update 2026: I grew up in a time when people with what would now be labeled "high functioning" autism were completely ignored. I was a very good student. Good students who had what might now be labeled autism got put into "gifted" classes and were largely left alone in the agonies they faced. I learned expert masking techniques and knew how to stay out of trouble by pleasing the adults around me. Fawning is what it's called in trauma circles. I might be glad about that now. I really don't want a label. Autism seems to work for lots of sensitives but I still feel like it's a one way ticket into psychiatric care and thus, I will stay out here watching the chaos label free as long as possible. This post discusses a very important issue that is simply not widely understood by pretty much anyone in mental health circles...critical or otherwise. I look to these injuries from many different frames and windows...this one comes up again and again for me whenever I encounter autistic folks.  I found this article at Mad in America quite fascinating and on point. I hadn't heard the term pseudo-autism but it's exactly my experience too...