I sometimes joke that I have an Autism Spectrum Order. Whatever disadvantage I’ve had as a result of autism, I didn’t notice in real time — I only began to rec

I sometimes joke that I have an Autism Spectrum Order. Whatever disadvantage I’ve had as a result of autism, I didn’t notice in real time — I only began to recognize the social disadvantages I’ve regularly experienced sometime in my mid 30s when doing a lot of reflection on my life. To whatever extent I’ve been disadvantaged (and the disadvantages are certainly there upon reflection, and have been my whole life) I’ve been much more heavily advantaged in life, in ways that I associate with autism. I do consider it a superpower, personally. But I have multiple relatives for whom the scales clearly balance heavily in the other direction. That I do not consider it a disorder in my own life is in no way a denial that many people have a different situation going on. To add to that, as I understand it, nobody really knows what autism is yet — it’s an umbrella term, and perhaps what’s going on in my brain will someday be classified separately from what’s going on in the brains of those who experience more disability than I do. But for now, and possibly forever, it’s all the same label, and I gotta respect that there are many folks who have a considerable amount to offer the world but who could use more help than I’ve needed in that regard.