cheese_greaterWhy do autistic people often look younger or agesless?
Been told it many times, maybe im genealizing but ive definitely heard it as an observation about others also
That’d be a trade secret.
And also an ecumenical matter
agamemnonymousProbably worrying less about pointless bullshit. Stress ages you faster
Dæmon S.@[email protected] @[email protected]
Perhaps your perception comes from the fact that we see/know few (if any) elder people who was diagnosed as someone within the spectrum. It's not because elder people couldn't be autistic, bc they can. In fact, not just they can be autistic, but there are lot of non-diagnosed elder ppl. Something to do with how autism (among other conditions) wasn't diagnosed until recently.
And even nowadays, it's still under-diagnosed: I myself, a 30yo male, may be autistic (actually, I'd be more of an AuDHD, if I'm not someone with Geschwind syndrome, given my auras, sudden spiritual experience, migraines, etc; neither conditions were diagnosed), but the only diagnosis I got so far were ADHD and, recently, Schizotypal PD, although the latter diagnosis felt more of a religious bigotry from a psychiatrist in a mostly-christian country upon hearing about my occultism.
There are other factors as well, as other reply pointed out: solar exposure. We NDs in general tend to be more introvert and homebound because the outside world may be hostile to us, so we prefer staying at home (we were #stayhome people before it became momentarily a widespread thing in 2020).
Why the under-diagnosing? Well, in the eyes of capitalism, it's not profitable to diagnose people with a condition that requires workplaces to be more friendly to our lack of social cue instincts, our different perception of spacetime, and our eccentric (non-linear) way of thinking.
Also, the lack of affordability and the inability to access proper (and non scripted (i.e. not restricted to trying to forcefully fit everything to a DSM-5 handbook)) healthcare. Even in countries where there is public healthcare (such as Brazil, where I was born), mental healthcare can be unaffordable, partly due to the cost of medication (which "Sistema Único de Saúde" (SUS, Brazilian public healthcare system) doesn't always have available for free), partly due to long waiting queue (I myself have been waiting for a psychiatrist appointment for more than a year; tried emergency/crisis healthcare places such as "Centro de Atenção Psicossocial" (CAPS, psychosocial care center, focused on dealing with mental health crises) upon self-harming and suicidal attempts, but they couldn't even begin to comprehend my multilayered and far-from-just-mundane complains; they replied to hour-long soliloquy, which involved me recounting my spiritual afflictions about the Demiurgic nature of existence and complaining about the Kafkaesque absurdity of this world, with "how's your pooping and eating?", and I'm not joke; at the time, I literally had a visible wound on my wrist, but all they could think about was my trips to the restroom and to the kitchen).
If an adult or older ND person can neither access nor afford mental health care, they can't be diagnosed, perpetuating a social situation of under-diagnosis that contributes to make it look like "only young people are autistic".
Perhaps your perception comes from the fact that we see/know few (if any) elder people who was diagnosed as someone within the spectrum. It's not because elder people couldn't be autistic, bc they can. In fact, not just they can be autistic, but there are lot of non-diagnosed elder ppl. Something to do with how autism (among other conditions) wasn't diagnosed until recently.
And even nowadays, it's still under-diagnosed: I myself, a 30yo male, may be autistic (actually, I'd be more of an AuDHD, if I'm not someone with Geschwind syndrome, given my auras, sudden spiritual experience, migraines, etc; neither conditions were diagnosed), but the only diagnosis I got so far were ADHD and, recently, Schizotypal PD, although the latter diagnosis felt more of a religious bigotry from a psychiatrist in a mostly-christian country upon hearing about my occultism.
There are other factors as well, as other reply pointed out: solar exposure. We NDs in general tend to be more introvert and homebound because the outside world may be hostile to us, so we prefer staying at home (we were #stayhome people before it became momentarily a widespread thing in 2020).
Why the under-diagnosing? Well, in the eyes of capitalism, it's not profitable to diagnose people with a condition that requires workplaces to be more friendly to our lack of social cue instincts, our different perception of spacetime, and our eccentric (non-linear) way of thinking.
Also, the lack of affordability and the inability to access proper (and non scripted (i.e. not restricted to trying to forcefully fit everything to a DSM-5 handbook)) healthcare. Even in countries where there is public healthcare (such as Brazil, where I was born), mental healthcare can be unaffordable, partly due to the cost of medication (which "Sistema Único de Saúde" (SUS, Brazilian public healthcare system) doesn't always have available for free), partly due to long waiting queue (I myself have been waiting for a psychiatrist appointment for more than a year; tried emergency/crisis healthcare places such as "Centro de Atenção Psicossocial" (CAPS, psychosocial care center, focused on dealing with mental health crises) upon self-harming and suicidal attempts, but they couldn't even begin to comprehend my multilayered and far-from-just-mundane complains; they replied to hour-long soliloquy, which involved me recounting my spiritual afflictions about the Demiurgic nature of existence and complaining about the Kafkaesque absurdity of this world, with "how's your pooping and eating?", and I'm not joke; at the time, I literally had a visible wound on my wrist, but all they could think about was my trips to the restroom and to the kitchen).
If an adult or older ND person can neither access nor afford mental health care, they can't be diagnosed, perpetuating a social situation of under-diagnosis that contributes to make it look like "only young people are autistic".
More AuDHD myself as well but I feel yuh
well I guess I don’t have to be worried about being autistic.
Theres sometimes something more “elfin” too tho, I cant quite out my finger on it
Perhaps it’s more to do with being slightly “immature” in hard to identify ways.
What I mean is that people on the spectrum tend to… not recognize or not care that their behaviors aren’t “mature adult” stuff. It’s all just window dressing anyway, and if it doesn’t really matter, why put in the effort to conform? It’s just another mask.
So you’ll see a lot more visible emotion, not the strict regulation expected of adults. You’ll see a lot more action out of the body than you would with a stoic neurotypical adult. You’ll see a more rigid dress aesthetic that’s probably at least somewhat frozen in whatever time period the person figured themselves out, and thus isn’t the aesthetic of their temporal peers.
Stuff like that makes a person seem younger without necessitating looking any different, tho coupled with the underuse of expression making the face also look younger, it would certainly be amplified.
Righto
When you’re NT you passively absorb more about aesthetics from your peers as you grow up. Signifiers of age and your social groups are something you practice and get good at, whether or not anyone tells you to.
So autistics have to specifically be very interested in aesthetics to pick up on it. Or be pushed to socially. There’s plenty of us who don’t look like adults in children’s clothes (not me), you just don’t notice them.
RebekahWSDFor me it’s been I dress young (sweatpants and tshirts aren’t adult wear) and the micro facial expressions don’t happen as much so less face lines.
I look like any 24 y/o. I don’t see what sort of data would suggest that rather loaded question. Do elaborate your reasoning and your bases.
Vibes and experience, no citation haha. we’re all friends here yo
Hm. Must be the excellent diet of predictable foods like frozen pizzas and energy drinks along with the our sedentary lifestyles we lead because the outside world is too loud and unpredictable that keeps us from ageing. Also us autistics are rarely stressed, not being able to participate in the economy truly puts weights off our shoulders. I guess ageing requires being alive, but that isn’t possible when you are dead to society.
Haha i see all what you’re doing, there, _,
I am indeed funny. Forgive me however. I might have written a snarky answer here, but I’ll try answering your query in earnest.
I have a developmental disability. This means that I developed and still develop in an uneven way. There are specifically diagnosed delays. While I don’t look particularly young, I act in very childish ways because the genes that regulate pruning as well as other processes are not functional, or limited in their functionality. I have not developed much since turning fourteen. This milestone happens to be around a decade old. This person you’re seeing answering your question is more or less embarrassingly a child and they have difficulties taking care of themself.
This is also obvious from my behaviour. I intone like a kid, I nag like a kid and I am interested in age-inappropriate topics. When I nine to ten I would watch programming for toddlers. I’d genuinely enjoy it. When I was nineteen I became interested in anime meant for middle schoolers and so on. To this day I have really odd expressions especially when I am happy or excited, those that you would expect from a hyped up fortnite kid.
People just happen to notice that. You may not look younger but you act like a child with autism and that makes people think you are younger.
I probably have both working for/against me in uncountable ways
Both what?
Behavior and general basal appearence/genetics
well yeah
I look like anyone my age. What are you basing your question on concretely? Please elaborate
svelteciderI get it. People usually assume I’m younger than I am.
Lvxferre [he/him]I got a 60~70yo relative, most likely in the autism spectrum, but never diagnosed with it. I don’t think she looks noticeably younger or older than her siblings.
Because of that I think it’s a sampling bias. I think younger autists are way more likely to be detected than her.