I got a 60~70yo relative, most likely in the autism spectrum, but never diagnosed with it. I don't think she looks noticeably younger or older than her siblings.
Because of that I think it's a sampling bias. I think younger autists are way more likely to be detected than her.
How did you get that impression?
Been told it many times, maybe im genealizing but ive definitely heard it as an observation about others also
Maybe some people who aren't as familiar with autism are just more likely to recognize it in people who look younger.
I look like anyone my age. What are you basing your question on concretely? Please elaborate
When you're NT you passively absorb more about aesthetics from your peers as you grow up. Signifiers of age and your social groups are something you practice and get good at, whether or not anyone tells you to.
So autistics have to specifically be very interested in aesthetics to pick up on it. Or be pushed to socially. There's plenty of us who don't look like adults in children's clothes (not me), you just don't notice them.
if there is correlation, then I would say less time outside in the sunshine
well I guess I don't have to be worried about being autistic.
I get it. People usually assume I’m younger than I am.
@cheese_greater@lemmy.world @nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca
Perhaps your perception comes from the fact that we see/know few (if any) elder people who was diagnosed as someone within the spectrum. It's not because elder people couldn't be autistic, bc they can. In fact, not just they can be autistic, but there are lot of non-diagnosed elder ppl. Something to do with how autism (among other conditions) wasn't diagnosed until recently.
And even nowadays, it's still under-diagnosed: I myself, a 30yo male, may be autistic (actually, I'd be more of an AuDHD, if I'm not someone with Geschwind syndrome, given my auras, sudden spiritual experience, migraines, etc; neither conditions were diagnosed), but the only diagnosis I got so far were ADHD and, recently, Schizotypal PD, although the latter diagnosis felt more of a religious bigotry from a psychiatrist in a mostly-christian country upon hearing about my occultism.
There are other factors as well, as other reply pointed out: solar exposure. We NDs in general tend to be more introvert and homebound because the outside world may be hostile to us, so we prefer staying at home (we were #stayhome people before it became momentarily a widespread thing in 2020).
Why the under-diagnosing? Well, in the eyes of capitalism, it's not profitable to diagnose people with a condition that requires workplaces to be more friendly to our lack of social cue instincts, our different perception of spacetime, and our eccentric (non-linear) way of thinking.
Also, the lack of affordability and the inability to access proper (and non scripted (i.e. not restricted to trying to forcefully fit everything to a DSM-5 handbook)) healthcare. Even in countries where there is public healthcare (such as Brazil, where I was born), mental healthcare can be unaffordable, partly due to the cost of medication (which "Sistema Único de Saúde" (SUS, Brazilian public healthcare system) doesn't always have available for free), partly due to long waiting queue (I myself have been waiting for a psychiatrist appointment for more than a year; tried emergency/crisis healthcare places such as "Centro de Atenção Psicossocial" (CAPS, psychosocial care center, focused on dealing with mental health crises) upon self-harming and suicidal attempts, but they couldn't even begin to comprehend my multilayered and far-from-just-mundane complains; they replied to hour-long soliloquy, which involved me recounting my spiritual afflictions about the Demiurgic nature of existence and complaining about the Kafkaesque absurdity of this world, with "how's your pooping and eating?", and I'm not joke; at the time, I literally had a visible wound on my wrist, but all they could think about was my trips to the restroom and to the kitchen).
If an adult or older ND person can neither access nor afford mental health care, they can't be diagnosed, perpetuating a social situation of under-diagnosis that contributes to make it look like "only young people are autistic".
More AuDHD myself as well but I feel yuh
For me it's been I dress young (sweatpants and tshirts aren't adult wear) and the micro facial expressions don't happen as much so less face lines.
Stoneface. No smile lines if you don't smile. Same for frown lines.
Theres sometimes something more "elfin" too tho, I cant quite out my finger on it
Perhaps it’s more to do with being slightly “immature” in hard to identify ways.
What I mean is that people on the spectrum tend to… not recognize or not care that their behaviors aren’t “mature adult” stuff. It’s all just window dressing anyway, and if it doesn’t really matter, why put in the effort to conform? It’s just another mask.
So you’ll see a lot more visible emotion, not the strict regulation expected of adults. You’ll see a lot more action out of the body than you would with a stoic neurotypical adult. You’ll see a more rigid dress aesthetic that’s probably at least somewhat frozen in whatever time period the person figured themselves out, and thus isn’t the aesthetic of their temporal peers.
Stuff like that makes a person seem younger without necessitating looking any different, tho coupled with the underuse of expression making the face also look younger, it would certainly be amplified.
Righto
Probably worrying less about pointless bullshit. Stress ages you faster
Cause we do everything slow.
That'd be a trade secret.
And also an ecumenical matter
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