When I Was Told as a Child That I Had “Autistic Tendencies,” What I Realized Through Conversations with ChatGPT About My “Neurodivergent Self” — Are You Disabled? Ill? Or Neurodivergent?
4月 25, 2026菅原隆志38 min read
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This is an AI-generated featured image, so the character “様” in “diversity” is incorrect.
When I was a child, I was told I might have autism and grew up hearing that. But I grew up into adulthood still wondering whether that was really a “disability” or not— Then, through conversations with ChatGPT, I found a new name for my own traits. That perspective is “neurodiversity.” This article is a record of how I reexamined myself through dialogue with AI.
(*There may be some typos and rough phrasing because this was recorded using Mac voice input.)
I was told that as a child I hardly spoke until I was five. And back then, in the Showa era, they said I might have autism. What do you think about that?
Thank you for sharing such an important experience. I appreciate you opening up about it. First, regarding the episode of not speaking much until age five and being told back then that you might have autism, I’d like to answer from a few different angles.
1. Language development varies greatly from child to child Children’s language development has a very wide range. Even if a child is still speaking very little after age three, people do indeed worry that there may be some developmental issue. But especially in those days (the Showa era), knowledge and understanding of development were not as advanced as they are now, and there was a tendency to immediately say things like “maybe autism” whenever a child was even slightly “different” from others.
2. What autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is Today, “autism” is called “autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” and it is understood not as a single trait but asa condition in which social interaction, communication, and the range of interests or behavioral traits appear in diverse ways. Simply having been a “late talker” does not necessarily mean ASD, and conversely, there are people who speak normally but still have ASD traits.
3. About the diagnosis and assessment at the time The knowledge of developmental differences and diagnostic criteria in the Showa era was much rougher than it is now. Accurate assessment and understanding like we have today were difficult, and it is possible that the assumption became something simplistic like “doesn’t talk” = “weird” = “maybe autism.”
4. What matters now Even if you were once told “maybe autism,” whatimpact that has on you nowis what truly matters. What is important is how you relate to people, think, and feel now, and if there are things you struggle with, how you receive support for them.
If you’d like, could you also tell me the following? As a child, was there anything you were especially good at besides talking, or anything you were intensely interested in? After growing up, have you ever felt that life was difficult to navigate? That will help us think more deeply. Of course, you don’t have to force yourself to answer.
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この場所に、最初の感想や気づきをそっと残せます。