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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I find it offensive for two different reasons. Although I wouldn't personally confront it or make a big deal, it makes me cringe:

1. when a colleague (or anyone) says that about anyone else who they think is weird, it is annoying. Someone can be weird and not Autistic, and vice versa. It also bothers me when someone says "Oh I'm so ADHD, haha!" or OCD. Those things are real, and not funny or light or the way to explain that you don't like sticky stuff on your hands or that you lose your keys.

2. I am a parent of an Autistic child and I hate it when people say "on the spectrum." I find it exclusively used by parents who want to minimize their child's diagnosis or challenges, or mean "my kid is just a tiny tiny bit Autistic." Autism is not a dirty word. I understand, believe me, my kid reminds me frequently that I said "you are just a tiny tiny bit Autistic," and literally put up my fingers in the tiny tiny motion. So that quote was mine. I didn't want to believe it, and I was trying to tell my kid "you're almost almost normal!" "there's nothing wrong with you!" Which, in hindsight, meant I was saying I don't want this to be wrong with you.

Now I know, there is nothing WRONG with my child. She's different, and AUTISTIC. It's not a dirty word. I don't say she's "on the spectrum" I don't even know what that means. It's not a slide rule like you're either a tiny bit Autistic or like a really really bad Autistic. [/quote]

Thank you for sharing this perspective. I tend to say DD is autistic or has autism because "on the spectrum" feels like a euphemism and of course there is no need for a euphemism.

That being said DD is young, very verbal and solidly average IQ and often presents to people as NT (she is not) because social demands are not that high at her age. So sometimes saying "autistic" feels like it might confuse people. It's okay to me if they are confused, but I think people say "on the spectrum" to convey low support needs - like they are not claiming their child has profound disabilities. [/quote]

PP here and yes, this was my kid too. When she was young, I also said "on the spectrum" to help others understand she wasn't "that bad." Now, she's informed me that this was not helpful and minimized her very real support needs. She's very verbal, has a solidly average IQ, and has pretty severe sensory and executive functioning needs that can be pretty disabling. She's done a lot of research and learned that people make a lot of assumptions. I still have the discomfort of saying I have an "autistic teenager" (because that is the language she prefers) and know that people may picture someone who is non-verbal or who has an intellectual disability. She says that's too bad, because a non-verbal person can have very very high IQ and a a very verbal person can have very high support needs in another area. [/quote]

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