[eli5] Autism, the autism spectrum, and the difference between Autism and Aspergers
In: Biology
A) Autism is a form of neurodiversity where you process sensory information differently, including emotional information. There’s a lot of different ways this can manifest, so I don’t feel like making generalizations.
B) It ranges in how much it impacts your life. Some autistic people are nonverbal, some are highly verbal, some are only verbal sometimes, some struggle with empathy, some are hyper empathetic, some have low IQ, some have high IQ, some have special interests, some have special skills, etc. A lot of allistic (non-autistic) people characterize this as a spectrum, as do many autistic people (some prefer other terms).
C) Aspergers is a form of autism. They used to be considered different disorders, but they (and some other things like selective mutism) are now considered one thing.
Src: ASAN, [AWN network ](https://awnnetwork.org/), am autistic
Notes: Autism Speaks is very bad, ABA is torture, please never use the words high/low functioning, and I don’t want to be cured
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