The Jeremy Boreing Show The Autism Social Contagion Caught Her. Then She Got Out. | Ep. 20 with Christina Buttons
May 8, 2026
Christina Buttons, journalist who reports on autism, mental health, and gender identity, recounts receiving an adult autism diagnosis and later questioning it. She discusses broadened diagnostic criteria, social identity formation around diagnoses, links between autism and gender dysphoria, and California’s controversial mental-health funding and school practices. The conversation probes overdiagnosis, internet-driven identity culture, and restoring clinical clarity.
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Use Action To Test Diagnostic Labels
- Christina credits journalism and active reporting for forcing self-scrutiny that helped her improve social skills.
- She says practicing social interaction (reporting interviews) taught her patterns she'd mistaken for autism were skill gaps.
Diagnoses Now Function As Social Currency
- Social identities tied to diagnoses have become social currency on platforms where users stack conditions in bios.
- Buttons links this to algorithmic reinforcement and subcultures that glamorize diagnostic identities.
California Uses Mental Health Funds For Social Programs
- California's Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative repurposes prevention funding to screen and fund broad social programs.
- Buttons says schools become clinics, funding drums, inclusivity projects, and gender-affirming services with Medicaid matches.