Poll 7: The most accurate way to describe autism

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Not quoting anyone but I have read through the comments and this is a reply to a lot of people.

I agree that you would have to ask every autistic person what autism is and amalgamate the results somehow. I did write option C myself, it is supposed to be the right kind of size to fit on a website you see, the kind you currently find if you search for autism, so yes there is a lot of stuff left unmentioned because it can't be an essay and it is just designed as preliminary information for the average public. I'm not trying to put words into other people's mouths and it is not supposed to be a perfect description of autism but rather a starting point which can be built up by the opinions of other autistics. I'm not trying to write the perfect description of autism and then have everyone agree with it by making a biased poll. I'm trying to display a contrast between options like A and B, which very much are similar to what many people write and say about autism, and option C which is supposed to be saying "look at the kind of thing people could be saying/writing, not biased, open minded, more accurate, useful information rather than: AUTISM IS VERY BAD, LOOK AT THESE 5 RANDOM NEGATIVE TERMS WE HAVE AFFIXED TO IT WITH NO REAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WE ARE SAYING, GIVE US YOUR MONEY NOW BECAUSE WE ARE GOOD AND WE WILL HELP, YOU ARE VERY PITEOUS PARENTS OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN, AS ARE YOUR CHILDREN, WE ALL FEEL FOR HOW YOU ARE AFFECTED BY AUTISM, JOIN OUR SITE NOW TO DISCUSS HOW BAD AUTISM IS ON OUR FORUMS WITH OTHER LIKEMINDED PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, WHY NOT LET THESE CONVERSATIONS INSPIRE YOU TO MAKE LOTS OF VIDEOS ABOUT AUTISM AND PUT THEM UP ON OUR SITE AND OTHERS SUCH AS YOUTUBE, AUTISM IS BAD BUT WE ARE A CHARITY SO WE DO IMPORTANT RESEARCH AND WE HELP TO MAKE THE BADNESS GO AWAY, BUT WE NEED YOUR MONEY!! ! LOOK AT THESE QUOTES FROM PARENTS WE HAVE HELPED, WITHOUT OUR HELP WHO KNOWS WHAT THE AUTISM WOULD HAVE DONE TO THEM."
I'm calling for no more of this. Impartial and balanced facts only about autism from now on, augmented with the opinions of real autistic people.

And there are many people out there who do think that A or B are more accurate and people who may disagree with all of them. I think the options are ok for the purpose of the poll.

This strikes me as circular. We define autism as those who have problems because of certain traits (not just have those traits). Well, then, of course all autistics suffer from problems because of their condition; if they don't, they aren't autistic, by definition.

But it also can be misleading, because descriptive words (like autistic and autism) can be used two different ways. One is sticking to definition. Mental health professionals define autism, that definition includes it being debilitating, and so, anyone who's autistic has a debilitating condition. (If the traits on debilitating they aren't autistic.)

OR, we can start with certain traits, look for a label, and use it as a best fit, even if not a perfect fit. Thus, I might call certain traits in myself autistic. I see certain traits in someone I know as autistic. Using that "autistic" label helps me understand myself, my friend. But using it does not mean either of us have a debilitating condition.

So option A, in addition to being circular (or maybe along with being circular) doesn't recognize that there are people who have some degree of autistic traits (or, some various degrees) without being debilitated by it.

It's perhaps technically correct (if "autistic" means "meets the diagnostic criteria for autism"), but not at all helpful and possibly misleading.


Option B is just plain bad. It overgeneralizes. It takes traits that are sometimes true with autism (and not ones that are so by definition), and says everyone has those traits.


Option C I actually like, despite my initial dislike of the beginning "Someone who is autistic...". After reading option B that opening really rubbed me the wrong way! The main problem with it, I think, is it's too long for a one paragraph description. I did not, though, read through the whole thing, so I can't vouch for if I agree with all the detail.