Guys do you think I was wrong?

Personal spaces 👤
1

Hey everyone! It’s Eri again, with a story to share! I want you to tell me if I was in the wrong here and if I was, please feel free to educate me!

So today Eri and her friend group were talking about random stuff, and somehow the topic wandered to autism. I was talking about a very close friend I had that was on the autism spectrum. I looked at one of my friends, let’s call her Juliette, and she was staring at me in horror.

I asked her what was wrong and she told me that it was horrible and disgusting to say that word. Confused, I asked her what she meant and she meant spectrum. That was the word that she hated so much.

So apparently, she believes that if you talk about autism on a spectrum, you are talking about the person as if they are a graph and not a real person. I told her that that’s not how I meant it, and that she’s reading into things. We had a small fight about it, and now things are a bit cold between us

So, guys, tell me… do you think I’m in the wrong? For any people with autism out there, please let me know if you have any feelings about that word. I just want to know so I don’t accidentally offend anyone!

-Eri

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You’re not in the wrong! Spectrum doesn’t mean they’re a number, is just how it affects u and to what extent.

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As a person with diagnosed level one autism and ADHD, that’s crazy your friend said that. I love it when people refer to us as “on the spectrum” because spectrum doesn’t always mean graph, it means there are multiple types and levels to it. Neurodiverse people have different characteristic, traits, habits, levels, likes, quirks, and so on. It is a spectrum, just like a rainbow of colors and shades.

You are not at all in the wrong, and if your friend doesn’t have it, she (in my opinion) cannot say what is allowed or not allowed to refer to people . (unless it’s obviously an insult, then she can yell at the person). However, I don’t think your friend is in the wrong either, as she was just trying to be respectful. Tell her from an autistic persons perspective, it is polite to say on the spectrum, and not at all offensive!

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No, I don’t think you are wrong.

The term spectrum refers to the varying range of symptoms experienced by a person and the different forms of autism.

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Thank you! It’s nice to hear that :smiling_face:

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of coursee

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Yeah i agree! You’re not in the wrong!

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I’m not autistic but I feel like your friend is over reacting and I also have friends that our autistic and when I say autistic spectrum then they don’t have a problem :thinking::thinking::grin::grin:

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I don’t think you’re in the wrong. As an AuDHD person, I actually prefer when people refer to us as on the spectrum.

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That was nothing wrong! That person needs to do a little more research before they can get in an argument about something they don’t know.

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You aren’t wrong, because the word ‘spectrum‘ is just an umbrella term, it isn’t meant to organize or graph, it’s meant to think of them as a whole.

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