How do you prefer to define it?

Medical professionals and diagnostic manuals often use the term “disorder” when describing autism. This language reflects a medical focus on diagnosing and categorising conditions based on difficulties or impairments. However, many autistic people find the word “disorder” harmful because it implies that being autistic means something is “wrong” or “broken”. Autism isn’t about being broken, it’s about our brains are just wired differently, and this can lead to some huge strengths, but also challenges. Imagine where the world would be at without autistic people!

When it comes to the term “disability”, my views is that opinions are more varied. In law, autism is recognised as a disability under laws like the Equality Act in the UK. This is important because it provides access to protections, accommodations, and services that can help manage barriers autistic people face. However, some argue that autism itself isn’t inherently disabling.  Rather, it’s the way society is structured that creates the challenges. 

Personally, I dislike the word “disorder” because it makes it sound as if autism is a defect. I’m comfortable with autism being called a disability because there will likely never be a world without barriers that disable autistic people. For example, sensory processing issues, communication differences, and executive functioning challenges can be significant in environments not designed with neurodivergence in mind.

When describing myself I often use “neurodivergent” or “neurological condition”. But everyone’s experience and preferences are different, and you’ll find a wide range of opinions in the autistic community.

Good luck with your research and advocacy work! 

Andy said:

many autistic people find the word “disorder” harmful because it implies that being autistic means something is “wrong” or “broken”

This is a tricky one as technically our brains failed to develop in a normal way.

The sensory filters failed to develop in our early years so there is an arguement that something "went" wrong with us, leaving us where we are now.

You could also argue we are a different evolutionary branch almost where we are able to maintain so much more sensory input than neurotypicals. The fact that it tends to cause most of us major amounts of pain or inconvenience could just be the teething pains of that evolution.

It depends on the "implications" which can swing both ways I supose.

Andy said:

many autistic people find the word “disorder” harmful because it implies that being autistic means something is “wrong” or “broken”

This is a tricky one as technically our brains failed to develop in a normal way.

The sensory filters failed to develop in our early years so there is an arguement that something "went" wrong with us, leaving us where we are now.

You could also argue we are a different evolutionary branch almost where we are able to maintain so much more sensory input than neurotypicals. The fact that it tends to cause most of us major amounts of pain or inconvenience could just be the teething pains of that evolution.

It depends on the "implications" which can swing both ways I supose.

I don't think our brains failed to develop in a "normal" way. I believe that autism is normal - we need all neurotypes to make our society thrive.