Is Everyone On The Spectrum ?

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No, everyone isn’t on the autistic spectrum. Similarly, not everyone is on the schizophrenic spectrum. I’ve heard people say “everyone is a little bit autistic” as a platitude – a way of minimizing differences and stigma, and it may be well-intentioned, but isn’t accurate (and minimizes the needs for accommodation). The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin has a layman’s explanation of some of the significant differences in autistic neurology. There are significant differences from the norm in axonal pruning and connectivity of brain nuclei in autism. There are also mitochondrial and metabolic differences. Autism is characterized by specific common genetic variants and gene copy number variation, and in fact has the highest rates of heritability among psychiatric conditions (this manifested in my own family where my mother, sister, and I are all autistic). There’s a great book by Buxbaum and Hof titled “The Neuroscience of Autism Spectrum Disorders” which goes into great depth on the neurobiology and neuropathology of ASDs; it also describes the “minicolumnopathy” of ASDs where the neural layering of the cortex is quite different and there are similar microstructural differences in the cerebellum which contribute to sensory processing and motor disorders. I really appreciated this book - it helped me understand my own autism. The gene networks and brain regions affected in autism are quite well studied and many published results are available and easy to search for - there’s a short paper for example at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-11- ... utism.html

Yes, it is a spectrum, therefore everyone is on it. Yes, there is a cut-off point, but only in terms of functionality. No, having autism does not mean understanding autism. Ferret. Hail Eris!