Spectrumizing the Spectrum

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I think that within each severity level is a separate spectrum from mild to severe. I'm moderate to moderate/severe level 2. This is on a global scale. Obviously everyone is different.

The "spectrum" idea is not meant to be taken absolutely literally.

It's meant as an all-encompassing, perhaps "imperfect," illustration of how varied autism is.

In the words of Popeye* ... "I am what i am!"

*(in case you are not sure who Popeye is, he is the cartoon sailor from the early 1930's.
Famed for his use of spinach to aid him in his fistty cuff battles with villains and especially Bluto, his arch enemy.
He also had a sweet strange looking girl friend olive, a baby called sweeps, an obese hamburger eating friend called Wimpy and last but not least an invisible cat friend called Cheeba).

...meaning, what makes me is me, categorisation sometimes can lead to assumptions
that lead to mistreatment.

I feel that categorisation is there so that those who need support get support,
however the categorisation is not all encompassing nor a competition.

I would say that in some areas, people who need no support can still be more disabled than
even those who require high level of support (for example. someone with Asperger Syndrome can have sensory impairment but not need any support, where as some who are low functioning may need supported living but may not suffer from sensory impairment).

It is what it is.

There is also the debate that discusses IQ and incapacity as it relates to employment.
Some low functioning people with autism spectrum disorder may find good employment where they are treated well, and they are intellectually stimulated fairly easily - so employed to the level of their capabilities.

However, some people with Asperger syndrome may have high IQs but not be able to find employment in any area that requires their level of intellect, due to the amount of pressure due to work load and psychological stress.
So inevitably end up unemployed or underemployed.

So the disability causes much higher level of disability in them, even though it is not perceived.
So yep, ascertaining how severe a persons disability is, is a much more complex matter than simply slapping a label on someone according to how able a person is at doing normal every day tasks.

Used to watch it as a kid, but I was dissapointed. I hated spinach but I would eat it anyway and nope. It does not work. My muscles never dis get suddenly large. Mabe one has to suck spinach in tnrough a pipe to make it work but I doubt it.

I think a 0-100 scales is more accurate.

But it isn't all "pure science." The study of autism certainly isn't "pure science" a lot of the time. It's "applied science
a lot of the time.

Anecdote has at least as much a place in forming "truth" as empirical, scientific evidence.

The "Spectrum" is metaphor----a term that is derived from "Art" as well as "science.". And it's meaningful because it's illustrative. It's not to be taken literally. It's not a product of "pure science." It's somewhat a product of "art."

I end up sharing this article almost any time someone mentions the spectrum, because it's a good explanation of why the way people often think of a 'spectrum' as a scale from severe to mild is wrong. That's not a spectrum, that's a gradient.

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/04/its ... you-think/

Those 5 (or however many) standard severity levels they use are of course just arbitrary limits drawn up to make it easier to classify people according to how much attention health professionals, educators, etc. might be expected to give the individual who has been awarded the classification. As a tool for understanding the person, it's a pretty blunt instrument. Naturally the reality is not 5 quantum levels but something continuous. But I don't think it's that simple. There's a lot of wildly different traits, each having its own degree of "severity" (perhaps a less judgemental word is "intensity") in a given person. So everybody has an autistic trait profile just like they have a personality profile. The Rdos questionnaire attempts to represent that as a circular diagram. How well it succeeds depends on how apt the chosen categories are. They're bound to be somewhat arbitrary.