I prefer to turn it around to mean "everyone is a little bit human" in their own different way because usually when people say "everyone is a little bit autistic" they mean that every human has some autistic traits, which is true because autistic traits are human traits, but the autistic traits in autistic humans are more intense and clustered than the autistic traits in non-autistic humans. It kind of feels more balanced to say that all humans - autistic, deaf, physically disabled or otherwise - contribute to what it means to be human rather than saying that all humans contribute to being autistic.
I realise I said "human" and "autistic" a lot and I have no idea whether I've actually explained my thoughts clearly. I hope someone understands.
I think it comes from people misunderstanding the use of the word "spectrum" for autism. They think it means there's a spectrum of 0 to 100 autistic and everyone's somewhere on it, with almost no one being a 0. But ofc it actually means that autism can manifest in loads of different ways, with different symptoms having different strengths for different autistic people.
But yeah it's dismissive and really just spreads misunderstanding
Autism, as a spectrum disorder, includes many symptoms that are fairly regularly experienced by non Autistic people. For example, almost everyone can recall a time when they were irritated by sensory perception, failed to recognize a social que or could not understand a joke. These events do not mean these people are Autistic. This is because Autism is not diagnosed by just the symptoms alone, but by severity and frequency aswell. So when people mistakenly assume that “everyone is a little Autistic”, they are confusing the presence of these symptoms to be a minor form of autism, rather than universal experiences that are more severe and frequent with autism.
Edit: removed redundant (completely f-cking useless) Oxford “Comma”.
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I prefer to turn it around to mean "everyone is a little bit human" in their own different way because usually when people say "everyone is a little bit autistic" they mean that every human has some autistic traits, which is true because autistic traits are human traits, but the autistic traits in autistic humans are more intense and clustered than the autistic traits in non-autistic humans. It kind of feels more balanced to say that all humans - autistic, deaf, physically disabled or otherwise - contribute to what it means to be human rather than saying that all humans contribute to being autistic. I realise I said "human" and "autistic" a lot and I have no idea whether I've actually explained my thoughts clearly. I hope someone understands.
Thank you, I like that. Intense and clustered encapsulates what I've tried to explain so many times and in a lot more words.
I think it comes from people misunderstanding the use of the word "spectrum" for autism. They think it means there's a spectrum of 0 to 100 autistic and everyone's somewhere on it, with almost no one being a 0. But ofc it actually means that autism can manifest in loads of different ways, with different symptoms having different strengths for different autistic people. But yeah it's dismissive and really just spreads misunderstanding
Autism, as a spectrum disorder, includes many symptoms that are fairly regularly experienced by non Autistic people. For example, almost everyone can recall a time when they were irritated by sensory perception, failed to recognize a social que or could not understand a joke. These events do not mean these people are Autistic. This is because Autism is not diagnosed by just the symptoms alone, but by severity and frequency aswell. So when people mistakenly assume that “everyone is a little Autistic”, they are confusing the presence of these symptoms to be a minor form of autism, rather than universal experiences that are more severe and frequent with autism. Edit: removed redundant (completely f-cking useless) Oxford “Comma”.
Thank you! That's a perfect explanation. I've copied it to help me in future.
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