this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Autism
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I think the ability to "mask" weighs somewhat against a diagnosis.
Like with annoyance and concerted effort I can sit still when it is absolutely critical. However I still get up and walk around in unfitting situations, often without realizing I am. Until someone mentions how weird it is. Or mentions they would prefer I keep knives out of my reach because they are scared when I start flipping one around and give me some safer "toy" to fidget with in trade.
A lot of these are things most folks are inclined to do., but the inability to control is the thing, not the urge in the first place.
Yes. The definition of normal is the ability to tolerate suppression. To be clinical, the disorder must actually disrupt your life. If the stress of masking is a life disruptor, that's also a criteria, but just not doing shit you have an urge to do is normal no matter what people say.
The fact that you have to mask something in a situation like that is the point, not the severity. You may mean well, but you're gatekeeping mental health issues by saying "if you are still able to control yourself, you are not sick enough". That is something that still prevents a lot of people from getting the help they need.
There's a balance to be struck.
People with entirely normal urges think they are somehow divergent, because they see others act on urges and people make it clear that was "weird" for the urge to be acted out and mistake having the urge for being the "weird" thing rather than the expression.
I want to get up and walk around and listening to this person talking is a waste of my time. That's a perfectly normal urge. The inability to either supress the urge, or the inability to recognize it as a problematic social interaction when it would be, that's where problems come in.