POTENTIALLY DUMB QUESTION ALERT, but I'm here for a reason.
I have SEVERE ADHD which a lot of the time feels like I'm bordering on autism when it comes to specific interactions. I've developed a habit of just, throwing out the phrase "oh, I'm just hella autistic" as a reason if I do something weird in a social interaction, like get overly passionate about something or get awkward or whatever.
I've never been formally diagnosed with autism, but I've had therapists suggest I may be autistic. Idk why I keep fucking saying that I'm "autistic" I feel like it's just easier to both say and explain as opposed to "oh I'm neurodivergent" or "Oh im just mentally ill :3" Its also cus I assume most people know what Autism looks like and thus I dont have to explain as much, as most people dont know what severe ADHD looks like and I assume most dont even take ADHD that seriously.
Is that something to just throw around like that?? 'Cause I have friends who actually are autistic, and after hyperfixating on all kinds of mental health research, I don't exactly fit the bar for autism, I'm wayyyyy too outgoing and sociable(?) among other things. My symptoms fit more under severe ADHD or potentially even AuADHD. Which I also have no idea how I can go about getting a diagnosis.
Maybe fashionable for a select group of rich weirdos & their egirls. That's an odd generalization
There's a lot of people who idolize autism as something that makes people quirky and smart, mainly because a ton of billionaire CEOs have it
*claim to have it. It is my hypothesis that some of them use the autism label to explain why their experiences and behaviour differs from their peers: many of of them exhibit something like lack of empathy, envy, need for admiration and control and it smells more like a personality disorder to me which is less palatable to bear than autism would in their mind.
A lot of smart scientists too. There's a biography of Paul Dirac (one of the founders of quantum mechanics) called "The Strangest Man" with a chapter about how Dirac was (in the author's view) probably autistic. There's another book "The Pattern Seekers" about autism and creativity, and a couple of similar books by psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald. I can imagine seeing this stuff and wanting to become autistic because of that, probably a bad idea. Anyway, fashionable in certain circles at least.