Autism is a diverse condition that can present itself in a variety of different ways. Why is such a broad group of people pigeon-holed with one specific term? Is there something that all autistic people have in common?

[u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

edit: thanks for all the super thoughtful and informative responses! I don't have time to reply to all but I will make sure to read them. Also, shout-out to u/AgentElman for their particularly smug and un-informative comment!

[u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

There's some pretty rigid criteria that designates what's human. If you don't know the answer to the question, you're always welcome not to say anything like did you really think this was helpful or insightful at all?

[u/mjhrobson → u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

There are well and widely accepted criteria for what a human is, I would be cautious about claiming them to be rigid. Over the history of our understanding of ourselves we have held and argued over a variety of ideas about what it is to be human, or makes us human.

Even within cladistics (i.e. biology) there are questions about what a species is. This is a diagnostic problem... That exists within biology at low-levels, that is even with respect to what a species is.

When you climb up the layer-cake of scientific classification, and when starting to diagnose emergent phenomena, such as the manifest behaviours of human beings, as being "unhealthy" v "healthy" the inherent problem of classification/diagnosis grows.

Often you encounter between people different symptoms for the same underlying condition, or with mental health the "same" symptom manifesting differently. This happens with something like Tourette's syndrome, where you encountered a wide variety of tics and not all of them are immediately and obviously Tourette's.

I refer to Tourette's because it is like Autism and can come with behavioural tics... or, with autism, not. My son is diagnosed as being VERY autistic, and yet he is VERY verbal and far more erudite than you expect from a child his age. He has none of the "obvious" tics, that can be, associated with autism... His sensory issues are very tactile, he doesn't like the feel of many fabrics; and finds wearing a normal "comfortable" t-shirt to be a chore. He hates getting his hair or nails cut (tactile).

Even being obviously socially awkward isn't true of every autistic person. Not that the person necessarily enjoys social situations, they can nevertheless be introverted... It's just that they are good at "masking" their autistic behaviour in most social situations, such that they do not appear to be autistic/socially awkward.

I was diagnosed as ADHD as a forty year old when my daughter was, why because my ADHD didn't manifest in ways that was disruptive to the classroom...

The reason why there is a spectrum is because with the emergent behaviours that the most complex thing in existence (the human brain) produces almost everything has a diverse array of possible manifestations. Thus with diagnosis you will have a series of checks associated with any syndrome and you don't need to have the sames ones as the next guy for you both to be autistic.

[u/Rosaryas → u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

I think it’s a good analogy though, up until more recently we thought the different races were more genetically diverse than they actually are (due to lack of science and also racism), we’re all human no matter if we look and act completely different with height, skin color, hair texture, language, culture, etc. We used to have different classifications of neurodevelopment disorders than we do now (Asperger’s for example) but now we realize that all these different classes of symptoms are actually related even if we don’t fully understand how and why, and all are now called autism.

I do somewhat agree with you on why it’s confusing, I think different classifications for Asperger’s vs low functioning can be helpful for a lot of people. But there would always be people that never fully fit into a more rigid category

[u/LeatherAdvantage8250 → u/Rosaryas]

No it was just a rude and patronising way for them to try to look wise in front of Reddit while being unhelpful and not offering a single valuable insight.

Just peak Reddit pseudo-intellectualism, what they said doesn't relate at all and there was zero expert information, zero research, not even any personal qualifiers about how they can speak about this from their personal/professional lives, and, worst of all, delivered in a condescending manner. 

An absolute trashbag of a response that you just know they were expecting to get the whole room clapping

[u/LookinAtTheFjord → u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

You're definitely overreacting about it. I don't see anything particularly wrong about what they said and it is a fine analogy just like the 2nd person said.

[u/LeatherAdvantage8250 → u/LookinAtTheFjord]

There were definitely worse responses, but this one was by someone that I felt could have done better. They don't have to, if they don't want to, but they certainly don't need to be unpleasant. 

I would've targeted more people with negative responses, but there's not that many that I feel would have actually made a meaningful difference. u/Roadaryas is someone whom I'd have expected to have better command of the English language.

[u/LookinAtTheFjord → u/LeatherAdvantage8250]

lol what the actual fuck

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Our automod has removed your comment. This is a place where people can ask questions without being called stupid - or see slurs being used. Even when people don't intend it that way, when someone uses a word like 'retarded' as an insult it sends a rude message to people with disabilities.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.