Me: Behaviors X and Y indicate an autistic neurotype is in play.
You, dismissively: But lots of people act that way!
Me:
You:
Me: nods slowly
You: drops jaw
Me: Yep. Lots of people have a neurotype in common with diagnosed autistics. And it's time to take their behavior as loosely indicative of this neurotype's true prevalence, while we wait for JAMA Pedriatics and the like to catch up.
JAMA, by the way, now says diagnosed autistics are 1 in 30.
@ebk There are certain things in the current autism diagnostic criteria that definitely don't apply to me. Specifically routine is anathema for me and I don't have any issues with recognizing unspoken social cues (though I still really struggle to make and maintain friendships), but I think the similarities between the lived experience of people with autism and people with ADHD are probably not a coincidence... Neurotypicals probably shouldn't be in charge of diagnosing and treating us...