No, they are not "autistic"

and it is time to stop saying they are.

I refer you to those people who would once have been labelled "a bit eccentric". They functionally perfectly well in society. They may have traits which irritate or annoy you but they are not "autistic". 

I know I have said similar things elsewhere but I will say them again. It is important people know the difference. 

There is a vast difference between someone who does not relate to other people, is not toilet trained, cannot feed themselves, is frequently destructive, cannot entertain themselves at all and has no means of any form of communication and a person who has the ability to hold down any sort of job in open employment. The latter person may not be able to read or write or they may have a doctorate in organic chemistry or physics. They may appear to be "a bit odd", "strange", "not exactly shy but not very sociable", "obsessive" or a range of other things others (who do not share those traits) find uncomfortable. It does not make them "autistic". 

Once upon a long time ago these people would almost certainly have been considered "normal". Now apparently they need to be labelled. They need to be given a "condition".  

It is rather like "high blood pressure" and "cholesterol". The "acceptable" readings for those things have been lowered over time. I did a little research about that. In the 1940's an "acceptable" reading for a fifty year old was apparently 190/50. In the 1950s it had gone down to 180/100. By the 1960's it had gone down to 160/95. In 1970 it had gone down still further to 140/90. I will stop the history there and say that an "acceptable" level now, according to my doctor, is "no more than 120/80".  Cholesterol readings show a similar sort of pattern. If we do not reach these levels then we apparently need to be medicated.  

What you believe about these things and how you handle them is entirely your affair. Is it however a similar story with human behaviour? Have our ideas about what is acceptable, what we can tolerate in the behaviour of others changed? 

I think it might have. The "fidgety" child in the classroom has now been diagnosed with "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" or ADHD.  Does that child really have a disorder or do they need a different level of before school activity and a breakfast consisting of good quality fuel and not sugar laden cereal? Do they need to have walked or run to school and then spent time running around the playground? Is their friend who appears to be failing to pay attention and constantly wandering around doing so for some external reason? Might it possibly be one related to modern technology or a means of gaining attention in a world where  parents are too busy to care? Is something wrong at home? 

Is there a possibility, as I have said elsewhere, that the classroom is the problem? The child really is "normal" (whatever that is) but the way the classroom is set up and run is not one which provides the best learning outcomes? Is it actually providing the best learning outcomes for any child? Might there be reasons for the "drop in standards" which actually have nothing to do with the child(ren) and everything to do with the way we expect them to learn?  

I might be wrong but I am not sure medication is the answer to everything.  I would like to see some changes in the education policies of the party which will get re-elected today. Unfortunately it is likely to be more of the same policies which I suspect are not working.