26/08/2026
What they said!! We are all valid!!!
I am completely sick of the entire narrative dominating the conversation about autism right now as I am sure a lot of you are.If you spend any time looking at the discourse, it is just an exhausting, endless cycle of infighting and gatekeeping that completely misses the point.
Grab a chair, and let's clear this up right now... autistic people with low support needs do not invalidate those with high support needs, and vice versa. In the same vein, autistic people with co-occurring conditions or disabilities do not invalidate those who are "just" autistic, and vice versa.
The constant policing of each other's experiences is exhausting.
More importantly, however, not every single support someone needs can be put down to autism. We have to look at a person's whole context, otherwise things get completely diluted, misunderstood, and the help we offer becomes meaningless, or worse, unhelpful.
This tired divide of mild and profound, level numbers, and whatever bureaucratic crap they are going to come up with next, is neither a clear nor a valid representation of a person's actual differences and struggles. It flattens complex human beings into rigid boxes that serve no one.
Imagine if all the effort, research, and money being wasted on this nonsense actually went towards real, tangible support rather than endlessly arguing over who is more autistic. For goodness sake, drop the purity tests, ditch the divisions, and focus on building systems that actually help people for once.
Argh.