No, that's not how the autism spectrum works.
> Autism is a spectrum, and yes, on one end of that spectrum it can be debilitating and both those with autism and their caretakers need and deserve support. On the other end? Normal fucking people with jobs and hobbies and families...
While there is a colloquial use of the word *spectrum* to mean a scale from a little to a lot, the "autism spectrum" is a technical term in the field of psychology, so it doesn't mean that. In optics, a spectrum is a breakdown of light into its component colors. It's the rainbow you see when you pass a beam of light through a prism. And similarly, the autism spectrum is how we decompose autism into a set of autistic traits.
The autism spectrum is not a scale from low-functioning to high-functioning. There are autistic people who are socially awkward and stim a lot, and those that are fine socially but have a lot of sensory issues. That's what the spectrum means. And "profound autism" is not a thing, either.
Autistic people darkly joke that we're either seen as low-functioning so we get no agency, or we're high-functioning and get no support. Bullshit functioning labels do not help us – they only help people figure out the easiest way to ignore us and our needs.
Whenever autism becomes the main character, a lot of people will jump into the conversation only to show how ignorant they are. Keep in mind that even people who purport to know about autism generally have very little idea what they are talking about. Be skeptical of allistic people who think they are smart about autism. Dunning-Kruger comes for everyone.
#ActuallyAutistic #autism #autistic
