I love you so much for saying this. The discrimination is thick. My son had severe bowl disease for many years and they blamed it on autism. It's a sad reality many of us ASD parent face.Abbie looks completely overwhelmed in the thumbnail pic.
Taking our kiddos to the doctor can be very tricky. We've been ignored by so many doctors and insulted by others. A lot of times docs don't want to take the time to truly figure out what is wrong with our kids and are quick to label everything as "just autism". It is truly frustrating. That was the main reason why it took us years to get a tourette diagnosis. I had doctors saying all his tics were "just autism", but on the other hand I had all his teachers/therapists saying "this is not JUST autism". Her neck "stim" can actually be a tic. It would actually make sense because tics come and go, plus those with ASD are also prone to have other things along with it like tics, Tourette's, seizures, etc. A specific tic can also last for HOURS or even DAYS. My kiddo just went through a very rough week or more with a very involved abdominal tic. I can't imagine how stiff her neck muscles must be after holding her head like that for so long.