One of my friends told me

Post Reply New Topic

That they've actually decreased/thinking about decreasing the spectrum this year.

I'm not sure how others would feel about this, but I'm almost a little saddened by this.
There was a lot of debate about my diagnosis growing up because my functional development became seemingly normal to some
school faculty. But I feel like autism still really applies to me. I still have issues with echolalia, intense (almost crippling) anxiety in large crowds and I still find myself dealing with some angled eye vision when very anxious. The difference between now and when I was a kid is just that it happens less frequently. But researching and discovering that I was in fact, autistic, really gave me a new hope in life. I was always just called the 'weird girl' and I always had issues with certain social situations that would ultimately end up in me alienating people I really cared about. Re-discovering my autism helped me understand myself so much better, and I learned how to accept myself, and live my life accordingly. I know something like 'decreasing the spectrum' shouldn't make me change what I believe in, but it still leaves me in somewhat of an upset nevertheless.

Does anyone have any details about the spectrum decrease (If what my friend says is true)?

I have no idea what that means, how can you decrease a spectrum?

I guess the idea is, some people parts of the spectrum are not going to be included anymore? I assumed it meant people of the higher functioning part of the spectrum were just going to be considered neurotypical.

yea, I'm pretty much where you are. To most people, I seem pretty normal if not a bit odd and weird but generally classified as normal. People just think i';m a bit strange and ignorant which is frustrating for me and makes me question whether I'm high enough on the spectrum too. I get the thing with the crowds, like you not as bad nowadays but It used to make me terrified, thinking everybody is looking at me and scrutinizing me. Of course this is all in my head and to everyone else I seemed perfectly normal apart from trying my best to get out of the situation.

I read something like that but will have to find it again. If I remember correctly it did have to do with eliminating some from being considered on the spectrum if they did not meet a certain ammount of criteria.

It makes sense to me, people that are high functioning are often diagnosed very late in life if at all because they just believe they're a bit odd like others see them. it can be a fine line where someone is on the spectrum or just has a few issues, also alot of other issues and problems are missed in a diagnosis because its not the easiest thing to talk about when your put on the spot with doctors or counselors.