AIBU to not like the term 'on the spectrum' to mean autistic/has autism

[UndertheCedartree]

It really bugs me! Lots of conditions have spectrums so you could be talking about anything. It's so imprecise.

Also, I think it perpetuates the myth that there is one spectrum and everyone is on it somewhere so everyone is autistic to a greater or lesser extent.

@Cuckoosheep be careful with yoga if he's hyper mobile, it's a weird common comorbidity with Autism.

He does have hypermobility and dydpraxia also. He goes to a school with two on site OT's (under 100 children, each child has at least 1:1 support at all times, some have 2:1, 5 children per class as more adults than kids, on site slt's too etc). The OT's run the yoga.

#dyspraxia

Spectrum to me is autism
But I feel like it should be numbered though . As in: you have been diagnosed with autism 5
Because there's such a big difference with autism and autism.

Being on the spectrum i think embodies that really well . But the beginning of the spectrum(autism 1) wouldn't be a neurotypical person. It would be a person with what previously be called Aspergers. And on the other end of the spectrum would be a non verbal, violent 9 year old with a mental capacity of a 2 year old. (Which would be autism 10) And then everything in between.
Dunnow. Might be whack too.
But there are so many autistic kids in my dcs school. And some of them seem like any regular oll' student and some of them are stood in the courtyard yelling and throwing bins around etc.

What I actually hate is when people talke about "being autistic" vs having autism

You are not autistic, you are you. And you have autism

The term " aspie" makes me cringe too

The spectrum isn't linear.

And I am autistic, thanks.

Whoah! I didn't say it wasn't recognised as a neurodiversity, I said it was not as recognised as a neurodiversity as autism. I've come across many people who had no idea ADHD makes you ND and I know some people with ADHD that do not accept the ND label. With autism everyone seems to know it's a neurodiversity and I personally haven't come across people that disagree with that.

Just a note, I'm not policing anyone else's language. Just explaining why I dislike the term 'on the spectrum'.

The spectrum of autism is much more complicated than that.

And many of us feel we are autistic in the same way, I am a woman, it is just who I am.

"Whoah! I didn't say it wasn't recognised as a neurodiversity, I said it was not as recognised as a neurodiversity as autism. I've come across many people who had no idea ADHD makes you ND and I know some people with ADHD that do not accept the ND label. With autism everyone seems to know it's a neurodiversity and I personally haven't come across people that disagree with that."

Is that you whoahing back OP 😀

Ummm not sure I agree with taking a view as to whether something's "recognised" based on a sample of people you know but maybe we have a different understanding of the meaning of that word when used in this context.

I'm also not sure that "everyone knows autism is a neurodiversity". There are lots of people who barely understand what autism is, let alone whether autism = ND or not. Which is sort of the point of your whole thread. 😀

Anyway my point was that ADHD not having an easy "ic" is due to the name of the condition not whether it's an ND or not. Feels like if that is up for debate it needs a separate thread! 😀

I hate the term ASD which I still keep seeing. D being Disorder.
I thought it was now ASC. C being Condition.
Yet I see ASD used more often than ASC across the board.

I hate the term HFA as high-functioning minimises the daily stresses and reinforces the trope of having a special skill.

The argument between using the terms having autism, autistic or aspie, has played out on here hundreds of times.
Personally, I think it is up to the individual how they want to define themselves and I'll respect that. There are arguments for and against person-first language and diagnosis-first language.

On the spectrum is a difficult one - it is a shorthand many associate with ND and so I have used it primarily to signal DC is not neurotypical but I feel I cannot say autistic (yet) as we are in limbo (on the pathway to diagnosis).
But I agree that it is problematic: I have been told not once but twice, that we all have our little quirks don't we? and we're all on the spectrum/autistic by professionals who really should know better. I have said countless times You meet someone with autism, you've only met that person with autism, yelled NOT LINEAR, but it falls on deaf ears.

I can also appreciate the difficulty between actually autistic people advocating for their identity and parents/carers with non-verbal children who may never live independently, navigating that particular road. By having such a range of neurodiversity under the same umbrella, and associated but varying challenges, it becomes harder to dispel the linear trope.

linear myth

disorder - whilst I may feel disordered (often!) condition seems more neutral.
ASC, ADHC, SPC, OCC and the DSC as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Conditions all seem more neutral.

@SequinsandStilettos disorder and condition have very specific (medical/scientific) definitions. I think there's a conflict between very dry specific medical and scientific terminology and the way that people actually describe themselves.

This is true. People might not like a term, or might prefer a term because of the connotations of that term but they might be medical definitions/terminology.

No, I know, I was just musing. Some use ASC. Many - including medical professionals - as you say, use the medical terminology ASD.
SENco is now SENDco but I see both all the time.
Language use and change is always interesting. Atypical/neurodiverse/neurodivergent. I tend to use the middle one but am seeing the latter more often.

Whilst it may not be said in a positive way on occasions, I think it is a helpful expression, if it highlights that many people with autism or other neurodiversities are very intelligent people.

The dwp have case law defining autism as meeting the arrested development or incomplete development of the brain in the criteria for severe mental impairment dla. Just the dx alone satisfies this aspect of the criteria. There are other criteria that have to be also. Some other awful terms are used as well.

So not only scientific language but bureaucratic/ legal definitions. In order to get the dx a person's life has to be impacted in some way so by that alone surely it's a disability plus it is a medical diagnosis. What people find acceptable or comfortable shouldn't impact on scientific definitions. I read a great article on this which I'll see if I can dig out. It discussed professionals being limited by the language their audiance found acceptsble and how this will limit recruitment and research progress. (I think it was looking at the general high/ low advocates/ family debate).

I think the language we use is incredibly important and reflective of how we view autism As this thread shows.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aur.2876

There are so many misconceptions about what autism actually is here that I'm not sure where to start.

Safe to say...this is basically the entirety of what autistic people are trying to get people to stop thinking, because it's just plain wrong.

Let's start with this: there isn't a scale of autism, like "a bit autistic" to "extremely autistic". There is a scale of support needs (which itself is incorrect, but it's used to determine insurance payouts in the US, so it kind of makes sense in the context of their inhumane system), but that's not remotely the same thing.

And..."the spectrum" is not a linear scale as you seem to believe it is. You can't put a number on it, because it's a collection of traits and not a straight line.

Thanks cuckoo that was an interesting read.

Yes! ☺️

It's not actually based just on people on here but on a thread on here I started. Many people with ADHD were very adamant that it wasn't a neurodiversity. But not any with autism saw it as not a neurodiversity. Obviously still only a small sample of people, but it was very significant on that thread. One so called professional was very offended for autistic people that ADHD should be put under the neurodiversity umbrella. I was told I was wrong and insulted!

I don't particularly like the D, but it seems the most widely recognised term. It's always been called that by professionals, in information I've read etc. I'm not sure I really like condition either though. Both sound like an illness.

But this is the problem of mental health etc trying to fit in the medical model - it doesn't fit well and the medical terms become arbitrary.

Are you talking about 'on the spectrum' ? I've never really seen it used as highlighting that. But I take your point, it could do.

The problem there is that the medical profession views autism the exact same way that it views everything else it's presented with - a collection of symptoms deficiencies to be fixed.

What it doesn't do is look at it as a whole, when viewed from the perspective of the autistic person - ie the perception and experience of people who are autistic. My autism assessment was the first time that anybody from the medical profession had asked the simple question, "What does the world look and feel like for you?".

That's the problem I have with the NT folk (a loud contingent of whom are on here) with autistic kids who shout loudly about how their kids are properly autistic, and all the diagnosed people who can communicate their opinions in some way aren't as autistic, or aren't really autistic compared with their kids and should be diagnosed with something else.

These people are completely missing both the point and an opportunity - if you have a child with high support needs, and you're NT, then you have precisely zero chance of ever understanding what their world looks like from the inside (particularly if they're non-verbal). There are huge numbers of people out there who do know what their world looks and feels like - maybe not exactly the same, but it can be pieced together from talking to lots of them - and those parents are deliberately alienating us by dismissing us as "something other than autistic" instead of listening. We might be able to help, because we have a lifetime of figuring out coping strategies on our own that they can use as shortcuts, but we can't if we're silenced or dismissed.

Getting rid of this completely false perception of "the spectrum" as a straight line would be a great first step on the road to a world where we can do that.

I have to say I've never come across those people, personally.

I have an autistic nephew who is non verbal currently - don't know at this stage if he always will be. I'm not sure anyone else could tell his parents more about him than they know. They know what every single bit of body language means, they know exactly how he likes to be calmed and how to avoid upsets. They have a really deep bond with him. That along with all the information there is out there on autism, I really don't think they have zero chance of understanding what his world looks like except by asking an autistic stranger who happens to be verbal.