Heya @actuallyautistic folks, do we have a Prime Directive around undiagnosed folks?
Trans folks have the Egg Prime Directive: don't tell someone they might be trans, because it's conter-intuitive in most cases (pushing people deeper into the closet).
As I disclose my diagnosis to people close to me, an unsurprising amount of them resonate with my experience and ask me whether I think they might be. I refuse to answer but share resources and offer to reply to questions about my personal experience.
If it's appropriate I might commiserate with shared experiences through the lens of my own autism, and share resources if it's something they're already thinking about. If it's not something they're thinking about, it's not on me to press it.
For me this has to do with the importance of framing autism as an internal state versus some slate of nonstandard behaviours as seen from outside.
I'm open about my challenges and interests. Over the past few years most of my 20+yr friendships have mentioned to me without prompting that they are autistic or exploring autism. I talk about it and when people are ready to talk about it, they talk to me. I have so many bookmarks to share.
My mom told me I was autistic when I was 8, but I know I wasn't diagnosed, and I didn't get that understanding myself until I was 40. Maybe sitting me down in front of Rain Man wasn't the right way for her to have that conversation, but if she were alive she is the one that yes, I would tell her she's autistic.
@actuallyautistic#actuallyautistic Somehow got into an argument earlier about fractions with my parents, especially the fraction 15/16. I said that 7.5/8 is the same thing as 15/16, because they can be converted to each other by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by 2.
My mom basically said, no, that's not right because it's not a "proper fraction" which doesn't make sense to me. The math checks out, and numerators can have decimal integers. Is there something I'm missing?
