What is the definition of the autistic spectrum?

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Whenever there is a major mismatch between my condition and the features associated with autism, people just use the weasel word "spectrum", and that's supposed to settle it. But I have yet to hear about what it is a spectrum of.
The defining conditions of "social problems (SP)" and "restrictive and repetitive (RR)" are too general to mean anything. A blind NT in a world that never heard of blindness would also fit that description, so would a person with a constant belly ache. But the word "autistic" would not refer to them, would it?
Perhaps the term "autism" is just meant to be a grab-bag to include all unknown conditions which result in SP and RR. Is it? If not, then what IS the word "autism" supposed to mean? How general is the "spectrum". I don't want to know what Autistics can be, or usually are; I want the definition of "Autistic", i.e. what they all are by definition.

I'm not sure either. I have a friend that's diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. That's my diagnosis. However, I seem to relate to people diagnosed with bi polar, aspergers, ocd, ect.. I was originally diagnosed with ocd. My friend thinks schizoaffective is a catch all label so the psychiatrists can prescribe whatever they want and it'll be covered by insurance. I listed myself as spectral disorder because I had no other option on this website. I'm not NT.

all ASDs are made up of the 'triad of impairments',they are what defines the basic core of autism,the rest is all addons that differ depending on the individual.
a good explanation [based on the ICD manual] of what it means and examples of how it affects the whole spectrum can be found here-
http://www.brookdalecare.co.uk/what-is-autism

Autism has become too catch-all, I think.

Social problems shouldn't mean any social problems like socially awkward, socially anxious, lack of social graces, etc.
It should mean specific and significant differences in social cognition observable through behaviors and measurable through brain + behavior tests.

The RRBs are even less defined than the social, but perhaps in future, there will be brain + behavior tests for those too and other differences like specific differences in sensory processing will be found that are specific to autism already defined by social cognition specs.

I agree that the "spectrum" thing and the "if you met one person with autism" thing are weasely.
Using those concepts, almost anything can be autistic trait.

A broad and vague category that too many people are being lumped into.

Welcome to WP Zylon.
Here is a link to a thread where ASDogGeek posted the diagnostic criteria from the DSM5.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt235436.html

To be on the Spectrum you must fit all the criteria that is required here. What makes it a Spectrum is that some people are much more severely affected than others. Some are barely able to function at all even to do the most basic things that most people take for granted. Others are able to function well enough that they can survive and get by without assistance for their basic needs. However, everyone who is on the Spectrum is impaired in their ability to function in life because of the things listed in the diagnostic criteria. If you are not impaired by these specific things as they are defined in the diagnostic criteria, you are not on the Spectrum. You could be impaired in a different way and suffering from something else but to be Autistic you must meet these specific requirements.

Now impairment means actual impairment. It's the difference between blowing your nose from a little cold and being laid up in bed for weeks unable to move and function from the flu. For example, if you might have a socially awkward moment in a conversation every once in a blue moon, you are not impaired by that. If you have difficulty with every single conversation you have every day of your life, then it becomes an impairment. If you don't look at people's eyes when you talk to them because you think they are ugly that is not an impairment. If you don't look them in the eye because it is actually painful for you to do so or because if you look at them you can't hear what they are saying or understand them as well than that becomes an impairment. If you touch something and you find it a little unpleasant that is not an impairment. If you touch something and your skin burns for an hour afterwards than that becomes an impairment. If you get a little confused because you have trouble understanding a concept at work and it confuses you for a few minutes until you get it that is not an impairment. If you can't wrap your head around a concept and three months later you still can't wrap your head around it even though it is something super simple, but you can't get it not because you are not intelligent but because your mind can't process the the executive functioning involved or because you can't make sense of what your boss is saying because you are taking things literally or you can't process the words properly, than it becomes an impairment. You might get annoyed if someone puts a dish in the wrong place. That is not an impairment. But if that change in your routine causes you to freak out and lose your mind and respond in a ridiculously over the top uncontrollable manner that is an impairment. If you hear noises or even loud voices from others conversing or they move a lot when they talk and you get a little perturbed or annoyed that is not an impairment. If those things become so overwhelming to you that they send you into full blown meltdown where you have to bang your head or scream and cry for two hours, that is an impairment. Now I could go on and on but I think these examples should help you understand.

Every single person on the Spectrum has a list of core struggles that are exactly the same. These are defined in the diagnostic criteria. Every single person might not have every single one of them or might not experience them in exactly the same way but every single person must have the required amount of them in order to be Autistic. And having these things must create an impairment preventing them from what we would call the typical ability to function in daily life. The reason it's a Spectrum is because some people will experience some of the symptoms much more severely than others but even those who are not as severely affected are still affected enough that their daily lives are very much impaired.

The technical difference between high and low functioning is the IQ level. Any Autistic person with an IQ lower than 70 is considered low functioning and any Autistic person with an IQ higher than 70 is considered high functioning. Colloquially we tend to associate higher functioning and lower functioning by how much or how little assistance one needs. But for those of us who are high functioning, even very high functioning, trust me, we are still impaired and navigating daily life is very much a challenge.

And it has been scientifically proven that the Autistic brain is actually different from the NT brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o6KYIw2yww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94t7i-w3eyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkG6r-3nFqg

You can't think of Autism as just people who have a few social insecurities. There is much more to it than that. Now of course it's not all bad and there are beautiful and wonderful parts to being on the Spectrum as well and I would not want any other life for myself than the one I have. But Zylon, I hope that this helps you understand what it means when we say Spectrum.

Autism is a difference in the way the brain has developed which results in behavioral differences that are described in the diagnostic criteria.
The difference in cognition is measured indirectly through outward behavior.
Autism is a mind that processes information differently and a difference in perception which results in a specific set of social impairments and restrictive and repetitive behaviors.

It's not a grab-bag of unknown conditions which result in social deficits and repetitive behaviors.
scientific research is working on understanding the condition better and developing more direct and accurate methods of diagnosing it.

My conclusion is that I have a severe impairment which is not yet on the DSM. I need help very bad. My life is ruined. The impairment is inborn, it is deep, it is stable, it is me. It is not just an overlay on an otherwise NT brain.

However, it seems unlikely that it is Autism, as defined. As I am very not NT, even less NT than many/most autistics. I am also not anything in the DSM. But I must be classified somehow; just because it is not known yet does not make it any less real or devastating.

What I have in common with Autism is that it is very pervasive (fully involves every psychological realm), inborn (therefore developmental), and, relative to this society, a disorder, so by definition it is PDD. I can be described as very withdrawn, and too different from NTs to associate with them. It is no way "between" autism and NT (nos), nor is my IQ below 70 (classic), nor did I have late onset speech (HFA), so I guess I must be classified as "Asperger by default" until my real condition is discovered by neuropsychology.

Really, I hope that the "autistic spectrum" is vague enough to really include me. I am the extreme form of a person "on the outside looking in".

The page about the definition of autism says :

But the bottom line above implies that it leaves out the WHY for each of the impairments.
I definitely have the upper and lower one (communication, relationships) to the extreme, but not for the reasons given in the rest of the text. I do not know exactly what is meant by "social imagination".

But I do not want to be pushed out into the cold (i.e. eliminated from the spectrum, and therefore the DSM) until my true condition is discovered by neuropsychologists. (It certainly has been discovered by me! ) I need help NOW.

Impairment of social imagination means not imagining other people's thoughts, feelings, and intentions.
I am also very withdrawn and I have RRBs.
I don't know why except that it's the way my brain is.

I disagree. It might have been like that in the past, but it is becoming the new catch all diagnosis for socially awkward, quirky, maladjusted and sensitive people.

Since the definition is getting broader and broader we are diagnosing a lot of people who wouldn't be in the past. That means that a lot more people are getting help, but it also means that more people are being misdiagnosed with autism.

Autism used to be called childhood schizophrenia, but I think everyone knows that autism isn't schizophrenia. A lot of autistic behaviors look similar to schizophrenic behaviors, but fortunately we now know that they are totally different conditions needing totally different treatment.

I see that a lot of people diagnosed with autism behave very differently and respond very differently to the same treatment. I think it would benefit people if they could differentiate those people better. Most autism treatments didn't work for me and I think a lot of people with the autism label have the same problems as me.

This would be misdiagnosing and that, although it is wrong and unjust would not change the clinical definition nor does it change the actual real diagnostic criteria.

I disagree, those who make the diagnosis have to use the criteria, the criteria is based on ongoing research. If a broader range of people are now being included it is because their is a recognition of how the same underlying condition can manifest in a variety of ways.

I don't think it has become a catch all for socially awkward, quirky, maladjusted and sensitive people but rather a greater understanding that *some* socially awkward, quirky, maladjusted and sensitive people problems are rooted in autism. Obviously there will always be a degree of misdiagnosis and it may be harder know it includes less impaired people, but I don't think that means the underlying assumption that many peoples problems are rooted in autism is not the truth.

The issue of impairment is complex. One can be blind and not feel impaired living in a city with public transportation, using Braille books and listening to books, maybe a cane, maybe a guide dog.

Autism affects different people to different degrees. And the availability of resources at the right time of the right type varies, too.

With the right supports and very good luck, a happy life just might be possible. And one may not wish to consider oneself impaired, rather, as needing support. Other people seem more than happy to focus on my inadequacies without my helping them out.

I can't believe I just said something good about the new US definition---but needing support, that part is probably true.

There must be a whole population of people whose brain, due to a mutation in the genes, is just different from NTs in a way which causes them to need help or perish. The brain is very complex, and it should not be expected that there is only one way the mutations could go. The "autistic triad" is specific, and may be by far the most common of these anomalies, but there must be many more anomalies which cause a person to be on the "Wrong Planet". These people would be attracted to this forum due to its name, as I was. When I first heard the concept "Asperger Syndrome", I thought it meant "people with different instincts" from NTs. I am horrified at the specificness of the definition. What about all the other non-NTs with their variety of minds?
We need help too, but we do not have a place in the DSM if the definition of PDD is restricted to only one of the many anomalous brain states.
If my condition was a bit worse, I would be rolled into a ball in some corner, and then I would resemble Autism at its severest. Perhaps some people classified as autistics too severe to read their social specifics, may also have a mind different from the "autistic triad".

It's very hard to know how one really comes across to others. You most need a place in the DSM if you need help of some kind. Otherwise it can help to think about how one seems, but can also be painful thinking about. It's only worth it to figure things out or to get services.