After only a little over two years of being an official diagnostic label, autism spectrum disorder appears now to be in danger of being warped into a slur."
"What we really need to consider is why these words tend to take on negative connotations in the first place. "Such use and misuse of descriptive labels related to identity have historically been linked with prejudice and discrimination, as they come to represent something more sinister over time," Eric Mitchell, Ph.D., director of the Ruttenberg Autism Center, said in a phone interview.
Jeffrey Deutsch, a speaker and life coach at ASPies LInking with NTs who has Asperger syndrome, a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, said via email. "Using 'on the spectrum' to refer to certain kinds of unsettling behavior hurts us the same way, say, using 'acting black' to refer to loud and boisterous behavior hurts black people," Dr. The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network instead defines autism as a "neurological variation" characterized by a number of traits, including but not limited to "different sensory experiences," "non-standard ways of learning and approaching problem solving," "deeply focused thinking and passionate interests in specific subjects," and "atypical, sometimes repetitive, movement."īy using the slang term "on the spectrum" or "autistic" to describe people who have trouble socializing, communicating, or empathizing, we insult people who fit the actual diagnosis - and spread some insidious myths about autism in general.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) considers autism spectrum disorder to include "persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction" and "restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities."īut many autistic people are critical of the DSM.
Since we're in the midst of Autism Awareness Month, it's worth learning the actual definition of autism.
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