it doesn't effect me in my everyday life at all. I have a short temper sometimes (which nowadays I just mutter angrily instead of throwing things around) and I have zero patience for waiting (ordering stuff online makes me anxious because it takes a million years). I'm socially awkward amongst new people but with my closest friends I'm an entirely different person. Other than that I live an ordinary life, with my own apartment, full-time job, friends and soon a cat.

Not a surprise, sadly. My friend has asperger, and, aside of shyness, you wouldn't notice anything strange on her. However she has to keep as a secret her condition, as she has been bullied during all her life for it, and most of the time she's alone for that (she's really smart as she wants to be an engineer, so yea, people also mocked her as a nerd during high school). It doesn't help she's gorgeous, so she is developing some kind of "men phobia" as machists comes towards her. She has her depressive moments (who wouldn't?), and since a couple of years ago, we convinced her to visit a psychologist (that is also friend of us). She is giving her best, but is the society the one who has to change. Most of the time I can't believe how people (at least here) act as soon you say that you have a mental disorder, even if is just depression, treating you as you were ill, retarded or just plain ignoring you. It makes me sick. We must focus on tear down the taboo and educate the people about it, like it happened with homosexuality or having cancer.

I'm a high-functioning autistic and fortunately in my case having autism has not held me back that much; for a period of time I was even studying medicine. I've always had a bit of a problem with social situations and fixating on details, but for me it is a completely liveable condition that is just dealt with. However, I no longer put the fact that I have HFA on any job applications. At least in the UK, there is often a section in application papers were you are asked to put down information about disabilities etc. for equal opportunities. Without fail, every job I have taken where I informed the company that I had HFA treated me like a child and effectively segregated me off from developing relationships with other workers by telling them to interact with me in a certain way. Contrary wise, all the jobs where I didn't tell the company that I had HFA treated me like a normal human being. I remember that as soon as we had the results of my diagnosis, I was pulled from all mainstream classes where I had made friends (which of course, is not an easy thing to do with autism) and placed in special education classes by the school without any input from me or my parents. My parents managed to have this reverted after some time, and I went on to have some of the best grades in my year but the damage was already done, and many people at the school now treated me in a notably different way. TL:DR society needs to stop treating autism by segregating people with autism away from 'mainstream' society. It's just harmful and backwards thinking.

[QUOTE=Badballer;49970219]Even if you did/do have aspergers, the social norms and appropriateness which you don't naturally pick up can actually be learned to perform better in social situations. [/QUOTE] At the end of the day it most likely feels like acting/being fake, which can cause depression by itself. You can craft the greatest social mask ever, but still one might feel bad because the real them does not fit in anywhere(or so they might think) It also varies from person to person, I imagine many people who have aspergers have other, possibly undiagnosed, issues too. These are the people who most likely end up with suicide. This shit sucks and we really should be trying to improve mental health support and reduce the stigma for this stuff. All it does is cause unnecessary suffering and death.

This is really boosting my confidence...

[QUOTE=rndgenerator;49970350]At the end of the day it most likely feels like acting/being fake, which can cause depression by itself. You can craft the greatest social mask ever, but still one might feel bad because the real them does not fit in anywhere(or so they might think) It also varies from person to person, I imagine many people who have aspergers have other, possibly undiagnosed, issues too. These are the people who most likely end up with suicide. This shit sucks and we really should be trying to improve mental health support and reduce the stigma for this stuff. All it does is cause unnecessary suffering and death.[/QUOTE] Sure you might have dyspraxia or maybe a learning disability, but these are issues that people should have therapy for and strive to overcome. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to fake being 'normal' (neurotypical) because you just have to fake it till you make it and eventually you'll learn how to naturally interact in a social setting. But that doesn't mean you don't stop being who you are. The speaker in the video I posted earlier actually says he still goes back to his natural self when he's with his close friends. Maybe I'm just big on therapy and self improvement.

If I've got any mental disorders at this point I'd rather not have a diagnosis read off to me, I've lived long enough to find my weird quirks and the last thing I'd want is something to blame them on besides myself.

[QUOTE=Mr Kotov;49970284]I'm a high-functioning autistic and fortunately in my case having autism has not held me back that much; for a period of time I was even studying medicine. I've always had a bit of a problem with social situations and fixating on details, but for me it is a completely liveable condition that is just dealt with. However, I no longer put the fact that I have HFA on any job applications. At least in the UK, there is often a section in application papers were you are asked to put down information about disabilities etc. for equal opportunities. Without fail, every job I have taken where I informed the company that I had HFA treated me like a child and effectively segregated me off from developing relationships with other workers by telling them to interact with me in a certain way. Contrary wise, all the jobs where I didn't tell the company that I had HFA treated me like a normal human being. I remember that as soon as we had the results of my diagnosis, I was pulled from all mainstream classes where I had made friends (which of course, is not an easy thing to do with autism) and placed in special education classes by the school without any input from me or my parents. My parents managed to have this reverted after some time, and I went on to have some of the best grades in my year but the damage was already done, and many people at the school now treated me in a notably different way. TL:DR society needs to stop treating autism by segregating people with autism away from 'mainstream' society. It's just harmful and backwards thinking.[/QUOTE] This makes me think I may be a high-functioning autistic person and I don't even know about it. I mean, I've got a few weird habits and I used to be very socially awkward, but I progressively learned to change the way I see others and became quite friendly, so I don't know.

[QUOTE=Loadingue;49970491]This makes me think I may be a high-functioning autistic person and I don't even know about it. I mean, I've got a few weird habits and I used to be very socially awkward, but I progressively learned to change the way I see others and became quite friendly, so I don't know.[/QUOTE] Perhaps, it's something you should see a specialist about it you really want to know. I dunno how easy that is in Belgium, but in the UK it's something you really need to get done when you're younger as when you are an adult it becomes harder to get a firm diagnosis. That being said, if I was never diagnosed when I was younger I would probably not bother getting one now. I mean sure it's nice to know why I don't seem to quite 'click' with society and why I have obsessions with certain things, but having a diagnosis didn't really open up any more options to me other than people trying to put me into specialist centres which did not help me at all. There may be other things in Belgium that are actually useful.

[QUOTE=1239the;49970133]In my personal experience, it's the way that the diagnosis changes the way everyone treats you that makes you want to off yourself. Your parents and teachers suddenly start talking to you like you're a baby, you get dumped in special ed classes like a daycare, you get paraded around in front of quack doctors and taken to 'autistic socials' so you can 'socialise with other people like you'. When it comes down to it all most autistic people want is to be treated like actual fucking humans regardless of their impairments.[/QUOTE] This is pretty much it. I've noticed that more than anything else it seems to be the perception that you have autism that seems more of a problem rather than the actual autism itself. While I don't deny there are a lot of problems that you need help with, I especially resented the fact that I was treated for about 3/4 of my life as either incapable, insane, or inferior in some capacity by schoolteachers, doctors, policemen, family, or the like. I remember teachers telling me I was reading books "too advanced" for me (somehow treasure island at the age of 7 is too advanced), refused permission to go to social events, sent off to quack doctors, not allowed to access my own bank account until I was 20, etc. Especially loathsome is being sent off to those houses where some social workers look after you for several (or more) days of the week because your mum is too lazy to raise you.

The only time I was suicidal was when I was on some ADD medication

[QUOTE=RikohZX;49970022]Gee, thanks. It's weird hearing that people in my classification (the "high functioning" before the reclass) are at high risks of suiciding when young, but in hindsight given the harassment and outright knowing from everyone why I had to be treated differently because of the way my mind worked differently from others, I can see why the stress would get to a lot of autistics. Although this doesn't give me a lot of confidence for the long haul, honestly.[/QUOTE] It doesnt help that when looking for resources online or otherwise, the vast majority is aimed towards the family, not the person themselves. "How to cope with your autistic child" etc. It makes the afflicted person completely invisible, or at best painted as "the problem". [URL="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/pushing-autism-cure-messed-up/"]This article[/URL] summed up my feelings on the subject pretty well: "We Don’t Need a Cure for Autism – And Pushing One Is Really Messed Up" The fact remains that so many of the programs and treatments for autism are designed for the benefit of others, not the autistic person, and that's just pretty shitty.

Honestly from my experience a lot of people get misdiagnosed as being on the autism spectrum as well. Back in middle school they diagnosed me with aspergers syndrome based solely on the fact that I isolated myself and had problems with social interaction. The diagnosis got removed in high school after I got reevaluated. It seems to me that some doctors are far too quick to diagnose someone. [editline]20th March 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Sobotnik;49970675] I remember teachers telling me I was reading books "too advanced" for me (somehow treasure island at the age of 7 is too advanced), refused permission to go to social events, sent off to quack doctors, not allowed to access my own bank account until I was 20, etc. Especially loathsome is being sent off to those houses where some social workers look after you for several (or more) days of the week because your mum is too lazy to raise you.[/QUOTE] Back in elementary school I had teachers who would confiscate the books I'd be reading because they were "too adult"

[QUOTE=Kenneth;49970810] [URL="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/pushing-autism-cure-messed-up/"]This article[/URL] summed up my feelings on the subject pretty well: "We Don’t Need a Cure for Autism – And Pushing One Is Really Messed Up" The fact remains that so many of the programs and treatments for autism are designed for the benefit of others, not the autistic person, and that's just pretty shitty.[/QUOTE] The article is ironic when considering what you're saying. It turns the roles around and blames everyone else. "He can't communicate? You're just not listening" Like what the fuck? Certain degrees of autism are hard on everyone, both the person themselves and people around them. Autism is a personality as much as bipolar is, aka it's not. Yet we seek to cure bipolar, and we should seek to cure autism and other disorders. The arguments in that article are purely feelz based and like most progressive liberal ideas, don't seem grounded in reality. We shouldn't seek a cure for something because there are people who live happily with their condition? What sort of argument is that? There are people who are missing limbs and live happy lives, should we stop research in ways to develop prosthetics or regrow limbs? Heck no. Same applies here

I was told when I was little that I was diagnosed with high functioning Autism and/or Asperger's. Middle school was the worst time for me to develop friends since all of my Elementary school friends went to other schools. One period teacher hated me despite being told on the first day of my disabilities, my other teachers supporting me, and ignoring my in-class participation, saying that "I would never pass high school, and I was destined to be a loner." It's ironic because all the kids considered to be my bullies were "better off than me" and I had straight A's in my later Middle school years. Look at me now, in my third semester in college, a plethora of friends IRL and online, a steady job, a family looking out for me financially, and the fact that I might have someone out there waiting for me. I have everything I will ever need, and I'm not throwing it all away. tl;dr- People give others with autism less credit than they know. Just because we function differently doesn't mean we can be lumped together. [QUOTE=Kenneth;49970810]It doesnt help that when looking for resources online or otherwise, the vast majority is aimed towards the family, not the person themselves. "How to cope with your autistic child" etc. It makes the afflicted person completely invisible, or at best painted as "the problem". [URL="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/pushing-autism-cure-messed-up/"]This article[/URL] summed up my feelings on the subject pretty well: "We Don’t Need a Cure for Autism – And Pushing One Is Really Messed Up" The fact remains that so many of the programs and treatments for autism are designed for the benefit of others, not the autistic person, and that's just pretty shitty.[/QUOTE] My parents had a book similar to that. Don't know how long they had it, but it's been collecting dust for a while and the front page doesn't show signs of extensive reading. I don't think I'm too much of a problem, and my parents know that.

[QUOTE=rndgenerator;49970863]The article is ironic when considering what you're saying. It turns the roles around and blames everyone else. "He can't communicate? You're just not listening" Like what the fuck? Certain degrees of autism are hard on everyone, both the person themselves and people around them. Autism is a personality as much as bipolar is, aka it's not. Yet we seek to cure bipolar, and we should seek to cure autism and other disorders. The arguments in that article are purely feelz based and like most progressive liberal ideas, don't seem grounded in reality. We shouldn't seek a cure for something because there are people who live happily with their condition? What sort of argument is that? There are people who are missing limbs and live happy lives, should we stop research in ways to develop prosthetics or regrow limbs? Heck no. Same applies here[/QUOTE] I think it has more to do with the fact that because the society treats us very differently, ie it segregates us and treats us as an problem is the reason that I find myself aligned more to the left than the right in almost all cases. To be right wing I'd have to accept that I am broken and undeserving of as good a life as any other "normal" human being and that's just retarded. I like the idea that everything with life has an opportunity to live anyway they want to, in that regard finding a cure is also something that's not entirely helpful, you're still going to have a world full of autistic people just like me who aren't going to quite fit into this society that strives to be perfect at all costs - in short, you're trying to aim for eugenics. That said, with enough research there might exist an actual cure above eugenics that doesn't aim to just segregate us from society further but for now looking for a cure basically just shoves a load of cash into charities pockets who then get to affirm that they helping families cope with a problem ie they see myself and other autistics as a problem meanwhilst it also means that we keep a status quo society that is still very much against being different and seeks to keep out anyone whose not developed to the social standards set by the society.

Anyone with mental illnesses are treated as second-citizens, and always are expected to take the torment they are dealt for years, and when they finally snap, it was just because of their mental illness.