User:PsychoNerd054/Autism

Back To Theories & Essays

This page is all about the 'tism, as explained by an actual autist.

Autism as a "Spectrum"

Autism has always been understood as a "spectrum". For the sake of example, we can compare this "spectrum" as akin to something more familiar, such as the color spectrum. Like with the color spectrum, the autism "spectrum" is represented in various ways, accounting for different things.

"High" and "Low" Functioning Autism

When most people think of autism as a "spectrum", they think of it in terms of one's "functionality", that being the amount of support that one requires from others to live their life. This scale ranges from "high functioning" to "low functioning". "High functioning" autism is understood to be where they need little to no assistance and actually act no different from an average person. In much more cases however, they're perceived as being so above average in terms of intelligence they can probably find Ϫ thousand to the Ϫ in their heads. Those that are perceived as being "low functioning", however, are seen as being so braindead that they absolutely must be kept an eye on at all times as they're on their tablet to make sure they don't bash themselves on the head or crap their pants. Typically, this type of categorization is discrete, rather than continuous.

However, outside of whatever moral implications may come about from generalizing people as being socially awkward savants or bumbling tards for being autistic alone, or whoever these depictions might offend, this type of scale has severe limitations.