INTPf and neurodiversity

Hey all,

One of the things that's happened while the forum was on pause was that I finally got referred for an assessment for autism. I've been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder - level 1 (i.e. high functioning or what used to be called asperger's syndrome.) I'm being referred for ADHD assessment as well.

I don't think she reads the forum anymore but offering a thank you to @Polaris as she originally highlighted to me that I might be autistic a good 10 years ago now (a mark of my own stubbornness I suppose that it's taken me this long.)

Initially when I joined the forum I did from an MBTI framework of identification with the INTP label like I imagine a lot of people here did. Over time as I've come to reject the MBTI framework I have been increasingly curious about to what extent neurodiversity is a unifying or at least prevalent factor in the forum culture. There's a few people I've known in-person from this forum who are neurodiverse and I can think of a lot of other members here who have mentioned it over time. I wonder if it's also a part of why I often come back here out of a sense of comfort.

What's your takes on that and neurodiversity within INTPf as a whole?

Its very possible for me. I scored 41 out of 50 on that test. I just don't quite fit all the boxes, I'm not sure, but I agree, there is a sense of comfort to be around other neurodivergent types, something seems comforting about it. I don't dare go to a psychologist to confirm it though.

birdsnestfern said:

Its very possible for me. I scored 41 out of 50 on that test. I just don't quite fit all the boxes, I'm not sure, but I agree, there is a sense of comfort to be around other neurodivergent types, something seems comforting about it. I don't dare go to a psychologist to confirm it though.

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It’s up to you if you feel it’s useful. You don’t have to match every criteria to be diagnosed with ASD though, it’s generally acknowledged to be a spectrum and some traits present more strongly in some than others. I think more is being learned about it too, some people with ASD can struggle with empathy and some others can be hyper empathetic, for example.

I am not sure what ASD is, I was tested and they said I was schizoaffective. No ADHD.

I was shutdown for a long time as a trauma response. Today my therapist agreed with me I had given up on trusting people since I was bullied in school and had isolated too much.

But often people would call me ASD online. To pick on me or because I tried to tell them I wasn't fond of people. In reality I can't be around people because they seem to be unresponsive to me. I got this alot from my mother and I too became unresponsive.

The thing is that what I heard is that schizo is hyper sensitive to peoples nonverbal cues and infer strange things about what they are thinking. ASD is more about being unable to know people are even thinking thoughts to themselves, they are cut off from some aspects of social cognition.

When I have been around people I don't know what to do not because I don't understand them but because they would not appreciate my advice and from my experience discount what I have to say. I have problems getting recognition from others (my family) and I learned that the only way to solve my problems was to do nothing or things would become worse. I can often tell when a person doesn't want to listen to me. But I get mad when I am ignored. Only I cannot do anything about it. Emotional outbursts always were met with indifference from my mom.

Learned behaviors of doing nothing because it never worked were all I knew. I was not good enough. I went comatose.

With the subject about Neuro divergence.

The average sets the standard.

Not many people wanted to be my friend.

I am not interested in normal stuff people do. I cannot talk about abstract subjects with most people. This has gotten better but staying mentally occupied is hard if I don't stay by myself. Intellect is a Nero divergent aspect as well. I don't like party's, there is nothing to do. I need to do something all the time.

The MBTI framework, I almost understand it now. Still working on the neuroscience behind it. Even if it seems ambiguous I recognize patterns in people. We are all thinkers we are all feelers and sensors and intuitives. We just do so in different ways. Energy is going in different directions to make decisions. So really I don't think an average exists as much as we think it does. A former member made a chart of MBTI enlightenment. Most of what we think of as a average is sensory low and high energy. Then whether they think and feel. Intuitive is least average. Motion of typing is how I understand the system.

ASD I have also heard of as lacking introception or smooth gaze tracking for social things as well. Tone in voice can be misunderstood. ASD is a heterogenous condition not homogeneous condition. Meaning the cause is not the same in everyone. Schizo is the same?

That is why people thought I had it maybe?

One thing about social intelligence is that sometimes people get mad when you don't understand them. My brother said to me "mom intentionally doesn't understand me", but she is actually mentally handicapped so she can't be blamed for not understanding. She blocks things out when she is yelled at but my brother doesn't understand? He thinks everything everyone does is intentional when it is not. (A person can sometimes be both schizo and ASD)

I tried a screener and I worked out I had approx. 5% chance of getting an ASD diagnosis if I went in. That said, the line between having it and not having it seems a bit arbitrary to me once you're distinguishing between high functioning and neurotypicality. I tend to get on pretty well with most high-functioning autists (they're either charming or the most frustrating people in the world - no in-between).

I think most people here are either ASD or have something else. I know I've got other things going on.

Hadoblado said:

I tried a screener and I worked out I had approx. 5% chance of getting an ASD diagnosis if I went in. That said, the line between having it and not having it seems a bit arbitrary to me once you're distinguishing between high functioning and neurotypicality. I tend to get on pretty well with most high-functioning autists (they're either charming or the most frustrating people in the world - no in-between).

I think most people here are either ASD or have something else. I know I've got other things going on.

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I’ll choose to interpret that optimistically that you find me charming

Agreed that assessment seems subjective and not very thorough. Though to be honest I’m not sure if that’s different to a lot of other kinds of psychiatric diagnostics. When I looked into it before I got the impression that the DSM wasn’t put together in the most scientific way. When I read the psychiatrists report I agreed with about 90% of what he said about me so I took that as enough to just accept it.

I think it’s more important what someone does with a diagnosis, whether it helps lead to support that’s useful, and its impact on self understanding and identity.

Hadoblado said:

(they're either charming or the most frustrating people in the world - no in-between).

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Cognisant said:

Hadoblado said:

(they're either charming or the most frustrating people in the world - no in-between).

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I really like how Lilo and stitch became friends.

Cognisant said:

Hadoblado said:

(they're either charming or the most frustrating people in the world - no in-between).

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He thinks you’re charming as well clearly

*holds hado at gunpoint*

You do think we’re charming, right?

I was talking more in-person. The charming ones tend to be a bit more introverted and gentle-natured. The frustrating ones tend to be more extroverted and inflexible. You two can extrapolate from there whether we'd get along I guess.

This tends to be my preference for neuroptypicals too, but the autism tends to exaggerate these qualities and my response to them. You two can extrapolate from this what you will.