The reason the notion of autism spectrum should be offensive

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But who are the purposed extra autism labels for? Us or them? Most people don't know much if anything about the conditions you listed above or what the different labels infer.

What should the diagnosis of Rainman be?

I would say: Level 2 autism with savant features.

He’s not mentally ret*d, though.

His lack of flexibility in language is because of the rather severe autism.

One of the problems is that because autism can affect a person's ability to communicate, it is difficult to judge how much is going on inside their head. That is improving these days with different technologies and communication techniques, and with more understanding of autism so that people are not simply institutionalised because they don't communicate. Limited ability to communicate and process language also means that you have limited access to information.

Things like rainman not understanding the concept of money or the world around him not necessarily indicate a lack of intelligence but a lack of experience. If he taken into hospital at a young age and never had to do his own shopping, then how would he know about money? He doesn't understand the world because he has not been part of the world and no-one has taught him. Most of what he has learned has been from TV.

There seems to be a huge confusion that the more autistic someone is the more they are intellectually impaired. This is based off of the outdated belief that autism is associated with retardation. I've done research on the subject of autism and I've spoken to my psychologist. Someone can be severely autistic without being mentally ret*d. They might have severe problems with communication, sensory issues, etc. but they still can be very smart. Autism used to be confused with retardation because autism can associated with other comorbid mental conditions. Stating that being a low-functioning autistic is equivalent to being ret*d is like saying that being a low-functioning autistic is equivalent to having ADHD or OCD, which, by definition isn't the case, although there can be some circumstances in which that can be the case, just like there could be circumstances in which someone has mild autism and severe ADHD or severe intellectual impairment.

Also, the only characteristics that autism and schizophrenia seem to have in common is that they both might involve a flat effect and social withdrawal, depending on the individual symptoms. However, delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations are unique to schizophrenia and other disorders listed under the category of psychotic disorders and mood disorders. Though, what is strange to me is that there is research that shows that schizophrenia and autism could be genetically related. About half a year ago, I read an online article about modern research in biology/biotechnology done with lab rats. Then again, if it was done with lab rats who knows about the accuracy of translating that to human conditions/behaviors. Years ago, I thought I read an article that OCD might be genetically related to autism but I'm unsure about the source of information that I got that from.

We have all got to be careful about stereotyping each other. It's not always easy to clearly identify someone as "high functioning" or "low functioning" even though the new DSM V has those labels according to an individual's ability to take care of themselves. There are different aspects of social functioning that can be impaired or left unimpaired in each individual (interaction, communication, and a third aspect that I forgot about). I still think we do need the diagnosis to get extra support at work and school, though I still think that autism should be viewed in a positive way because our beliefs become our reality. We can view our condition negatively or view the world negatively, and pay attention to and therefore further draw in a hostile world, or we could focus on the positive aspects of our being or the solutions to the world's problems while realizing that we are all human.