"Autism spectrum is wide enough to have very different prototypes within it. On one end we have profound autism, representing someone with severe autistic traits who is completely dependent on others for care and has substantial intellectual disability or very limited language ability. At the other end, we have successful nerdy individuals with autistic traits and superior intelligence, often seen in science or academia, à la Sheldon Cooper."
He's just another ableist crank who thinks people with intellectual disabilities who are also autistic are “profoundly” or “severely” autistic. Neither of those are actual diagnostic categories; they were invented by “autism parents” (not autistic parents; parents of autistic children) as a way to exclude everyone except level-3 autistic kids with intellectual disabilities.
Then he throws in the “superior intelligence” nonsense.
No.
Just no.
More ableist BS.
I’m a late-diagnosed “level 1” autistic adult (also ADHD) who works full-time as a network admin. Functioning labels don’t make someone “less autistic”; they just reflect different support needs.
He also brings up BPD. Lots of autistic women get misdiagnosed with BPD. My wife was one of them. Once I dug into how autism presents differently in men vs. women, it became obvious she checked all the boxes. She later got an autism diagnosis too.
"Autism spectrum is wide enough to have very different prototypes within it. On one end we have profound autism, representing someone with severe autistic traits who is completely dependent on others for care and has substantial intellectual disability or very limited language ability. At the other end, we have successful nerdy individuals with autistic traits and superior intelligence, often seen in science or academia, à la Sheldon Cooper."
He's just another ableist crank who thinks people with intellectual disabilities who are also autistic are “profoundly” or “severely” autistic. Neither of those are actual diagnostic categories; they were invented by “autism parents” (not autistic parents; parents of autistic children) as a way to exclude everyone except level-3 autistic kids with intellectual disabilities.
Then he throws in the “superior intelligence” nonsense. No. Just no. More ableist BS.
I’m a late-diagnosed “level 1” autistic adult (also ADHD) who works full-time as a network admin. Functioning labels don’t make someone “less autistic”; they just reflect different support needs.
He also brings up BPD. Lots of autistic women get misdiagnosed with BPD. My wife was one of them. Once I dug into how autism presents differently in men vs. women, it became obvious she checked all the boxes. She later got an autism diagnosis too.