I do like a lot of what you’re saying, but this over here made me raise an eyebrow:

In the end, whether someone is autistic or not (as currently defined by autism as a diagnosis) is subject to an arbitrary line where the judge says “this is/isn’t autistic enough”

So you’re saying that “whether someone is autistic or not is arbitrary, there is no finite criteria,” and “everybody’s a little autistic, some people are just more”?

Indeed! And sorry for your experience.

I am lower-left quadrant by far. I used to make myself the center of attention, I was cringey, and everyone knew who I was-- whether that made them love me or hate me.

Non-rhetorical questions, just to get you to think.

1. What are symptoms associated with autism? Are there any? Well, stimming is a thing, right? I’m not claiming stimming is universal for autism; but if it’s associated with autism, then that’s a pattern, right? Autism has more stimming than the neurotypical control group?
2. Is autism mental only, or is it neurological? If it has sensory symptoms (once again not necessarily universally, but as a pattern more than neurotypical/control), that’s neurological, right?
3. What does “autism is a spectrum” mean? Does it mean autism varies some, or does it mean it varies indefinitely? If it varies some, where does the grouping end? If autism varies indefinitely, why is human =/= autistic?
4. How do you define autism? What makes an autistic person different from non-autistic people?
5. If autism is just “having a special mind”, then what’s the difference between autism and other neurodivergencies and statistically-smaller psychologies? ADHD? Mathematical genius/brilliance? Bipolar? Severe intellectual disability?

Remaining sort of neutral with my opinions, I still state that autism must be by definition a mental and/or neurological phenomenon, and that means it has symptoms or criteria of some kind. And if autism doesn’t, then it would not be finite, and that would mean everyone is autistic, and therefore it would be a useless label and “autism” wouldn’t exist.

If you believe that you are neurodivergent, but you don’t share a not-insignificant number of relevant traits with another neurodivergent person, then you wouldn’t share a label. It wouldn’t mean you’re not neurodivergent, it means you should find another label. And if you can’t find one that fits adequately, I encourage you to explore your own symptoms/criteria and create one.

Dumb, preachy meme made by myself.

I don’t know what “Figma” is but it sounds stupid.

Love Avenue Q, even the songs others forget ^^

Perfect. Thank you. I’ll remember this one.

You know how long I’ve been trying to teach people this? Thank freaking god there are people out there who understand this besides me.

I hate this comments section.

I stand corrected. But in my defense, the dumb online dictionary backed up what I thought– after I got past “The Cold War”, anyway. Stupid search engines…

Cold wars don’t have direct conflict. Nevermind.

Not regularly; but when I’m overwhelmed, I sit in that position and practice breathing until my breathing and heart rate regulates and my mind is cleared, and then I self-validate until I am in control enough to see the problem clearly and either work through it or continue on with my day. Mindfulness, baby! Works for anger, shame, sensory meltdowns, etc. 💙

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Do… you have a Tic-Tac problem?

Indood. You’ll always do a better job of criticizing something if you don’t lie about it.

Wow, I’m usually criticizing people for saying they read the Bible when they clearly didn’t, but this is the most blatantly, absurdly untrue one that I can remember.

…Maybe, but the possibility didn’t even occur to me. There were no hints at sarcasm there in the language or in the meta, so how can anyone tell?

Ah, so that’s why this message board is so salty

This is a salty comments section. Can’t even tell who’s salty or why, but they definitely are.