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
  • My pet peeve is the perennial confusion between neurodiversity and neurodivergence. Neurodiversity is merely a description of the natural variation in human neurotypes. Neurodivergence refers to those neurotypes that diverge from the culturally dominant neurotype. So I am neurodivergent and my non-neurodivergent wife is another example of human neurodiversity.

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  • My pet peeve is the perennial confusion between neurodiversity and neurodivergence. Neurodiversity is merely a description of the natural variation in human neurotypes. Neurodivergence refers to those neurotypes that diverge from the culturally dominant neurotype. So I am neurodivergent and my non-neurodivergent wife is another example of human neurodiversity.

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