I find this take quite challenging, although I know it is one shared by a lot of autistic people.

I understand that if a person has no support needs, they cannot be diagnosed with autism. But that person may still be neurodivergent, and therefore to me it seems to follow that you have folks who are autistic with high support needs, and folks who are autistic with low support needs. Then, you have neurodivergent folks with no support needs. But this seems to me like a difference in degree, rather than category, and which would mean that the “spectrum” analogy works quite well.

With a clear understanding that I am not trying to minimise the struggles autistic people face, a sincere desire to learn, and an open mind, would you mind trying to help me understand?

Autism is something you are born with. It is simply who you are.

Support needs can change over time. You can need less help because you learn better coping strategies and have a stable environment or you can need more as you get older. It is not fixed.

Support needs are denoted in level because that is what system like schools and the like need. They don't really map to reality. Like for example a autistic person can have really bad sensory issues, being really sensitive to sounds, restricted diet and the like but decent social skill. Another autistic person might not have any sensory issues but really struggle with social stuff. Who needs more help? They need different kinds of help.

Thanks for replying! This above fits in much better with my previous mental model of autism: it’s intrinsic, it describes a “difference” in someone’s way of experiencing the world.

I’m still struggling to understand how this meshes with what you said above about only being autistic if you have support needs.

I don’t understand what implications that would have for someone who (for example) develops enough coping strategies that they no longer have any support needs. As far as I understand it, there’s no way to “cure” autism, so those folks would still be autistic but without support needs, which doesn’t seem to fit?

I don't think having zero support needs is realistic. If you have for example sensory issues like being sensitive to bright light or having trouble eating certain food then this doesn't go away. And just living in a world made for neurotypical people will always be a bit distressing and cause social problems.

Yes, there is a bit of a contradiction in advocacy because on one hand we want to spread awareness about the natural diversity of how humans brains work and remove prejudices and celebrate that diversity but also we don't want to minimize that it is a disability and people do need help.

> I don't think having zero support needs is realistic.

I was imprecise here. What I meant here was no longer having support needs that are above the diagnostic threshold.

> you need to have support needs to be diagnosed with autism. You don't get a diagnosis for being quirky and a little weird.

The problem is the people who actually have support needs are often not in a stable job with great insurance, and then they don't have access to the "get an official diagnosis" machinery. At which point you have to choose between respecting a self-diagnosis even if they're often wrong, or not respecting it even if they're often right.

Oh yes, absolutely. Self-diagnosis is valid.

It is still important to get a official diagnosis if one can but yeah the reality is that it can be a very long process and not in reach for some people.

I guess it depends on whether you consider RGB(0,0,0) to be on the same spectrum as RGB(100,0, 100) or RGB(100, 150, 100).

RGB(10,10,10) may be awfully dark but it's definitely not black. On the spectrum doesn't necessarily mean you have clinically relevant difficulties.

The more helpful way to think about is that the neurotypical brain is like RGB(63.32, 12.3, 73.02) but with thousands or maybe millions of variables. If certain values are significantly lower or bigger it might cause you trouble.

Having Autism is one cluster of values you can have. So is having ADHD. So is having Trauma. And many more things. And you can and often have multiple things at once and their symptoms overlap.

Everyone is on the spectrum, but only some are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. So there’s a tipping point or dividing frequency in the spectrum that moves people into disorder.

Having Covid is a spectrum from having nearly no or even no symptoms to having really bad symptoms. Just because everyone experiences having a running nose from time to time, does not mean everyone has Covid.

Autism is not the only way your brain can be different from other people.