Autism or Affectation?

[AllieLei]

Hiya!

26 year old ASD self-diagnosed here, committing a little thread necromancy. I would heed this pretty little warning, but I wanted to offer for any people who have or are curious about ASD, a very wholesome podcast that helped me learn about it and feel confident in any kind of self-diagnosis: The Squarepeg Podcast is a wonderful piece of media that is soothing and educational and I encourage anyone to give it a listen.

As for the title question, I ascribe to the neurodiverse line of thinking, that autism describes a spectrum of mental aptitude. I think it shows, in that those who would be diagnosed with it tend to be better at different sorts of things than allistic people on the whole. I am skeptical of that though, given that ASD is very often comorbid with other mental health symptoms. I suppose that would put me on the side of affectation?