Do you think autism exist?

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Well, it is not exactly these that I want to ask (of course autism exists). My question is:

- Do you think autism exist as a discret entitie, that some people ("autistics") have and others ("NTs") don't have?

or

- Do you think that everybody has autism in some degree, and the difference between "autistics" and "NTs" is simply a matter of convention (above a certain level of autism, you are "autistic", below you are "NT")?

[I think that, if we accept the second view, frequent questions like "autism is over- or under-diagnosed?" are totally meaningless]

I think either you have it or you don't.

I don't think it's as clear cut as some people would like to believe. It's a spectrum that fades into eccentric normality, and even throughout an autistic individual's life, the spectrum for them is not neccessarily static (ie those who may have been a classic autistic as a child and have sinced progressed to HFA).

Some relatives of autistic individuals display isolated traits of autism which is in itself interesting, for example, my mum stims and sometimes has hypersensitivity but that's about it, and my nan has terrible social skills, is resistant to change and has moderate obbsessive compulsive tendencies but those traits are more to do with her personality.

I think it's neccessary to apply the label of 'autism' or 'ASD' when a relative combination of traits causes significant difficulties and differences in perception and lifestyle for the individual. So I don't think having the second view or at least leanings towards it makes the question of over/under diagnosis irrelevent. It can still be a spectrum from severe autism to a few meaningless autistic traits with recognition given to those past a certain point where quirks become difficulties, whether that be culturally or beyond.

Some people have autistic traits, like never developing social communications empathy ability because they lacked a mother/father figure when they were early infants, or because they spend all their time in a computer lab. But to have all the traits (sensory integration dysfunction, inability to lie or compartmentalize, etc) means that you can't just become "unautistic" by training to have better communications empathy skills.

For brief periods of time I have been able to be and think like normal people. You know the old "Wizard of Oz" movie where Oz was in full color and flowers but Kansas was black and white and stark? Being like normal people is like being in Kansas. Being Asperger is like being in Oz. Normal people tend to lead pretty dry, phony existences when they grow up because the ability to posture, lie and socialize superficially are all relatively empty life skills that drain meaning from their lives. The whole Peter Pan, Never-Never Land story is a metaphor for the lost world of magic that normal grownups lose.

There is a complex of intellectual and emotional and sensory makeup features that makes being Asperger/Autistic a very special kind of existence. Normal people might have one or two features of autism, but they don't have the total experience.

Of course.


I am sure you have heard this joke, "Everyone is on the spectrum" and "Everyone is autistic when they are born."