separating the merely socially awkward from the autistic

[smith2267]

When I was a child, I stimmed a LOT. I suppressed it at an early age.
Now that I know it is normal for me, I have returned to it and feel sooo much better.
I have always been fascinated by fire and water.
these are all things I share with classical auties, and this leads me to believe we aspies really do belong on the autism spectrum.
I know there are people who disagree. What do you guys think?

 

[King_Oni]

There's a variety on the spectrum from the socially awkward up to the low functiong autistic people. For what it's worth, if the tools to diagnose a disorder say "in order to have X diagnosed, Y and Z have to prevalent" then I see no reason why an aspie (since aspergers is part of the autism spectrum) shouldn't be grouped as such.

However... the big issue I see is that some people treat everyone on the autism spectrum the same... and that's not neccesarily the support people need.

How come you think aspies don't fall under the autism spectrum?

 

[smith2267]

How come you think aspies don't fall under the autism spectrum?

I don't think that. Just playing devil's advocate

 

[Christian T]

My understanding of the difference between the two is that aspies are more than just socially awkward. They also have a selection of the other traits like uncompromising honesty, internal motivation and particular obsessions and vocations etc. I really do think everyone has at least one aspie trait. I find that some descriptions of aspies could easily apply to NTs too. Like a child that's "prone to odd or silly behaviour" - that describes just about every child I've ever met!


Oh, and I totally agree that all auties shouldn't just be lumped together any more than NTs should be.

 

[WildCat]

There's a difference between being slightly awkward and somewhat inept yet somewhat capable, and being unable to process what's directly in front of you, let alone what's NOT explicitly there. The latter certainly doesn't hold true for all autistics, I'm just stating how much of a difference there is between someone with traits that mimic autism (but aren't), and someone who, due to their brain wiring, is almost unable to communicate with the world around him or her. Even then, there are still shades of gray so you can't look at it just in black and white, you'd need to fully assess an individual first before drawing any conclusions.