Terminology

Are there any particular aspects of autism related terminology that bother you?

Here are some of mine:

1.

ND -v- autistic

NT -v- allistic

The above terms seem (from reading here) to have become interchangeable but, to my mind, they shouldn't be.

Autism is under the umbrella of neurodiversity but so is Tourettes (for example).

Here is a wheel of ND but I've seen some with more 'conditions' included:

If ND is used instead of 'autistic' (when it's actually autism in particular that is probably the subject) I find it hard to follow the arguments/discussion.

2.

Another is the autism spectrum.

I don't know how it was meant when it was first termed, but my understanding of it isn't that there are ends of it that are less autistic, and more autistic, ie becoming more extreme, but rather than we (autistic people) can be less and more extreme as we dip in and out of the symptoms/characteristics:

Below is a link to an article that I think explains it well:

https://neuroclastic.com/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

3.

Also, if other people say 'we are all on the spectrum, all a little bit autistic etc' then I think it's important to bear in mind that a diagnosis is only given if the characteristics of autism that we match to are disabling to us.

How do others see the above and also, are there any other terms that you find difficult/confusing?

Parents
  • As an addendum, I have a similar problem with sexuality.

    There used to be LGBT and now there are many pluses.

    I'm OK with this although I feel for those people who have no idea what their sexuality is or (like me) see the whole thing as fluid.

    However, if I want to talk about my sexuality, I would use the actual term for it (if I understood what it is) and not the umbrella term which incorporates rather a lot now.

  • For this, at the moment being trans is heavily under attack, so perhaps by banding together they make their minority a little bigger to protect each other, as they can relate to each other as persecuted for their inclination. Just offering a perspective, I'm not arguing with your own preference of referring to yourself.

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  • For this, at the moment being trans is heavily under attack, so perhaps by banding together they make their minority a little bigger to protect each other, as they can relate to each other as persecuted for their inclination. Just offering a perspective, I'm not arguing with your own preference of referring to yourself.

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