Some problems I have with this website

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I guess this is a "free country", but the Big Media really loves neurodiversity without looking at the other side and they are basically carrying him around on his shoulders. I could create a webpage, but it would be pretty hard to promote.

Some autistics have no capacity to do anything but whine. The successful examples are held up as representative of those on the spectrum, and not as exceptions.

The main difference is a special interest, but there are so many special interests that I would have no idea. Most neurotypicals have special interests too. Why don't we label them as autistic?

I'm confused. This makes it sound like special interests are all there is to being Autistic. We know it's not that simple. My special interest in Pac-Man isn't the only thing that makes me Autistic. (Though thinking about it makes me want to log off and go play, so I think I will...)

Though this post does make me wonder if it's a nomenclature issue for you more than anything else. Perhaps that's the source of this misdirected anger toward Alex specifically and neurodiversity in general?

FYI, I'm tired and will go to sleep now (I currently live in Europe) so I will look at this tomorrow again.

Are you asking regarding me, specifically, or are you speaking generally? I mean do you want my whole story?

What makes my autism different and not a disability: who says neurodiversity doesn't accept that some aspects can't be a disability? While some others are not? Needing help does not necessarily constitute "a disability" as far as people generally term disability (this obviously depends upon the person).

For example, an average woman in the U.S. is 5'4". My friend is only 4'11.5". She is not considered "abnormally" short or disabled or to have a genetic issue that should be looked into and stamped out or at least adjusted for future generations, but she definitely requires help in a variety of ways. For example, she needs step stools or "reachers" to reach things in high places and she even has lower shelving than typical in her house. She can only drive certain cars, many models won't allow her to both reach the pedals and see through the windshield clearly. She also needs a seat belt adjustor so that the belt doesn't cut across her neck. She often requires tailoring of her clothes, rarely can she find clothing that auto-fits her off the rack. But she is not considered "disabled" despite these many required adjustments and even special tools. She is much shorter than typical but she is not considered abnormal nor does anyone say she shouldn't have children as she might pass on her short genetics to them, that hopefully advances will be made in the future so that other people aren't born as short as she, and so on.

Glasses are another example of this. Many, many people need glasses. Without glasses, we literally couldn't function (some of us). We'd kill ourselves and other people when we tried to drive - so without this "special tool" we would be house-bound or else reliant upon other forms of transportation. If we had been born 600+ years ago we'd likely as not be dead by now - wandering into the woods and not seeing the bear, falling off a cliff, etc. But we who need glasses are not considered disabled and a liability, we're not told that we're a resources drain and that we jack up others' insurance rates by requiring glasses partly covered by insurance (or that those on SSI are an insurance drain in a similar way), that hopefully one day the world won't have people like us who need glasses, that our bodies anti-evolution, that our myopia or whatever our specific vision issue is, means we have a birth defect, etc., etc. We will always require tools and aids, literally always, forever, until we die and these aids need to be constantly adjusted. Even where laser correction is concerned, not all of us can have it (I can't, for example) but even for those who are candidates, again, insurance drain, expensive surgery, expensive follow-up, may not be permanent, etc., etc. yet we're still not considered walking birth defects the way many autistic people are.

I'm still not fully understanding what you're getting at. Hopefully you can answer my questions and we can go from there.

Last edited by NowhereWoman on 30 Oct 2015, 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Because as so many of the different criteria for autism, it's a matter of degree and intensity, and because it's not only special interests that are required criteria for an autism DX, but rather, a cluster of criteria that are required.

See Part B of the DSM-V, #3:



Note that this is only Part B and in fact, a subset/specific criterion of Part B.

I'm not sure whether these questions are "ah-has!", rhetorical, or actual questions. If they're not actual questions then I and others may be wasting our time answering you. I hope you can answer that so we know whether to continue.

Ok, I think I'm quite good at spotting double meaning in language (It's a hobby..in a way).
And I believe that the confusion that many have stated comes from a misunderstanding.

It seems to me as if he would use "support neurodiverstity" in the meaning of "being in favor of neurodiversity" or to put it more bluntly "yay neurodiverse ! !" instead of using "support" in the meaning of "providing help".

At least that would explain the confusion and put his posts in a different light.

Ylevental, Thank you for explaining that you panicked. Makes this thread make a little more sense to me now. Just a little more. Have a great sleep tonight.