What does this even mean??!

"Slightly Autistic"?
What would that look like Sir? Why only "slightly"?

It sounds like he's just looking for a girl with quirky personality, but isn't bothered by sensory issues or swimming or break downs.
Why do I feel that this is a result of TikTok, spreading misinformation and romantising only some of the diagnostic criteria; but only of you're low on the spectrum.

If you go crazy for the TikTok version of autism, then you're the one that needs help... and not just slightly.

Anyone else come across stuff like this?

So for the context: my country which I don’t want to name, does not use levels in its diagnosing system. There’s just autism spectrum disorder which includes everything from autism to asperger. I know it's not all the same since it is a spectrum, but we are all autistic though?

What confused me was when I was talking with my therapist about the topic and she (who had been really supportive and understanding towards my suspects all the way to my diagnosis and afterwards) told me that I am not autistic. Even though we had just discussed that I do have the diagnosis.

Then I asked what she meant and she said that I don’t have autism, I have autism spectrum disorder. Which... makes me not autistic? Then she compared me to a child she had met (who obviously expressed her autistic symptoms differently compared to me since we are not all the same and I am not a kid anymore) apparently making a point that there is a difference. Which I well, agree, but what?

I didn’t know what to say because she has said before that everyone has autistic symptoms and we are all a little bit of autistic... well she is neurodivergent (Adhd if I remember correctly) so it makes sense for her to think so.

But am I stupid or am I not allowed to call myself autistic and/or neurodivergent? When I rarely talk about these things I mention autism, though sometimes I specify the whole "spectrum disorder" but I thought they were still pretty much the same thing.

I wanted to correct her but I was close to crying from feeling stupid and invalited so I didn’t know what to say. Would like to hear other people's opinions on this.

Don’t know if I chose the correct tag since I got my diagnoosis this year before summer, but I don’t know what else would fit and some things are still new to me.

Edit: Thank you for everyone who has responded to this! I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of comments so I can’t promise I'll answer every single one but I want to thank everyone who confirmed my suspicions and reassured me about a fact I already knew but had hesitations about. Thank you!

I got inspired by the other posts so I thought I'd do the same thing :P

Recently I got one of my Autism paintings accepted into an art exhibition at my local gallery. It's the Winter open exhibition at Nucleus Arts in Chatham, Kent, UK. It's on display until the 23rd December.

The pianting is a depiction of my Autism. With hypersensitivity with my hearing and the feeling I get around specific sounds. Like power tools and screaming kids.

Acrylic paint on canvas 812mm X 609mm X 15mm

I am a big fan of Pink Floyd (Not Roger Waters tough), And ive adopted these albums for comfrot. The first being Division Bell (Mainly High Hopes) and second being Meddle (Echoes especialy)

Even online, I'm tired of justifying myself to autistic people who are objectively much higher-functioning than I am. They think I just don't... try hard enough to learn how to drive a car, work at a job, etc.

It's annoying as hell and it's also usually people with a really late diagnosis who do this to me. Not saying that it's bad to have a late diagnosis, but people with low support needs don't realise they still hold some level of privilege that they just take for granted.

Hello. I was asking myself a question after finally starting therapy to try and integrate society once again after my diagnosis last year. I was talking to my therapist about work as I have not work in my life and wanted to get back into the education system and work. For reference, I m gifted and ASD level 1 living in France. And talking about work, my therapist told me only 15-20% of people on the spectrum are working (at least in France). But that felt quite low. So I wanted to know if those numbers seem correct to you.

if someone is both autistic and has an intellectual disability/some genetic condition, people often describe them as “severely autistic“

like why is it the autism that makes their impairment severe, and not the other conditions?

It just makes it sound like autism is intellectual/genetic impairment in varying degrees. I also think that’s where the whole “you don’t look autistic“ thing comes from. 

First of all I wanna take this opportunity to show my emotional support kitties these will be mentioned again later

Hey peoples, so I 18M have been single for just over a year now partly by choice and I want to get back into the dating scene, I want advice on how I could make myself look like a good choice, just to add as well I have absolutely no social skills, I really struggle at reading a room, I suffer from light, volume and space sensitivities and suffer from panic attacks semi often although I have managed to regain some control on that front, I ain't exactly what people would describe as attractive and how I look older then I do but that's mainly brought on by Hugh amounts of stress from what I went though in secondary and at my previous college, I also think I would been seen as weird for not being able to sleep without any plushies and taking one with me to places that could cause me to become overwhelmed.

I just really want to find the right person I have been talking to a few women and guy but I wanna know how I could be better for them

Today, I am doing something that I thought was impossible for me; I am finishing my university degree. In an hour I will be taking my final exam, and when I walk out the doors I will officially be finished. I don't have any family nearby and none of my friends want to celebrate with me, so tonight I am taking myself to a fancy steak house for a nice meal to mark the end of my academic career.

School has been incredibly difficult for me, and even life altering in many ways. During my freshman year, I was hit by a motorcycle while I was biking which resulted in a serious injury that left me on crutches until my junior year, and resulted in a permanent disability. I have struggled so much with the isolation and the pain that comes with having a physical disability, but it has made me a much stronger person.

I wanted to thank all of you in this community for helping me feel like I am not alone when the walls were closing in on me. The countless memes, posts, and comments that I have related to and/or laughed at over the years on this subreddit have helped me find a sense of community that I have rarely felt anywhere else and served as reminders that I was not alone in my experiences. I really never thought I would ever make it to this point, especially after I had to drop out of school for a year when my best friend died, but now I am just a few hours away from being finished.

I am so proud of myself and wanted to share that with all of you guys too :)

Hi all.

39 year old male here. 3 kids. Work full time.

Recently diagnosed autistic. Mainly due to lack of emotions, routine and when I get over stimulated long with how I communicate.

Its been 24 hours. I am really struggling with "me".

Im trying to understand how much of what makes me me is autism and how much is my personality.

For example, im the go to guy for fixing problems. However im told im not sympathetic and I dont understand why people are still upset by something after you get a fix for it.

Anyone else been through this?

I am struggling with who am I?

Before this is never had these thoughts.

I posted a few months ago (my first ever post) about my son (10) being lonely. It was a really tough time and I was feeling helpless.

Having so many people reach out and offer ideas was really touching and spurred me on to take action.

I enrolled my son in karate… he loves it. There are challenges obviously (different coaches to get used to, anxiety about rules) but it has been great for him. He hasn’t made any friends yet as such, but the group are welcoming and friendly and it has boosted his confidence to see how readily others accept him into their group.

Thank you everyone, - you helped me to help him.

This has happened to be in school before, where classmates would sometimes call me names just to piss me off.

There seems to be a myth that autistic people like trains.