[cogman10]

> it crowds out more nuanced understanding. Like even the word "spectrum", trying to add some depth to the pop culture model, is really just a fancy word for a single scalar.

I just disagree with this take.

For people with autism, the broad criteria help to serve as guideposts for common experiences shared by those with autism. When doing treatment, everyone gets into the specifics of what autism means for the individual.

What you are complaining about is similar to someone complaining that cancer is too broad of a term. After all, the word cancer describes a spectrum of mutations and symptoms everywhere in the body.

[mindslight]

How about for people "without autism" that have some of the characteristics (probably everyone), trying to examine their own mental workings (ideally more people) ?

How about for people with "mild autism" that have now been labeled by the medical system as being distinct from people "without autism", even though the main difference was merely passing some arbitrary threshold?

The difference with cancer is that cancer is an unequivocal negative. You can't be just "a little cancerous" and just embrace it. Whereas autism we're seemingly talking about variances in distinct components of what makes up intelligence. So setting some arbitrary threshold below which you're "fine" and above which you have a "problem" is really an artifact of the medical industry and larger economic system rather than actual mechanics.

[seba_dos1]

I think a person is usually capable of figuring out whether some of their traits pose a "problem" in their life or not. And if they're not capable, you're probably able to figure out the answer to that question already without their involvement.

Healthy people usually don't try to find a diagnosis for their mental state.