Neurodivergent possibly a better term than autism.

I haven't been diagnosed officially, but several people have said that I may be on the autism spectrum. I think that a better term to describe this is neurodivergent; someone who's brain works differently than average.

Autism is in the news with HHS Secretary Kennedy's wish to study it. I doubt that it's related to vaccines. My own assumption is that autism seems more prevalent, these days, due to more awareness. Back during my childhood, people weren't aware of it.

These days, it seems like lots more people are on that spectrum, probably because, in the past, it just wasn't articulated. Some folks have always been a bit strange and had some trouble plugging into mainstream jobs, schools and so forth, but describing it as autism wasn't done.

When I first started hearing about it, I thought that one could call it a "catchall disease." One can be different in many ways so just toss it into that category.

Thinking of it as a disease can be problematic though I hear there is a spectrum from high functioning to severely limited. In some cases it can even be a virtue given what mix of skills one might have, or not have.

The term neurodivergent seems to work better, in my opinion. There are lots of different kinds of people and there are many attempts, especially in recent times, to find ways for divergent people to connect with jobs, schooling and so forth. It takes some flexibility in things like school lessons, resumes and so forth.