Autistic Girls

That "600%" uptick means these girls don't have be in mental health institutions or live with improper Labelling or have CPTSD, because of they way they were treated -- as kids with "bad behaviour", BPD/EUPD [Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder], and a wide range of other Personality Disorders, Depression & Hyper-Anxiety, Psychosis or Bipolar... To name a but a scant few.

We should be celebrating that "600%" of girls are Finally Being Properly Diagnosed & Seen For Who They Are, instead of having Devastating Debilitating & Wrong Mental Heath Diagnoses. Damn Right, if they'd been properly diagnosed back in decades before, the rate probably would have remained about the same.

I know that I myself  was a statistic MISSED in their counting back in the 1990s, when they Should Have Been Counting ME as part of their "how many Autistic Girls are there now?" mission. So, I do wonder how many others would have padded their "Before" numbers Back Then, if we'd have been Seen -- instead of stuffed into a number of other Mental Health categories, seen as"just badly behaved", plain ignored because too "shy" to do anything "wrong" [being a Social Slave, as I call it - one of my worst traits back when a child] , or notched as "another suicidal teenager with 'teen angst'..." 

I was 33yo when I was Finally diagnosed, and it came about basically by accident.

A Social Worker came to visit me because I had been utterly debilitated by Severe Fibromyalgia, and was being assessed for whatever I might need for it. But even from the first phone call, this social worker [a human angel, for me] had an idea that I was Autistic.

She broached it with me eventually, saying she believed I had "Asperger Syndrome" [as it was known then], and suggested I get an Autism/ASD diagnosis.

I did it, in the end. Somehow, it turned out to be effectively a "No Brainer" to the Psychologist. He didn't even bother to specifically confirm and verify the Diagnosis with me; he just launched into "well, here's a copy of your letter and I've recommended CBT to your community Mental Health Team".... and I was like "Say what now?.... Am I Autistic?"

This was met with him looking up and a clear "Are you kidding me"?" look, before deadpanning, "Yes, I have diagnosed you with ASD" [or something to that effect].

Guess I should be glad it was glaringly obvious to The Psychologist, at least?[!]

And the unfortunate fact of all this was that if I hadn't been disabled by getting Fibro, I would never have found out about it. And I Hate That.

So, yeh. Celebrate It - don't vilify it. It's a Good Thing. Not an "epidemic" or "overly diagnosed".

It just means that For The First Time, these girls are actually being SEEN for WHO they are. And that's not Just A Good Thing - it's AMAZING and GREAT.

The respect, self-respect, understanding, and knowing makes all the difference growing up.

People knowing & ACCEPTING you need extra support in school and WHY - that you're not "acting out for attention/Bad Behaviour" to get out of school, or some other stupid "Assumptions".... From my own experience THAT makes ALL the difference... 

The Difference Between Life And Death. And that doesn't only mean the obvious... Because "living" your life with CPTSD from what happened to you, your childhood, of being pushed through a Mental Health System that is absolutely NOT Fit-For-Purpose whatsoever, treated like an Evil Abomination to be Labelled, broken and "cured"... 

That's a Fate Worse Than Death. 

And you end up spending the rest of your life chasing that Death, just to save you from the gruesome, torturous, overwhelmingly horrifying memories of all that you endured at the hands of others - of "adults that know better"...

Or Rather - "Adults who SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER".... 

I wouldn't be in the position I am NOW, if at ANY Point I'd have become a Statistic of the "600%", as a child. I am here - broken, disabled physically & mentally & emotionally, with a Past & History Literally To Die For... All because of This being MISSED for TWENTY YEARS.

And only picked up on when it was FAR. TOO. LATE.

If others had been part of that Statistic, they'd be Still Alive.

They'd also Not be living with torturous memories and a monstrous existence that is Too Unbearable To Survive in.

They wouldn't have to Exist with Childhood Trauma that they can never escape from, to live without a Childhood that anyone would deem as such, to exist in a Dehumanising Stupor, barely clinging to any kind of existence, whatsoever.

They wouldn't feel like their life wasn't worth anything anymore, that the AGONISING PAIN of having to endure what happened to you, of what's happened since, and the sheer hopelessness of everything, because you not only didn't get the childhood you should have - you actually had it Revoked, in lieu of Grown Ups and other kids verbally, emotionally, and even physically abusing you, hating on you, demeaning you, calling you out on absolutely ANYTHING that was going on with you - health, physical pain, illness, school bullying (that's teachers and kids in my case), wasting no time in muddying your name as a "Diva", a "Hypochondriac" and outrightly Dismissing ANY and ALL medical issues, overly repremanding your "Behaviour" and "Acting Out"...

Even parents saying "you're nothing but Trouble", "you're the Problem, you're My Problem"... 

Suposed Therapists - The Mental Health "Specialists" - betraying you even worse than ALL that - because they were the ones who were supposed to Help, NOT make the Sodding Trauma WORSE. You've come to expect it from the others... You absolutely DO NOT  expect it from the very people drafted in to damned well "Save You"..... Well. I do NOW, obviously.

And.... For me, all this was before I was even 12 years old. I had my First OD when I was 12. Six years later I ended up with my stomach being pumped. There were many other attempts, too. There are many scars on my arms, and countless more inside my soul.

And it ALL could have been entirely AVERTED by THEN... IF I'd been given the RIGHT Diagnosis.