THE AUTISM SPECTRUM IS NOT LINEAR
This is an important one to understand.
The autism spectrum is NOT linear, placing a person at the 'high' and 'low' functioning ends. It depends. I am supremely 'high' in certain areas, and not so high in others.
Divisions of 'high' and 'low' are not merely wrong, they are harmful.
“The difference between high-functioning autism and low-functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low-functioning means your assets are ignored.” (Laura Tisoncik).
I was told that I would normally have been classed as 'high functioning,' but no longer - because that designation totally underestimates the things the 'high functioning' struggle with whilst devaluing the abilities possessed by those considered 'low functioning.'
"Using the term 'high-functioning' discounts or dismisses the person's needs or struggles ... Using the term 'low-functioning' discounts or dismisses a person's strengths and capabilities."
(Tom Iland, The Fallacy of High and Low Functioning Autism).
It was also explained to me that diagnosis depends not on simply ticking boxes - boxes which many other 'normal' people will claim that they also tick - it is ticking more of those boxes than others and ticking them "well above and beyond the norm" that makes the difference. The phrase "we are all a little bit autistic" could have been designed to drive autistic people spare. There is no "little bit" when it comes to autism.
