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3:17pm August 3, 2014
lesbirb asked: I was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder very young and my sensory stuff plus other things are more readily explained with an autism diagnosis, which I'm pretty sure my parents made sure I didn't get because my mom thought it was rly bad.

So I am officially diagnosed with SID, but self-diagnosed with autism which is an interesting time. It’s convenient at times because the ignorance around SID isn’t harmful in the same way as with autism so I kinda use that to my advantage

I was diagnosed with autism (PDDNOS/atypical autism, specifically) when I was 14, and sensory integration dysfunction when I was 17 or so.  And then the PDDNOS diagnosis was changed to autistic disorder (or rather, the oral autistic disorder diagnosis was converted to paper, long story) when I was 18 or 19.

I found the SID diagnosis most useful for dealing with physical education requirements in college, because I was having a lot of trouble with a teacher who wanted me to do things faster than my body would do them.  They put me in adapted PE instead, and it worked out great, and the sensory integration therapist prescribed some of the exercises, and for the rest I did standard strength and cardio on the machines in the adapted PE room.  I also took a dance class called Theory and Technique of Body Awareness and got accommodations with the SID diagnosis.

(Hint:  When they needed a DSM code for the SID diagnosis, they used Central Nervous System Disorder Not Otherwise Specified and then just added “with symptoms of sensory integration dysfunction” at the end.  And then later on when I was diagnosed with autistic catatonia, they added “and catatonia” on the end of that.  CNS disorder NOS is pretty useful for things that haven’t made it into the DSM.  Although now there’s a specific way to indicate autistic catatonia that I really want to tell my doctor about, because it’s actually covered on the diagnostic criteria for autistic spectrum disorder now.  Which is amazing, considering when I was diagnosed autistic catatonia wasn’t even a named thing, it was just two obscure case studies in medical journals… I was experiencing it and nobody knew what it was.)

But yes, people are much less likely to misunderstand SID than they are autism.  And if all you need an autism diagnosis for is self-understanding and connection to autistic communities, there’s no reason to get professionally diagnosed unless you really feel it’s necessary.  Which is totally a personal decision nobody should pressure you either way on.

Notes:
  1. withasmoothroundstone posted this