On Labels

There seems to be a giant hang up on "labels" with the diagnosis process.

Here are my thoughts on this...

If my six-year-old son couldn't function through a meal at a restaurant without banging his head into a wall or couldn't safely navigate a diner to get to the restroom without getting second degree burns, he needed more help than we, as his parents, were able to provide him. Regardless of what label was being placed upon him. Regardless of which forms of employment such diagnostic tests and labels might keep him from as an adult. 

Did it all mean anything if I wasn't able to help him navigate his childhood and adolescence? Would I have been doing the best job I could as his mother by ignoring all of the issues that had been compiling since infancy, especially since they were imploding on our family? No.  I owed him way more than to fly under a label radar. I owed him to get the best help and the most opportunities for success as a human.

And what about myself? Being diagnosed at age 32...my own therapist asked me what good "just another diagnosis" would do for me. She wanted to know why I would readily subject myself to that. Simply put, I felt like it would give me so much more than it could take away from my life. And it has. 

I am a strong believer in education- specifically in self-education. Often times, doctors find me obnoxious at best because I know a significant amount of information regarding many of my previous illnesses- usually more than they do. There has been a "Munchausen" or two thrown around at times. But, this is just because once I've been diagnosed, I want to know how I can best navigate and make myself the best, healthiest me I can. 

My diagnosis of autism is no different. I have read books, watched movies, attended conferences. I have plunged myself into this world of a "label." The more that I have learned, the more I have been able to have a better self-awareness of my childhood, many memories and even my relationships. Without the testing, without the "label," I would still be wondering what is wrong with me? and why am I so broken? instead of: This is how my brain functions; I need some time to recover from all of this sensory overload; I cannot verbalize my emotions right now.

So, so many people get hung up on the label. Neurotypicals (non-Spectrum folks), especially parents of children who are in the process of possibly getting diagnosed, worry about the label. The label. Goodness, THE LABEL! But, here's the thing, whether that person is three, six or thirty...there will always be this underlying difference. That person will ALWAYS FEEL it. So, the label that society places on it and the implications that it gives...well, it doesn't change the insides of that person on the spectrum. With or without the words, our brains FUNCTION differently.

End. Of. Story.

Note: Anytime I mention my son, Jackson, in a blog post, I read it with him and ask his permission. I ask for feedback and make necessary changes to make this place be a safe place for him too.