Community Munchausen's by Internet (Malingerers, Munchies, Spoonies, etc) - Feigning Illnesses for Attention

[Flourishing Pinecone ❧]

I graduated outside Burgerland and nobody does the Hippocratic oath, maybe back in ye olde days but not in recent history.

 

[Adjustable Autism]

They should know the full spectrum of autism, not just twats preaching from their ivory towers about the most trivial nonsense, while proselytizing that autism isn't a disability, disorder or disease. Yeah, that's very easy to say, when there's actually fuck all wrong with you, you Munchie piss taker.

It is especially infuriating since these are the same people who would screech about ableism and their totes real disability (that wasn't a disability two minutes ago), whenever they don't get what they want or want to get out of responsibilities they don't like.

I'd say, even the majority of genuinely affected high functioning autists would show the spectrum (or rather their end of the spectrum) in a different light than whatever the #actuallyautistic (ironically) #autismisasuperpower crowd. But since they are - by definition - socially challenged, stuff like this costs more of their resources and they are usually less pushy, the munch bunch gets to do the talking.

Everyone who sincerely says autism isn't a disorder (it is in the name, but nevermind) or disability or disease should have their diagnosis revoked immediately. If there is nothing wrong with you, you don't need a diagnosis or accomodations associated with it.

Speaking of which, there is an article (Archive) about the social contagion aspect of psychiatric conditions and (and this is new, at least in more "mainstream" outlets) treating them as an identity and something to make them special. Which I can confirm from work experience.

 

[Kufungisisa]

It is especially infuriating since these are the same people who would screech about ableism and their totes real disability (that wasn't a disability two minutes ago), whenever they don't get what they want or want to get out of responsibilities they don't like.

I'd say, even the majority of genuinely affected high functioning autists would show the spectrum (or rather their end of the spectrum) in a different light than whatever the #actuallyautistic (ironically) #autismisasuperpower crowd. But since they are - by definition - socially challenged, stuff like this costs more of their resources and they are usually less pushy, the munch bunch gets to do the talking.

Everyone who sincerely says autism isn't a disorder (it is in the name, but nevermind) or disability or disease should have their diagnosis revoked immediately. If there is nothing wrong with you, you don't need a diagnosis or accomodations associated with it.

Speaking of which, there is an article (Archive) about the social contagion aspect of psychiatric conditions and (and this is new, at least in more "mainstream" outlets) treating them as an identity and something to make them special. Which I can confirm from work experience.

Autism is a strange one in the progression of social expectations:

Just a few years ago if you told someone you were bringing an autistic person onto their ward they'd be scrabbling trying to find a side room, working out if they could get extra staff from somehow, expecting a completely non verbal, rocking, self harming, screeching, bitey person. They would be completely shocked if the person was high functioning and could string 3 words together.

Now you bring those people who speak 3 words into a ward, they don't know what to do: it's just full on shock, they were expecting screeching but of a completely different type. The high functioning people are now some of the lowest.

Those plain boring autistic people who don't speak are now having diagnoses of disorders they do not have added to explain why they aren't like all the other autistic people: apraxia of speech, extra learning disabilities / difficulties, even movement disorders.

 

[Puppy Mutt]

The entire #actuallyautistic crowd can truly go eat shit. I completely agree that now if you talk about an autistic person the immediate thought that comes to mind is a munchie who can function with minimal supports and who screeches about their not being high or low functioning autism and saying that is ableist.

The kids who have no functional and/or spontaneous language skills, who can’t take a bath or wipe their butts, who bang their heads so hard they nearly always have a concussion are now the kids being left behind. As a parent of a child like that we have had to get other diagnosis because like you said it’s the only way for people to realize she isn’t one of the #actuallyautistic dipshits.

Our kiddo is adopted and has been through some tough shit and has profound autism, seizures and a genetic disorder (the cause of the autism) and these autism munchies still have the audacity to say that her and them are even close to the same. I would love to give them her actual trauma (not just my parents didn’t give me what I want trauma) and her very real, very severe and very limiting autism and still see them claim they are the same.

This is one of the things that makes my blood boil the most as it’s just so absurd.

 

[McSneaks]

This pajeeta is doing a speedrun of munchie/current topic bullshit.


View attachment 5702812

lol, long term prednisone was literally the worst most destructive drug I've ever done in my life and I used to use fentanyl. Ducking longterm COVID to end up with lifetime prednicrippled would be beautiful

 

[Free the Pedos]

It’s a relief to hear people talking about how autism is ACTUALLY a disability on here. I wrangle autists as a volunteer and even the ASD 1 kids who need the least support have serious problems, to say nothing of the kids who beat themselves against the wall until their retina detach. I hear people say things like “isn’t everyone a little autistic” or “is autism a disability or just a different way of being” and it makes me want to scream.

 

[GenociderSyo]

It’s a relief to hear people talking about how autism is ACTUALLY a disability on here. I wrangle autists as a volunteer and even the ASD 1 kids who need the least support have serious problems, to say nothing of the kids who beat themselves against the wall until their retina detach. I hear people say things like “isn’t everyone a little autistic” or “is autism a disability or just a different way of being” and it makes me want to scream.

They had a wrangler where I'm at get seriously injured beause she was of the belief that autism was just a way of being and refused to restrain a child for their and her safety.

 

[Breadbear]

They had a wrangler where I'm at get seriously injured beause she was of the belief that autism was just a way of being and refused to restrain a child for their and her safety.

Some people have to learn the hard way.

 

[Jupiter Doughnuts]

They had a wrangler where I'm at get seriously injured beause she was of the belief that autism was just a way of being and refused to restrain a child for their and her safety.

There's some fun recent NYT pieces on schizophrenics refusing treatment despite being wholly unable to function at a minimal level and the reporters seem to believe the argument that psychotically screaming all day while homeless is just a way of being. The real problem is that those takes seem to actually influence a lot of policy - on the tard-wrangling end, there's pushes by "autism advocates" to ban any kind of restraints/seclusion, and there's the interesting battle over the facility in MA that uses shock collars to punish violent behavior in severely disabled adults who have been removed from facility after facility for violence.

 

[Jupiter Doughnuts]

lol, long term prednisone was literally the worst most destructive drug I've ever done in my life and I used to use fentanyl. Ducking longterm COVID to end up with lifetime prednicrippled would be beautiful

There's a good series of timelines a ways back in this thread of Afrin munchies who destroyed their bodies with prednisone abuse, including at least one who dissolved her spinal column and ended up actually paralyzed. Corticosteroid abuse is an effective way to munch yourself into having legitimate medical issues and requires less dedication than severe EDs or Kelly-level self harm. Too bad they make you fat and ugly first. I wonder whether photos of her future self as a steroid gender blob would be a way to scare a beginning munchie straight.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I hear people say things like “isn’t everyone a little autistic” or “is autism a disability or just a different way of being” and it makes me want to scream.

Someone could probably track the progression of this, in a way they wouldn't be allowed to for the trans social media people.

The fact that you can blog about hating Autism Speaks on tumblr means that you're not their target demographic. It's like someone with stage 1 CKD starting a movement to outlaw dialysis, because it's a tool of medical oppression leveled at people with stage 5 CKD.

 

[Scream Tail]

There's a man in my family with Autism and even being high functioning, you can tell he has limitations and it has had obvious negative impacts on his life. He's only able to work part time stacking shelves, can't drive a car, is on medications to help manage some of his emotional problems and is very reliant on family to manage his money, appointments and stuff.

He's fully able to communicate and is in a long term relationship and is a great father (his kids all avoided his autismo genes lol) but like, his life is impacted by his condition and he's extremely functional for an Autist.

I legit don't know any actual Autist, even high functioning ones, that are super active on social media. Genuinely do think the ones that scream about it online are self diagnosed cause they get anxious in public sometimes or like anime.

 

[For The Internet]

I think it’s a total disservice to not have a wide range of people speaking to medical students/staff considering it’s a spectrum by definition.

I do think it’s okay to have high-functioning people speak. There is often a lot of infantilisation of better-functioning autistic people that is humiliating and frustrating to them and medical staff need to know that.

But they also need representatives from all different parts of the spectrum to really drive it into them that it’s kind of a case by case thing. They need to hear from handlers who get hurt. They need to hear from mid- or low-functioning people who can express themselves whenever possible.

People shouldn’t stigmatise autism as everyone being a nonverbal, violent mess, but they also can’t afford to be convinced it’s really not that bad and all autistic people should just be considered basically normal.

I’ve seen a lot of autism online over the years and known quite a lot of autistic people IRL. Literally only one didn’t immediately read to me as autistic, but that’s because he’d done a ton of work and had great interventions. Once I became a close friend I could see it very subtly from time to time, but he is a world apart from all the people saying it doesn’t affect them negatively and telling everyone autistic people as a whole are like them. He had to work his ass off to get to where he is, but these people act like there’s barely a struggle and have had no interventions.

Also so many of them are women, and we all know women are affected differently to men. They need to hear from more guys living with autism, they’re usually more profoundly affected.

 

[Adjustable Autism]

There's some fun recent NYT pieces on schizophrenics refusing treatment despite being wholly unable to function at a minimal level and the reporters seem to believe the argument that psychotically screaming all day while homeless is just a way of being. The real problem is that those takes seem to actually influence a lot of policy - on the tard-wrangling end, there's pushes by "autism advocates" to ban any kind of restraints/seclusion, and there's the interesting battle over the facility in MA that uses shock collars to punish violent behavior in severely disabled adults who have been removed from facility after facility for violence.

This seems to be a general issue with the current Zeitgeist: "It is just the way I am!!!" No matter how destructive and antisocial, it is baked into the persons personality and must therefore not be changed or even challenged. Plus some woke shit how they are somehow oppressed by society and are only acting up because of it.

This is a recent development, at least this is my impression. PL: My sister is an (albeit high functioning) autist and when she was diagnosed back in the day, the goal was to access therapy and resources to help her fit in better. Not "erasing her autistic self" or whatever the fuck the tumblr/Xitter/TikTok brigade whines about. But learn things like not interrupt or wander away during conversations. Fuck, that was annoying.

These days it is different though, at least in my experience (and I have heard similar from coworkers): There is this bizarre trend that a diagnosis it often seen as the end, the goal and not the beginning (or maybe midpoint) of getting better.

In a way, this even applies to the munchies we cover here. Sure, they want some toobz and toys, but a lot of it is having a shiny name of some (ideally obscure) name to put on social media. They don't want actual treatment (duh), because their identity is wrapped up in these ailments and being a special spoonie.

Someone could probably track the progression of this, in a way they wouldn't be allowed to for the trans social media people.

In my experience, this shit is just as taboo as tracking troons and is met with just as much reeeeing and trying to cancel people. Research papers now have to be smuggled past online activists with as much medical lingo as possible. Every step towards better treatment, better diagnostic tools or a better basic understanding of biological processes gets branded as "eugenics" or the ever popular "genocide".

I think a lot of it and the shift in perception @Kufungisisa has to do with putting all separate disdorders into one spectrum (an absolute mistake and I am willing to die on that hill). People simply used Aspergers when talking about verbal and high functioning autists (or just said high functioning, something you can't officially do anymore, because activists) while the blanket "autism" was usually reserved for the severely affected tards. Now it is all just under the tism blanket and you just have to make a more or less educated guess what this means.

 

[Free the Pedos]

They need to hear from mid- or low-functioning people who can express themselves whenever possible.

This sounds good, but even the ones who can communicate are generally not in a great place to be advocates for their own interest. Of course we should listen to individuals’ experiences and protect people from abuse, but IMO someone who has serious problems with emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships isn’t going to be a great guide to improving their own care.
(I’m thinking of the ASD kids I’ve seen whose perception of reality is so skewed by their strong emotions that they’ve convinced themselves of things that are objectively untrue. They’re just not equipped to be their own advocates. )

 

[For The Internet]

This sounds good, but even the ones who can communicate are generally not in a great place to be advocates for their own interest. Of course we should listen to individuals’ experiences and protect people from abuse, but IMO someone who has serious problems with emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships isn’t going to be a great guide to improving their own care.
(I’m thinking of the ASD kids I’ve seen whose perception of reality is so skewed by their strong emotions that they’ve convinced themselves of things that are objectively untrue. They’re just not equipped to be their own advocates. )

I didn’t mean they should advocate exactly, just talk about their experiences and answer simple questions if able. Obviously very few could do so and communicate those things effectively, so having a family member of carer talk about the person’s experiences and their own is more realistic. I guess I’m just saying in an ideal world any autistic person capable of expressing their thoughts or experiences even in simple terms should be heard as well as the people who are capable of meaningfully advocating, since they represent probably the minority rather than the range of people an average medical professional might expect to encounter.

I know it’s not easy to do but I’m just saying it would be great if it wasn’t either ‘I care for a non functioning person’ or ‘I’m basically normal’. Most autistic people aren’t one extreme or the other so ideally there should be a broader understanding of how much of a spectrum it is.

Basically fuck people who have no place telling medical professionals about their non-tism, is my ultimate point.

 

[Kufungisisa]

These days it is different though, at least in my experience (and I have heard similar from coworkers): There is this bizarre trend that a diagnosis it often seen as the end, the goal and not the beginning (or maybe midpoint) of getting better.

Also so much "self diagnosis is valid!!!", No it really isn't: there are so many borderlines being referred that an increasing number of diagnostic teams in the UK surreptitiously screen for that in their initial pre-appointment questionnaires.

There is a lot of talk about needing to 'unmask' (act more autistic) and that those who don't (cannot) hide their autism are privileged. Quite ridiculous.

So many get diagnosed and start malingering. 'Unmask' (pull some Agonyautie shit) and say that's always been their real self, claim burnout, quit work and claim all the benefits possible at the highest rates.

I didn’t mean they should advocate exactly, just talk about their experiences and answer simple questions if able. Obviously very few could do so and communicate those things effectively, so having a family member of carer talk about the person’s experiences and their own is more realistic.

That is what should happen definitely. It's very impressive what a familiar carer can help a person communicate. It sadly won't happen as they shout down carers: the non verbal have no voice and verbal people have no translator.

They see no difference between their experiences:

One nonverbal child I know is learning to communicate by pushing one single real object away if they don't want it (the plan is to slowly build that to picking between multiple photos): mum has become very confused by 'advocates' insisting he has the skills to jump straight in with 1000+ words on an iPad.

 

[everybody in Portugal]

Also so much "self diagnosis is valid!!!", No it really isn't: there are so many borderlines being referred that an increasing number of diagnostic teams in the UK surreptitiously screen for that in their initial pre-appointment questionnaires.

This is partly because BPDs are utterly desperate to be rediagnosed with anything at all that is not BPD. See also: the rise of CPTSD diagnoses.

So many get diagnosed and start malingering. 'Unmask' (pull some Agonyautie shit) and say that's always been their real self, claim burnout, quit work and claim all the benefits possible at the highest rates.

Which is dumb because afaik, in Bongland at least, they will give you full whack of PIP benefit (sans the mobility element) for having BPD anyway. As far as the DWP are concerned, it's a debilitating and lifelong condition.

ed: typo

 

[Free the Pedos]

This is partly because BPDs are utterly desperate to be rediagnosed with anything at all that is not BPD. See also: the rise of CPTSD diagnoses.

One of the most surprising things I've seen online lately is the rise of people being out and proud about their BPD diagnoses. I'm old enough to remember 5 - 10 years ago when it meant acknowledging you were a medically certified life-ruiner.

Which is dumb because afaik, in Bongland at least, they will give you full whack of PIP benefit (sans the mobility element) for having BPD anyway. As far as the DWP/DfC are concerned, it's a debilitating and lifelong condition.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. BPD definitely interferes seriously with living a productive life, but they can certainly hold down a simple job.

 

[everybody in Portugal]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. BPD definitely interferes seriously with living a productive life, but they can certainly hold down a simple job.

I doubt PIP is enough for anyone to live on on its own, but iirc it's not means-tested anyway so hopefully a lot of them do do something productive — in my support worker days in that field a fair few of the ones I met did at least try.

I also take some issue with the idea of telling them it's a lifelong or incurable condition, given their propensity for black-and-white thinking. It's not exactly going to encourage them to engage in any kind of meaningful therapy, is it?