What if the idea of the autism spectrum is completely wrong?
newscientist.comThe title of the article is total clickbait, it's actually about some studies that have identified clusters of symptoms or genomic attributes.
Non paywalled link: https://archive.is/vrBRi
I think "neurotypical" and "neurodivergent" suffice. I've been diagnosed and am under treatment for bipolar type II but it doesn't fit exactly. I feel I am somewhere between (or a mixture) of autism and bipolar. My psychiatrist says it doesn't matter at my age (68) what we call it.
I like the term neurodivergent because it's not stigmatized. I like the way I think and wouldn't change it. I have special abilities that make me a good computer programmer. I can tell people I am neurodivergent and not feel any embarassment or feel any stigma that comes from telling people I am bipolar.
OT. Anyone know if there is academic literature studying the life cycle of words that eventually become slurs? Like "neurodivergent" was at one point obscure. Then it starts to become more common place. Then riffs on the word start to be used in an unflattering way. Then it becomes a slur that can't be repeated in polite company. I figure the internet accelerates these trends, but how many years has it taken historically?
When I was a kid people often used the words "mulatto" and "midget" in a socially acceptable way. Now we say "mixed race" and "little people." I don't see these becoming stigmatized because they are technically true and difficult to construe as a slur. I see neurodivergent this way.
Meh. "Spectrum" is either:
A very short way of emphasizing that not all autistic people are the same. Any more than all non-autistic people are the same, or all color-blind people are the same, or all German-Americans are the same, or all grandfathers are the same, or whatever. No matter how addicted most people seem to be to idiotically simplistic stereotypes.
or
When looking at a particular situation, from a particular PoV - a way to state that there may be a considerable and kinda one-dimensional-ish range in how well various autistic people seem to handle it.