"On the spectrum"

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But think of cerebral palsy. There are four different types of cerebral palsy. They each have their own spectrum of severity but there are still four types.

That’s true.

I do not like the whole 'Aspergers should be a different diagnosis' thing. Seriously, to me it feels like they are suggesting they are better than us Autistics. Just like being at school again only this time the cool kids are the Aspies.

Imagine a world where Aspies are cool...

'Used to classify something in terms of its position on a scale between two extreme points.'
I am high functioning ASD. But really I do not see myself as Aspie but rather I look to the good qualities within myself.
Wherever we are 'on the spectrum' or not on any spectrum is not important, what is important is how many wonderful qualities we have within.

Much Love.
Bob.

If we were “cool,” I believe many of us would become complacent.

Feeling “on the outside” inspires me to prove the “cool ones” wrong.

Well calling them Aspies certainly doesn't help. They call themselves Aspies regardless of what the official categories are so they are still the "cool" ones as you are saying. I think this is more your personal opinion than real life though.

The Aspergers diagnosis should have been a subcategory of the autism diagnosis that would have prevented some of the aspie elitism. That said most people on wrong planet that describe themselves as "aspie" seem to understand they are "on the Autism Spectrum"/"Autistic". "Aspie" is another way to say "I have Aspergers". People who use term to say I am better then autistics or NT's are misusing the term as are those who accuse everybody who call themselves "Aspies" of looking down on "real autistics".

So we agree then.

I actually dislike aspie myself, though I tend to use it pretty often because it is easier and more widely understood.

It is weird. Words have value and shape and we can't always control what those things are, or what they will become.

The problem I see is the identification spectrum itself... look at colors, since that is the metaphor we're starting with anyway: red, green, and blue are fundamentally different members of the same class... they all share some features... and might have some overlap in their traits and similarities, and they are separate things... but they are all decidedly on the color spectrum.

For us it is no different. I can't describe myself as "has volume control issues, can't make eye contact without effort, has intolerance for manipulative speech, mildly oppositionally defiant, texture sensitivity... etc" ... It is just inconvenient. If I say I'm on the spectrum, or an aspie, then I don't have to derail conversations they actually care about by reading a litany of my particular traits.

You could organize every possible combination of traits and intensities into UUIDs and you would still have elitism... "oh... those {f64f47b0-fab7-11e7-8c5f-ef35612aa431}s think they are SO much better than the rest of us"

I don't think the problem is the phrase itself but more so who's interpreting it. The term "on the spectrum" is exactly as it sounds and if someone is too intellectually inferior to know what a spectrum is then that's their problem. Literally like anything else it goes from one extreme to another and everything in between because that's how the "spectrum" works.

"Aspie" sounds like some bootleg hipster crap if you ask me. I don't even know anyone that uses that term.

I agree with both of these things, although I have classic autism.

<tries to visualize the song "Aspie" from a live recording in a dive bar by Mumford and Sons playing from someone's phone>

As others have noted, others can often misunderstand 'The Spectrum' as meaning a spectrum of humanity and their degree of autistic traits from NT to Kaner, rather than, as I believe it was intended, a spectrum of functionality amongst those diagnosed with ASD conditions. The problem I have with the former, is that it takes away from the idea that there are definite significant differences between those with ASD and those without. It leads to the whole 'everyone is a little autistic' mentality which, while I understand it is usually meant as sympathetic, feels incredibly dismissive of a condition that is very very real and differentiated. Imagine telling someone in a wheelchair something terribly insensitive like 'Everyone has trouble walking sometimes' - you'd get punched.

in the crotch

I only use it when on this forum or other autistic groups. I think of it as similar to jargon.