People also use the term ‘autism spectrum condition’ (ASC). Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)īecause these diagnoses all had the characteristics of autism, they were removed and replaced with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or autism for short.In the past, autism was broken down into several different diagnoses, including: If in doubt, you can always ask an autistic person what term they’d prefer. In this guide, we’ll mostly use the term ‘autistic’. They consider autism to be part of their identity, not a condition to be treated.įor a long time people used the term ‘person on the autism spectrum’, known as person-first language (for example, “I’m on the autism spectrum”), and some people still prefer this. Many people who have been diagnosed with autism prefer using the term ‘autistic’ to describe themselves – this is known as identity-first language (for example, “I’m autistic”). Read more about support here Talking about autism The way autism affects you can change as you grow and develop, and experience different environments. Autism is considered a spectrum because it’s different for every autistic person – some autistic people might need more support than others to live the lives they want to lead. Read more about characteristics of autism hereĪutism is highly variable – the word ‘spectrum’ refers to how autism is experienced differently by different people.
For example, some autism characteristics (things you think, feel and do) can make it hard to express yourself in social situations, but you may also be particularly knowledgeable and passionate about topics that interest you. This means you can behave differently to most people, and have different strengths and difficulties. Autism means that the way you think about and experience the world is different to most people. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), usually called autism, is something you’re born with.
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