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Ever since my psychologist told me I might be autistic, I have researched the subject. This is basically what I have found so far.

All sections contain links that allow you to have more information by consulting my sources directly.

**Note**, all the links are in French (because this is a translation) for now but I'm going to try to find English equivalents.

What is autism

I will give a short description of what autism is to lay the groundwork. I based myself on Alistair's FALC article.

Alistair's FALC article

Autism is a **neurodevelopmental condition**, which means that it is present from childhood. You can't "catch" autism. It is not a disease, we cannot cure autism and it is neither useful nor enviable. Autism is not bad, it is a way of functioning and thinking that is different from "the norm".

To say the differences between the "neurotypical" (person having a neurological functioning considered as the norm) or "allists" (non-autistic person) and the autistic is complicated. There are a lot of them and everyone with autism is different. But here are the main points:

**Communication difficulties**, which may be, for example, not understanding all social norms, the unspoken, the non-verbal, the implicit or even having difficulty speaking, writing or reading.
**Sensory disturbances**, this means that some senses can be much more sensitive than others. This may mean, not supporting the noise, the feel of certain clothes, strong lights, lack of light, difficulty with the texture of certain foods, etc.
**Specific Interests** Specific interests are topics that people with autism really like. They are a point of stability and help to be happy, to communicate or to think. They can be on any subject. As much IT, as cooking, as insects, etc ...
**Mental rigidity** is the difficulty of doing different or unforeseen things. This can manifest itself in very clear routines, always doing things the same way, a fear of the unexpected and surprises or a strong need for planning.

Autism is therefore also a **disability**, because these differences are not adapted to a world that is predominantly allistic and neurotypical.

Another important point is also **stimming**. Stim is sensory stimulation, it is used to manage strong emotions and is a defense mechanism against overload. It is also a certain way of communicating. It can take different forms, such as "flapping" which involves shaking hands and arms, rocking, but it can also be many other things such as smelling certain smells, touching certain materials, listening to music or particular sounds, etc.

False "charities" about autism and bad "therapies"

Certain signs, speeches and associations are dangerous for people with autism. This is notably the case with the *Autism Speaks* charity in the United States. This association does not aim to help autistic people, it talks about autistic people, without ever asking their opinion.

the *Autism Speaks* charity

She has launched several stigmatizing campaigns for people with autism, such as #LightItBlue and is commonly associated with the "puzzle piece" as if people with autism are a "puzzle" that needs to be solved. To this the real people concerned (autistic people) created the hashtag #RedInstead in response. The majority of the money that is supposed to go to help the **parents** of people with autism (not the autistic ones themselves) is actually used for promotional campaigns, research to "find a solution to the problem." 'autism', etc. And only less than 1% actually goes to families.

In French-speaking circles there is also the association "Vaincre Autisme" which is in the same idea as *Autism Speaks* and is just as harmful. It also aims to find a cure for this "disease". Even though it is recognized internationally and by themselves that it cannot be cured and that it is not a disease. This association is very dangerous and any talk about "beating autism" like *Les petits victoires* are harmful to autistic people.

the association "Vaincre Autisme"

*Les petits victoires*

Then there is also the case of ABA therapy see also here, which is a dangerous therapy that can cause trauma to autistic people. The sole purpose of these therapies is to make the autistic child appear normal, even if this means traumatizing and abusing him or her, and even this goal is not always achieved.

ABA therapy

here

In summary, any "resource" for autism that positively mentions any of these elements is to be avoided:

Cure Autism
Overcoming autism
Blue is the colour of autism
The puzzle piece is the symbol of autism
ABA therapy
Autism Speaks, etc.
Excessive focus on the difficulty for parents
Not written by people with autism
Defines autism as a "disease" or problem

It's a spectrum, not a gradient

When people hear autism spectrum or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) they usually see this:

red gradient from lightest to darkest [IMG]

The one on the right would be "severely autistic", more or less in the middle there might be aspergers for example*.

Except that this view is simplistic and wrong. This is a gradient, not a spectrum, this is a spectrum:

a gradient, not a spectrum

visible colour spectrum [IMG]

In this spectrum of visible colours, red is not "bluer" than yellow for example*.

This view best represents autism, each colour could represent a characteristic, and one could represent an autistic person like this for example:

Black covers are located at the corners of the spectrum image, there are also several characteristics for each colour [IMG]

As you can see a person with autism has more of certain traits and less of certain traits for example*.

This pattern would probably correspond to a person commonly called "aspie" or "asperger" or "high functioning".

It seems that this strong difference that some people (even some autistic people) want to use to separate Asperger's autistics (the "good" autistics) from "severe" autistics (the weird ones) is a misunderstanding of the autism spectrum.

this strong difference

Types of diagnoses

There are three types of diagnosis, self-diagnosis, peer diagnosis and "official" diagnosis.

self-diagnosis

Self-diagnosis** is when a person wants to know if they are autistic but has not yet made an official diagnosis. This can start by seeing articles about autism (real ones, not *Autism Speaks* for example) and thinking that it speaks to us. Here is an example of a good article. At first the person is usually in denial, they think it only happens to other people, etc. But as they learn more about it, they start to think that it's not their fault. But as they learn more and more, they will start to question this certainty more and more, until perhaps they consider themselves autistic.
Peer diagnosis** is when another autistic person validates the feeling of the self-diag by saying that they think you are autistic.
The **official diagnosis** is the one given by specialists, the advantage of this one can be to prove the self-diagnosis, to prove it to your relatives but especially to be able to benefit from the necessary aids and accommodations.

Self-diagnosis is not just a matter of contemplating a test on the internet, it takes time. Self-diagnosis, like official diagnosis, is also subject to various biases. Among them,

an example of a good article

Confirmation bias** and availability bias**, e.g. when one thinks one is autistic or allistic, one will pursue this and also look for resources that might confirm the original hypothesis. This bias can also affect doctors.
The **Dunning-Kruger effect** is the fact that an incompetent person will often overestimate their skills and knowledge. This effect also affects doctors whose specialty is not autism.

graph showing the Dunning-Kruger effect [IMG]

The **fundamental attribution error** affects doctors more. It is, for example, the belief that if a person does not assert their symptoms with sufficient conviction, it is because they are not really in pain. On the other hand, it is that the patient exaggerates his symptoms and that the person is not really in pain.
Representativeness bias is a bias that will make the patient or the doctor compare the patient to another person. This can lead to thoughts like: "I'm not really autistic, I don't look like Charles at all". In general this bias does not lead to a wrong diagnosis, but to a lack of diagnosis.
Optimism bias** is a big one: "Yes, disabled people exist, but that's probably not me.
Social bias** such as discrimination, it can be for example, "Women are shocking, it's not really that bad". This bias can apply to any minority, and affects both patients and doctors.

Stimming

Stim, which literally means "sensory stimulation", is a difficult concept to define, not least because it can be different for each person. But also because it seems to have been originally a word created by neuro-typists to define the "weird" things that people with autism can do.

difficult concept to define

Stims can be done for three reasons:

For **sensation**, which are done just for the pleasure that the sensation (of any sense) can give.
To **manage difficult situations**, which are done to focus on something else, e.g. when there is stress, too much noise, etc.
To **express themselves**, like neurotypicals, autistic people also express themselves in non-verbal language, it's just that the language is not the same.

Here are some examples:

Rocking
Shaking hands (flapping)
Sitting in strange positions (bending your legs, etc)
Walking in a certain way
Making noise
Hugging (self hugging)
Self-injury
etc,

It may be quite surprising but yes, hurting oneself, especially self-harm, can be a form of stimulation too, especially in anxiety-provoking and violent environments. It's not something that should be forbidden at all because it's a way of expressing and protecting oneself, what should be done is to take the person out of their environment (or adapt it) and also find another form of stimulus to replace it. For example, in the case of Alistair, replace the skin with cardboard.

Self-injury

Alistair

Again it is good to know that these definitions and examples are not necessarily representative, "stim" is quite debatable as, in the end, everyone stims, even non-autistic people, the only difference between the "stim" of neuro-typical people and the "stim" of autistic people is that the NT one is socially recognised as normal, and the autistic one is seen as rude or weird.