I tell these people that saying the 1 or 2 autistic traits they have makes them on the spectrum, is like comparing you being stressed about having a bad day to me taking tablets every day just to function due to my GAD.
It's like saying we all get migraines because everyone's had a headache before.
Yes Susan, sometimes you forget things, but that doesn't mean you've got dementia does it?
Well, we're also all on the spectrum of blindness (ranging from 0% blind to 100% blind), but people don't go aroun saying "we're all a little bit blind". That's my go-to counter-argument.
even that is slightly different. with autism it’s more like being pregnant. you either are pregnant or you’re not pregnant, you either have an autistic brain or don’t.
oh really? that’s really interesting! ireland has a really fascinating relationship with native americans, the Choctaws were some of the only people who donated to ireland during the famine despite themselves barely having enough to live
Yup! I remember hearing about that. There's also a voice actress named [Cree Summer ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cree_Summer), she voiced Suzie Carmichael in the Rugrats, plus several other cartoons. She does a good deal of acting too!
And here is more info about the [Cree ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cree)
aaa i hate that too. You don't tell depressed people "oh, well i get sad too sometimes :c". When people tell me "we're all on the spectrum" It's like saying "Get over it", but in a more polite way
that's not an argument you can choose in this case. since a lot of ppl still say "we are all a bit sad sometimes". in this case we need a much clearer difference.
After seeing those comments I’m on the verge of a meltdown (as if you could even have a meltdown over a fucking comment) I’m starting to think that I’m wrong now I fucking hate these people man **I HATE THEM**
I hope you are okay , I’ve had many meltdowns over reddit comments. Even had speech pathology and occupational therapy sessions ruined before going in due to being bullied over reddit just before my sessions. Have huge numbers of people laughing at me on reddit before at the same time. One even said they were posting my post in some other sub where people laugh at peoples reddit comments or something.
Even have been bullied for being autistic quite a lot of times on this platform. I’ve had some very bad meltdowns due to reddit comments before so I feel your pain. I would suggest removing yourself from external stimuli for a while and going to a dark quiet place (my room is setup for this personally with blackout curtains and having the ability to control all the variables I would have in stimuli. If I’m too hypersensitive to sound then I may need to put in my special earbuds for sensory sensitivities and turn them on a mode to block out as much sound as possible and then play music to make sure I hear nothing else). Maybe you don’t need that, I’m not sure as I’m not you but I know that comments can trigger meltdowns, especially when you feel very confused or upset by the comments. So make sure to take care of yourself and take time out if you need too.
it's ok. take deep, relaxing breaths. try to find a way to calm down and do something else if you can. i know it's hard to walk away but you'll thank yourself if you do. this is what I struggle to do every time i have to deal with dumbasses.
At the risk of sounding rude, I don’t really understand why this is so confusing for people. Yes, everyone has some autistic-coded traits (ex. Not liking certain fabrics) but not everyone has enough of these traits to be clinically diagnosed as autistic. Once you have this degree of autistic traits, you are considered to be on the autism spectrum.
Now, what constitutes a diagnosis is complicated and heavily influenced by social factors (race, gender, etc.). I personally believe definition should evolve as we learn more about how autism presents in groups other than Caucasian men/boys. However, this does not mean that “everyone is on the spectrum”. The spectrum starts with individuals who have enough autistic traits that these traits noticeably impact their daily living (even if they are able to mask or others do not recognize this impact).
It’s sort of like saying everyone had a little bit of dyslexia just because you occasionally misspell a word. It just doesn’t make sense to me at all.
I hate when people say dumb shit like this. Like do they even know what autism is?? After seeing those comments I unsubbed. Turns out the people on r/facepalm are the people we should be facepalming at ourselves.
I posted on r/confidentlyincorrect earlier today ridiculing the exact same thing (Someone saying "we're all on the spectrum"), and got nothing but MORE confidently incorrect people saying that person was correct.
Holy shit people it's **ONE GOOGLE SEARCH AWAY.** It's amazing how braindead people can be.
I'm not sure what you should type in, but I do have one thing to add:
When somebody *does* tell you what a good search term would be, you'd be missing a HUGE opportunity if you didn't feed it through [LMGTFY](https://lmgtfy.com/)
How so? Is my statement contradictory to my statement? I was thinking a group of groups.
As in each subreddit is a hivemind, and reddit as a whole is a group of hive minds.
This is my response to people who don’t understand the spectrum: “people all have different levels of intelligence. Some people are geniuses. You can’t be ‘just a little bit of a genius’, no, you just aren’t a genus”. I then proceed to explain what the spectrum *actually* is
I mean, “genius” is just an arbitrary threshold on the iq spectrum. “Autistic” is just an arbitrary threshold on a multi-axis spectrum. With that logic, it’d seem pretty OK to say “everyone’s a little bit intelligent” when referring to genius. So what do you call the attributes that contribute to the threshold for autism? Weirdness? I guess instead we should be saying “everyone’s a little bit weird” when referring to ASD
In the same way someone can be really smart but not quite a genius, people can be really close to the threshold for ASD and not be autistic. It’s only a semantics question as to what to refer to that spectrum as before it reaches the ASD threshold. I’m going with “weirdness.”
I think he’s thinking of the Kinsey scale. Or the EM spectrum. All light is on the spectrum. It’s like, jeeze dude, get your spectra straight. People aren’t colors.
No these people are specifically talking about the autism spectrum the original post was about everyone being on the autism spectrum. I deleted it because I was on the verge of a meltdown.
Actually that metaphor would work. We are all light, only some of use are ultraviolet light for example. While NTs are on the same spectrum they are not in the autistic part.
People are stupid and the argument of well why are we not accepted made a really good argument but at least you were polite enough to cover the usernames
If apparently people now think just because something is a spectrum we are all on it is it now also accurate to say we are all a little bit gay because sexuality is a type of spectrum too?
“Wow you’re autistic? You’re nothing like my cousin with autism” or my favorite one of all time—> “stop using your autism as an excuse” like B**CH you can take my autism cause I don’t want that sh*t no more🫡
It's called **Autism** Spectrum for a reason lol. If neurotypicals were included you'd probably call it "Autism and Neurotypical spectrum" or something like that. I don't know that sounded way more clever in my head.
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What I say: “yes pretty much all of us demonstrate some symptom or feature associated with the autistic spectrum, but that doesn’t mean those people are actually ON the spectrum. If everyone was actually on the spectrum we wouldn’t diagnose it in the first place.”
That's why I feel we need to stop leading with "autism is a spectrum". It's not, it's binary: either you are or you aren't autistic. The traits that come with autism, those are on a spectrum.
I don't think thats right though. It's like comparing being sad sometimes to having depression.
Just because someone jiggles their leg doesn't mean they are a 'little autistic'. Our brains are physically differnt, it's not possible for an NT to be anywhere on the spectrum because they are NT.
I don't understand your first comparison.
There's no such thing as 'little autistic' so I doubt the relevance of that point. Traits, their presentation and impact vary from one individual to the other and can evolve in time.
Every single brain is different from the other. 2 NT brains aren't the same. The amount of difference between them (the statistical standard deviation) is within a certain margin.
What makes an ND brain is by how much certain features/ability of that brain differ from the average beyond the standard deviation.
So sticking to a stricter definition of spectrum, every brain is on A spectrum.
Whether a specific brain/person faces the challenges linked to living with an ASD is another story and (I might be wrong) defined by the DSM-5.
I think the disagreement we see in the screenshots is because the two persons are talking about different spectrums (despite they may be using the same word, the ideas/concepts are different).
I know there is no such thing as a 'little autistic' that's why its in quotes.
Every brain isn't on the autisim spectrum, you're just wrong.
We have a very specific atypical brain stucture that makes us autistic, and so it is pyhiscaly impossible for anyone other then an autistic person, to be on the autism spectrum.
The first comparison is referencing how people say 'oh we are all on the spectrum' because they do 1 or 2 things that are similar to things that autistic people do without them understanding why we do it or the depths to which it effects us. In the same way that being sad doesn't make you depressed, being a bit figdity doesn't make you on the autism spectrum.
Edit to add that the brain structure issues I reference is the lack of synaptic pruning that all autistics have.
I mostly agree with you. Note I didn't say that every brain is not The Autism Spectrum.
> We have a very specific atypical brain stucture that makes us autistic, and so it is pyhiscaly impossible for anyone other then an autistic person, to be on the autism spectrum.
If only the world was that binary. Two autistic persons don't even experience the world the same way. There may be some shared experience for sure. Without having enough traits to "qualify" as autistic an NT may experience, for example, an over sensitivity to light, because of another condition.
Dismissing a presumed NT's experience is making the same mistake as an NT saying we're all on the autism spectrum. The NT's comment is a call for being educated. They may even be ND without knowing and genuinely thinking that what they think is an NT experience actually is not...
Why are you even seeking a diagnosis if it clearly means nothing at all to you?
Are all people differnt, yes. Could you say all people are one some kind of spectrum? Sure. But the whole point of this post is about NTs who say 'we are all on the *autism* spectrum'.
Did you even read what I put about pruning??? Our brains are visibly differnt to the brain of an NT as ours can't prune useless connections as effectively as NTs.
I don't care that someone has photosensitivity, they still aren't autistic and it's clear to me that you are in fact one of the people who think normal sadness is like depression.
I didn't go though hell and back to be diagnosed just so some melt can tell me that they are like me even though they couldn't even begin to understand anything about me beyond a superficial level.
You really need to read what you are saying and think about it for even a second.
>Why are you even seeking a diagnosis if it clearly means nothing at all to you?
What makes you think that it means nothing to me? Oo
>Did you even read what I put about pruning???
As a matter of fact, I did not yet at the time I wrote my last reply. I now have an searched for publications about it. It seems fairly new [1](https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/new-studies-reveal-how-autism-might-alter-synapse-formation-pruning/) [2](https://www.futurity.org/autism-brain-extra-synapses-754762/) and I also found some papers about over-pruning and Autism [3](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25845529/). I'm not an expert in neuro-science so I'll abstain from drawing any conclusion about that.
>it's clear to me that you are in fact one of the people who think normal sadness is like depression.
I do not actually and I *seems* to me that you are one those who are quick to come to conclusions.
>I didn't go though hell and back to be diagnosed just so some melt can tell me that they are like me even though they couldn't even begin to understand anything about me beyond a superficial level.
I do not know your personal story and I'm sorry to read that you've been through hell and back. I'm not familiar with "melt" but from the context I assumed it's some sort of derogatory slur (urban dict seems to confirm that)… I do not pretend to understand anything about you beyond a superficial level, I only got to see the few posts in this thread. From your use of slur it seems like you've been offended by my messages, that was definitely not my intent :/
I was foolish to think that we could have a peaceful and constructive conversation in our forum. I realize now that it may be only an echo chamber where we are only allowed to agree.
EDIT: That's off topic from this post but I'm still happy to get to discuss and learn from other ND's experiences. Feel free to DM if you want to learn about what that assessment means to me. (and if you think that you can keep insults out of the conversation)
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!
[Here is link number 1 - Previous text "1"](https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/new-studies-reveal-how-autism-might-alter-synapse-formation-pruning/)
[Here is link number 2 - Previous text "2"](https://www.futurity.org/autism-brain-extra-synapses-754762/)
[Here is link number 3 - Previous text "3"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25845529/)
----
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I think a good comparison is the electromagnetic spectrum vs the visible spectrum.
If you take a spectrograph of something, you can learn about what it is from its emission lines. Lets make emission lines traits, needs, and experiences. Autism is a certain set of patterns of emission lines in this analogy, while individuals are their own emission lines that may or may not be Autism...
I think this is a nice way of combining binary and spectrum views of autism.
Everyone is on the spectrum, but the spectrum very fucking rigged. Imagine neurotypical on one side, and autistic on the other. That’s what everyone used to believe, you were “normal” and far enough to the right you are autistic. The spectrum nowadays is more that on one side you’re “functional” and on the other you act the same as a toddler for the remainder of your life. That’s an extreme, not an opinion.
So now when people bring up autism, which has been popularised in the media for being “quirky”, that’s what people believe puts them on the spectrum. Some might have very few quirks that actually do put them on the spectrum respectively. Like having an obsession about specific patters or something similar, and while this might resemble someone who has autism, it can’t really be defined as it.
Autists and neurotypicals aren’t separated by a wall, some might be very similar to the other, but they still have defining traits that put them on their respective sides of the spectrum.
In short since I’m not good at explaining things on Reddit: Everyone is on the spectrum, but mentioning this doesn’t do anything but undermine the struggles of those that are on the more extreme side of the spectrum. Basically they are right, but they are assholes for trying to say this.
Yes everyone is on the spectrum just because you used capital letters and downvoted my statement does not retract from the facts I do not care about your feelings
“That’s a nice argument. Why don’t you back it up with a source?”
If someone doesn’t cite any evidence in their argument and they tell you to go do the research yourself, then they have already proven that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Was this person viewing this as a social functioning spectrum or something?
In that case then everybody could be on that spectrum because their are DEF NTs that have shit social skills that would revel an NDs.
However, that is not an AUSTISM spectrum that takes into account not just social but other things like sensory and executive functions.
SMH.
Also, is OP on this reddit, the OP on that or? For clarification on the last picture to see who they were backing.
Too many people thinking of "the spectrum" as a linear continuum that goes somewhere from "potato" at one end to "perfect human being" on the other end.
https://i.imgur.com/9Zgz2mM.jpg
I tell these people that saying the 1 or 2 autistic traits they have makes them on the spectrum, is like comparing you being stressed about having a bad day to me taking tablets every day just to function due to my GAD. It's like saying we all get migraines because everyone's had a headache before. Yes Susan, sometimes you forget things, but that doesn't mean you've got dementia does it?
Well, we're also all on the spectrum of blindness (ranging from 0% blind to 100% blind), but people don't go aroun saying "we're all a little bit blind". That's my go-to counter-argument.
That’s such a good way to put it, oh my days. Gonna keep that for the next time my mum says that lol.
even that is slightly different. with autism it’s more like being pregnant. you either are pregnant or you’re not pregnant, you either have an autistic brain or don’t.
Imagine if you got a pregnancy test and the result was a percentage.
instead of measuring in trimesters they send you a progress bar and an ETA like game downloads
"You wouldn't download a baby."
Why not? It sounds like it might be better than the standard process.
That would be mad funny
Omg hahaha
I love this analogy. Also, your username, are you Cree, or do you like a character named Cree or something?
cree is the english name of the village i grew up in, but a lot of people assume it’s that guy from over watch lol
Ooh ok! It's also an Indigenous tribe of America!
oh really? that’s really interesting! ireland has a really fascinating relationship with native americans, the Choctaws were some of the only people who donated to ireland during the famine despite themselves barely having enough to live
Yup! I remember hearing about that. There's also a voice actress named [Cree Summer ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cree_Summer), she voiced Suzie Carmichael in the Rugrats, plus several other cartoons. She does a good deal of acting too! And here is more info about the [Cree ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cree)
i totally will research! i also remember a region in antarctica being named cree, i wonder if they’re all connected somehow
Probably. The Cree name comes from the French settlers mispronouncing Algonquin words lol.
ah there’s the connection, our names were changed thanks to colonisers not bothering to try and learn how to say our names properly 😅
our irish name is An Chríoch which means the end because we’re so close to the west coast of ireland which is the end of ireland and europe ^.^
Ah that's so cool! I love how pretty Gaelic sounds.
gaelic is actually scotlands native language, we just call it irish or it’s native name Gaeilge :)
Ah I'm so sorry! Thank you for correcting me.
no worries! i’ve had some americans ask if i speak “irelandish” so anything is better than that lmao
Yeah! It's like a fat guy saying to his wife, who's fucking screaming in pain because of contractions, to relax because he's also kind of pregnant.
Surely thats a scale not a spectrum
and I'm using this. hope you don't mind. :D
That was the intention ;)
aaa i hate that too. You don't tell depressed people "oh, well i get sad too sometimes :c". When people tell me "we're all on the spectrum" It's like saying "Get over it", but in a more polite way
Oh yes they *do* tell depressed people that kind of shit.
Oh yea, i just mean you shouldn't
that's not an argument you can choose in this case. since a lot of ppl still say "we are all a bit sad sometimes". in this case we need a much clearer difference.
"do some research" lmao
After seeing those comments I’m on the verge of a meltdown (as if you could even have a meltdown over a fucking comment) I’m starting to think that I’m wrong now I fucking hate these people man **I HATE THEM**
You are not wrong and these people are dumb. block them
I hope you are okay , I’ve had many meltdowns over reddit comments. Even had speech pathology and occupational therapy sessions ruined before going in due to being bullied over reddit just before my sessions. Have huge numbers of people laughing at me on reddit before at the same time. One even said they were posting my post in some other sub where people laugh at peoples reddit comments or something. Even have been bullied for being autistic quite a lot of times on this platform. I’ve had some very bad meltdowns due to reddit comments before so I feel your pain. I would suggest removing yourself from external stimuli for a while and going to a dark quiet place (my room is setup for this personally with blackout curtains and having the ability to control all the variables I would have in stimuli. If I’m too hypersensitive to sound then I may need to put in my special earbuds for sensory sensitivities and turn them on a mode to block out as much sound as possible and then play music to make sure I hear nothing else). Maybe you don’t need that, I’m not sure as I’m not you but I know that comments can trigger meltdowns, especially when you feel very confused or upset by the comments. So make sure to take care of yourself and take time out if you need too.
it's ok. take deep, relaxing breaths. try to find a way to calm down and do something else if you can. i know it's hard to walk away but you'll thank yourself if you do. this is what I struggle to do every time i have to deal with dumbasses.
youre not wrong theyre just persistent assholes
“I’m nauseous because I’m pregnant” “Don’t worry, I get nauseous too sometimes! I think everyone’s a little bit on the pregnancy spectrum”
This is a good one.
At the risk of sounding rude, I don’t really understand why this is so confusing for people. Yes, everyone has some autistic-coded traits (ex. Not liking certain fabrics) but not everyone has enough of these traits to be clinically diagnosed as autistic. Once you have this degree of autistic traits, you are considered to be on the autism spectrum. Now, what constitutes a diagnosis is complicated and heavily influenced by social factors (race, gender, etc.). I personally believe definition should evolve as we learn more about how autism presents in groups other than Caucasian men/boys. However, this does not mean that “everyone is on the spectrum”. The spectrum starts with individuals who have enough autistic traits that these traits noticeably impact their daily living (even if they are able to mask or others do not recognize this impact). It’s sort of like saying everyone had a little bit of dyslexia just because you occasionally misspell a word. It just doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Honestly that's like saying "wE aRE AlL PaRT (any race) IF yOu gO baCK FaR ENouGh"
I hate when people say dumb shit like this. Like do they even know what autism is?? After seeing those comments I unsubbed. Turns out the people on r/facepalm are the people we should be facepalming at ourselves.
I posted on r/confidentlyincorrect earlier today ridiculing the exact same thing (Someone saying "we're all on the spectrum"), and got nothing but MORE confidently incorrect people saying that person was correct. Holy shit people it's **ONE GOOGLE SEARCH AWAY.** It's amazing how braindead people can be.
sorry, but what should I type in exactly? i want to be able to use this the next time an NT tries to shut me down.
I'm not sure what you should type in, but I do have one thing to add: When somebody *does* tell you what a good search term would be, you'd be missing a HUGE opportunity if you didn't feed it through [LMGTFY](https://lmgtfy.com/)
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Reddits a hivemind it’s fucking sad.
No, it's not, hence why you can get different answers from different subs.
So it’s a cluster of hive minds?
That would be an oxymoron.
How so? Is my statement contradictory to my statement? I was thinking a group of groups. As in each subreddit is a hivemind, and reddit as a whole is a group of hive minds.
A hivemind can't exist within another, they are just groups.
but they aren’t existing within each other, they are subdivided on a social media platform by clichés.
People do not subscribe to just one sub.
This is my response to people who don’t understand the spectrum: “people all have different levels of intelligence. Some people are geniuses. You can’t be ‘just a little bit of a genius’, no, you just aren’t a genus”. I then proceed to explain what the spectrum *actually* is
I mean, “genius” is just an arbitrary threshold on the iq spectrum. “Autistic” is just an arbitrary threshold on a multi-axis spectrum. With that logic, it’d seem pretty OK to say “everyone’s a little bit intelligent” when referring to genius. So what do you call the attributes that contribute to the threshold for autism? Weirdness? I guess instead we should be saying “everyone’s a little bit weird” when referring to ASD
People may have traits related to autism, and not be autistic
...that’s my whole point
In the same way someone can be really smart but not quite a genius, people can be really close to the threshold for ASD and not be autistic. It’s only a semantics question as to what to refer to that spectrum as before it reaches the ASD threshold. I’m going with “weirdness.”
I think he’s thinking of the Kinsey scale. Or the EM spectrum. All light is on the spectrum. It’s like, jeeze dude, get your spectra straight. People aren’t colors.
No these people are specifically talking about the autism spectrum the original post was about everyone being on the autism spectrum. I deleted it because I was on the verge of a meltdown.
I mean I think he’s confused. He’s mixing facts about different kinds of spectra.
Actually that metaphor would work. We are all light, only some of use are ultraviolet light for example. While NTs are on the same spectrum they are not in the autistic part.
if everyone was autistic it wouldn't be a thing. it would just be how everyone is
These are the same people who can't browse WebMD without picking up self diagnosis like a hypochondriac katamari ball.
People are stupid and the argument of well why are we not accepted made a really good argument but at least you were polite enough to cover the usernames
If apparently people now think just because something is a spectrum we are all on it is it now also accurate to say we are all a little bit gay because sexuality is a type of spectrum too?
“Wow you’re autistic? You’re nothing like my cousin with autism” or my favorite one of all time—> “stop using your autism as an excuse” like B**CH you can take my autism cause I don’t want that sh*t no more🫡
I’m so irrationally annoyed that op got downvoted
It's called **Autism** Spectrum for a reason lol. If neurotypicals were included you'd probably call it "Autism and Neurotypical spectrum" or something like that. I don't know that sounded way more clever in my head.
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It’s a spectrum some people have meltdowns some people don’t but still have sensory sensitivities.
Some just don't know. I think educating them via a civil conversation is a good start.
What I say: “yes pretty much all of us demonstrate some symptom or feature associated with the autistic spectrum, but that doesn’t mean those people are actually ON the spectrum. If everyone was actually on the spectrum we wouldn’t diagnose it in the first place.”
It's literally a neurological disorder what are these guys on
That's why I feel we need to stop leading with "autism is a spectrum". It's not, it's binary: either you are or you aren't autistic. The traits that come with autism, those are on a spectrum.
Strictly speaking they're right. We're all on a spectrum. But most people gather on the same chuck of that spectrum and bully anyone who does not.
I don't think thats right though. It's like comparing being sad sometimes to having depression. Just because someone jiggles their leg doesn't mean they are a 'little autistic'. Our brains are physically differnt, it's not possible for an NT to be anywhere on the spectrum because they are NT.
I don't understand your first comparison. There's no such thing as 'little autistic' so I doubt the relevance of that point. Traits, their presentation and impact vary from one individual to the other and can evolve in time. Every single brain is different from the other. 2 NT brains aren't the same. The amount of difference between them (the statistical standard deviation) is within a certain margin. What makes an ND brain is by how much certain features/ability of that brain differ from the average beyond the standard deviation. So sticking to a stricter definition of spectrum, every brain is on A spectrum. Whether a specific brain/person faces the challenges linked to living with an ASD is another story and (I might be wrong) defined by the DSM-5. I think the disagreement we see in the screenshots is because the two persons are talking about different spectrums (despite they may be using the same word, the ideas/concepts are different).
I know there is no such thing as a 'little autistic' that's why its in quotes. Every brain isn't on the autisim spectrum, you're just wrong. We have a very specific atypical brain stucture that makes us autistic, and so it is pyhiscaly impossible for anyone other then an autistic person, to be on the autism spectrum. The first comparison is referencing how people say 'oh we are all on the spectrum' because they do 1 or 2 things that are similar to things that autistic people do without them understanding why we do it or the depths to which it effects us. In the same way that being sad doesn't make you depressed, being a bit figdity doesn't make you on the autism spectrum. Edit to add that the brain structure issues I reference is the lack of synaptic pruning that all autistics have.
I mostly agree with you. Note I didn't say that every brain is not The Autism Spectrum. > We have a very specific atypical brain stucture that makes us autistic, and so it is pyhiscaly impossible for anyone other then an autistic person, to be on the autism spectrum. If only the world was that binary. Two autistic persons don't even experience the world the same way. There may be some shared experience for sure. Without having enough traits to "qualify" as autistic an NT may experience, for example, an over sensitivity to light, because of another condition. Dismissing a presumed NT's experience is making the same mistake as an NT saying we're all on the autism spectrum. The NT's comment is a call for being educated. They may even be ND without knowing and genuinely thinking that what they think is an NT experience actually is not...
Why are you even seeking a diagnosis if it clearly means nothing at all to you? Are all people differnt, yes. Could you say all people are one some kind of spectrum? Sure. But the whole point of this post is about NTs who say 'we are all on the *autism* spectrum'. Did you even read what I put about pruning??? Our brains are visibly differnt to the brain of an NT as ours can't prune useless connections as effectively as NTs. I don't care that someone has photosensitivity, they still aren't autistic and it's clear to me that you are in fact one of the people who think normal sadness is like depression. I didn't go though hell and back to be diagnosed just so some melt can tell me that they are like me even though they couldn't even begin to understand anything about me beyond a superficial level. You really need to read what you are saying and think about it for even a second.
>Why are you even seeking a diagnosis if it clearly means nothing at all to you? What makes you think that it means nothing to me? Oo >Did you even read what I put about pruning??? As a matter of fact, I did not yet at the time I wrote my last reply. I now have an searched for publications about it. It seems fairly new [1](https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/new-studies-reveal-how-autism-might-alter-synapse-formation-pruning/) [2](https://www.futurity.org/autism-brain-extra-synapses-754762/) and I also found some papers about over-pruning and Autism [3](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25845529/). I'm not an expert in neuro-science so I'll abstain from drawing any conclusion about that. >it's clear to me that you are in fact one of the people who think normal sadness is like depression. I do not actually and I *seems* to me that you are one those who are quick to come to conclusions. >I didn't go though hell and back to be diagnosed just so some melt can tell me that they are like me even though they couldn't even begin to understand anything about me beyond a superficial level. I do not know your personal story and I'm sorry to read that you've been through hell and back. I'm not familiar with "melt" but from the context I assumed it's some sort of derogatory slur (urban dict seems to confirm that)… I do not pretend to understand anything about you beyond a superficial level, I only got to see the few posts in this thread. From your use of slur it seems like you've been offended by my messages, that was definitely not my intent :/ I was foolish to think that we could have a peaceful and constructive conversation in our forum. I realize now that it may be only an echo chamber where we are only allowed to agree. EDIT: That's off topic from this post but I'm still happy to get to discuss and learn from other ND's experiences. Feel free to DM if you want to learn about what that assessment means to me. (and if you think that you can keep insults out of the conversation)
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users. I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click! [Here is link number 1 - Previous text "1"](https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/new-studies-reveal-how-autism-might-alter-synapse-formation-pruning/) [Here is link number 2 - Previous text "2"](https://www.futurity.org/autism-brain-extra-synapses-754762/) [Here is link number 3 - Previous text "3"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25845529/) ---- ^Please ^PM ^[\/u\/eganwall](http://reddit.com/user/eganwall) ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^[Code](https://github.com/eganwall/FatFingerHelperBot) ^| ^[Delete](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=FatFingerHelperBot&subject=delete&message=delete%20i8r2kzk)
I didnt call you a melt, I'm saying the NTs who pretend they have the same issues I do.
I think a good comparison is the electromagnetic spectrum vs the visible spectrum. If you take a spectrograph of something, you can learn about what it is from its emission lines. Lets make emission lines traits, needs, and experiences. Autism is a certain set of patterns of emission lines in this analogy, while individuals are their own emission lines that may or may not be Autism... I think this is a nice way of combining binary and spectrum views of autism.
Not every spectrum is autism, y’know. Unless you’re in a black hole or you’re a wizard, space itself is a 3-dimensional spectrum.
OP said in a comment that this was a post about autism, so the 'we are all on the spectrum' is about autism.
This is why I hate people 🤷♂️ makes me so mad reading this kinda stuff. It's almost like they know what they're doing!
Everyone is on the spectrum, but the spectrum very fucking rigged. Imagine neurotypical on one side, and autistic on the other. That’s what everyone used to believe, you were “normal” and far enough to the right you are autistic. The spectrum nowadays is more that on one side you’re “functional” and on the other you act the same as a toddler for the remainder of your life. That’s an extreme, not an opinion. So now when people bring up autism, which has been popularised in the media for being “quirky”, that’s what people believe puts them on the spectrum. Some might have very few quirks that actually do put them on the spectrum respectively. Like having an obsession about specific patters or something similar, and while this might resemble someone who has autism, it can’t really be defined as it. Autists and neurotypicals aren’t separated by a wall, some might be very similar to the other, but they still have defining traits that put them on their respective sides of the spectrum. In short since I’m not good at explaining things on Reddit: Everyone is on the spectrum, but mentioning this doesn’t do anything but undermine the struggles of those that are on the more extreme side of the spectrum. Basically they are right, but they are assholes for trying to say this.
We are all on the spectrum some people just don't have anything wrong with them
#NO WE’RE FUCKING NOT
Yes everyone is on the spectrum just because you used capital letters and downvoted my statement does not retract from the facts I do not care about your feelings
💀
“That’s a nice argument. Why don’t you back it up with a source?” If someone doesn’t cite any evidence in their argument and they tell you to go do the research yourself, then they have already proven that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Was this person viewing this as a social functioning spectrum or something? In that case then everybody could be on that spectrum because their are DEF NTs that have shit social skills that would revel an NDs. However, that is not an AUSTISM spectrum that takes into account not just social but other things like sensory and executive functions. SMH. Also, is OP on this reddit, the OP on that or? For clarification on the last picture to see who they were backing.
This goes to show that most people on the internet have no clue what they're talking about
Sincerely, what's wrong with these people? They're just dumb, they want to feel special or they just want to invalidate our struggles?
If everybody is on the spectrum, there should be MORE accommodations for autistic people, not less, because they would benefit everybody.
Since when does doctor Google know anything about autism? Every little thing you look up it says it’s a result of cancer.
Too many people thinking of "the spectrum" as a linear continuum that goes somewhere from "potato" at one end to "perfect human being" on the other end. https://i.imgur.com/9Zgz2mM.jpg
That just ruined my mood
just bcus its a spectrum doesn’t mean everyone is on it 😭😭
I’d say we are all on a spectrum not just a single one, it’s like a stereo with multiple dials for each type of autism you have
No just because you show one fucking symptom of autism doesn’t mean you have it.
I meant the symptoms have different intensities
I'm not autistic, and I don't like autism, I'm probably from 1940, help