Why everyone is not "a little autistic" – A clarification
In my last article I explained that to be diagnosed autistic/ADHD/OCD a person must be meaningfully impaired by their brain wiring when doing critical life activities.
In other words, they can't do important life activities without support.
And though the vast majority of people understood what I meant, some took my words to mean the exact opposite of what I was saying.
So, I'm here to elaborate and clear things up a bit.
"Meaningfully impaired" does not mean a person can't survive without support.
It means they struggle... (some more than others, but there must at least be some amount of struggle) without support.
In some cases, they can't do the thing at all without support, but in many cases people with these conditions can, it's just... really freaking hard.
And support can mean many things, including...
Emotional/mental support... helping someone make modifications to their environment to reduce triggers... helping someone with accommodations to reduce triggers, etc.
Important/critical life activities also covers a wide range of things, including...
Hygiene activities, work related activities, social activities, planning/scheduling important things, paying bills, grocery shopping, and so many other things as well.
If a person appears "fine" on the outside but is struggling greatly to do important life activities (this includes things that matter to them, even if others might not consider them important)... that counts.
If a person can complete life activities but to the extreme detriment of other aspects of their lives... that also counts.
If a person can complete life activities because they have found ways to get their own needs met (example... by changing their environment or advocating for themselves by asking for accommodations)... that also counts.
Masking your challenges doesn't make those challenges disappear. It doesn't make you not have brain wiring differences. It just makes your struggles not visible to others.
Masked challenges are still challenges... and they absolutely count.
If you are struggling in your life in any meaningful way (where you feel the struggle and it's impacting you in a negative way... in a way that is hurting you) and it's because of your brain wiring... that counts.
My post was not suggesting that people who don't have visible signs of autism/ADHD/OCD might not have these conditions if they don't appear "impaired enough."
My post was saying that if a person isn't meaningfully impaired by their brain wiring without support...
Again, "meaningful" can be self-defined and support includes environmental modifications and accommodations...
They wouldn't meet the diagnostic criteria of the conditions.
Because what makes these conditions conditions is that they create significant challenges for people in their lives.
So even if a person has a trait or two of any of these conditions but is not meaningfully impaired in ways the conditions have been defined... that doesn't make them "a little" [one of said conditions].