An example. At a very high level, I see people who I know are autistic and who have lives and presentation that reflects this. I have friends with outwardly entirely normal kids who seem almost desperate for them to be autistic so they can get help at school. Some have paid a couple of grand to get a diagnosis rammed through.
I think a lot of them are what we used to call shy, introvert and/or socially awkward. A diagnosis is almost making it worse.
I’ve seen this.
It isn’t particularly new. Going back 30/40 years, I knew parents who were genuinely struggling sometimes with lively kids and they would say “Oh my child is hyper-active“.
Then I met a hyper-active child, and his heroic mother and realised the condition was not trivial and in no way should be applied to normal healthy lively children.
I am torn as mental health is more recognised than ever before which is undoubtedly a good thing, and may have helped me in my younger years when I struggled with depression and self worth. But it does bother me that it seems to be straying into influencer territory with celebrities claiming ‘specialness’ due to being ‘on the spectrum’, which doesn’t sit well with me.