There is No 'Little Bit' Autistic
This meme sums up something that can drive autistic people mad. No matter all the educational campaigns, no matter all the information and explanation offered, no matter anything, some people - too many people - go back to their hoary old clichés. You let it pass because people don't do it with malicious intent. At the same time, the cliché that 'we are all a little bit autistic' can have malign effects for autistic people, for the reason that they are wholly autistic and are in need of help and accommodation on the part of 'society.' If it is true that 'we are all a little bit autistic,' 'we are all on the spectrum,' then there is no need for extraordinary measures - everyone is in the same boat.
The phrase 'a little bit autistic' is not merely wrong - no one is ever 'a little bit depressed' simply because they are occasionally sad - it dilutes and therefore denies the autistic experience. As it was explained to me during my assessment, whilst many people will share some or many of the traits associated with autism, diagnosis is given for those who tick most of the boxes 'above and beyond the norm.' That 'above and beyond' takes autistic people well beyond 'a little bit.'
So it would be helpful if people, being so well-intended, should desist in claiming to be 'a little bit' autistic, and use their sympathy more productively by actually understanding autism wholly.
That would be helpful. It would also require more than a passive support that costs nothing.
