sparring on the spectrum

When people talk about someone who is more unambiguously on the spectrum, like OG autism, I start thinking, yeah, this is silly. Of course I'm not autistic. The word doesn't have a solid enough meaning to end these arguments in my head.

When someone has depression or anxiety, we look at the symptoms and that defines the condition. It doesn't matter if you're depressed and anxious due to trauma or genetics. The symptoms are straight forward and if you have enough of them, that's depression. With autism, it's just like, problems socializing. limited and repetitive interests, and being hypersensitive to sensory input.

Do I start screaming and crying when the smoke alarm goes off? Not always. How severe are we talking? 

A student coach comes up to me after class today, going on about how if people are going too hard on me, it's ok to tell them to lighten up. Some people think they have to be macho and take it, but that's nonsense, he says to me. He was just being nice. He was just concerned about me. I know.