11 more common misconceptions about autism...

11 more common misconceptions about autism that are wrong, harmful, or have been debunked a thousand times.

5 misconceptions that I see on social media almost every day...

- Everyone's a little autistic – I have several articles in this catalog debunking this misconception

- Everyone wants to be autistic now because it's trendy – Autism is an answer for most of us, not a badge

- Everyone's self diagnosing now because of one TikTok video that made them decide 

they're autistic – Most self-diagnosed autistic people come to the conclusion that they are autistic after intense and thorough research

- Autistic people use autism as an excuse for bad behavior – Most of us mention our autism as an _explanation_ for _misunderstood_ behavior, not an “excuse” for “bad” behavior)

- Autism causes bad behavior – the only thing autism causes, is anxiety when a very specific set of needs become unmet

3 misconceptions that I unfortunately see coming from other autistic people pretty regularly (which I think are setting us back quite a bit)...

- Autistic people are morally better because they have extreme sensitivity to injustice – We are not more moral, we are more sensitive to what we perceive of as injustice… and our perception can be wrong if the information we are basing our opinions off of is incorrect

- Autism isn’t a disability – It’s medically and legally classified as a disability in the US)

- Autistic people are the next level of evolution – There is no scientific evidence to support this

And 3 straight up myths that won’t die even though they've been debunked a thousand times...

- Autism is caused by bad parenting – It’s not, it’s a neurodevelopmental brain wiring difference

- Autism is a mental illness – It’s not, it’s a neurodevelopmental brain wiring difference

- Autism is caused by vaccines – The science simply does not back this up