I think part of the problem is that autism now seems to encompass any behavior that is "quirky" or somewhat unusual, when by definition it should only be used to classify people who are having significant problems functioning. So if someone is so mildly affected that they improve on their own, or with minimal assistance, or have only mild problems functioning, do they really have autism? Maybe they are just on one side of the normal curve in terms of social skills, sensory issues, etc. Someone has to be in the bottom 5-10 percentile for every personality trait--it doesn't mean there is a disorder.
I look at my DS and if someone really wanted to, they could probably classify him as having Aspergers. He has difficulty with making friends, he has some quirkiness like unusual interests, prosody of voice, lack of eye contact with strangers, etc. However, he is also very laid back, has never had any rigid interests, no major sensory issues, etc. But just based on some of that superficial stuff, I can tell that some people are wondering about that when they first lay eyes on him. When we had a neuropsych eval a couple years ago, the doc stated that he thinks autism/aspergers are way over-diagnosed and a lot of people who are diagnosed do not really fit the criteria. And there IS research stating that a high percentage of young children/toddlers who are diagnosed no longer fit the criteria a couple years later. Autism is something that is life-long, it's not a temporary phase. If someone is able to "outgrow" it, then I would argue it was never there at all.
I think the "spectrum" confuses everything so that those who are so mildly affected that they really do not need anything special are lumped in with those who need major assistance. It's all still "ASD". It's not really fair to the people who actually are impaired and really do need some major interventions. Autism CAN be devastating to families, and when there are people claiming it is not that big of a deal, it's just a normal variation, I can imagine that is highly offensive to people who struggle every day, are trying to get treatments, and need a lot of help. Maybe it should be broken down into groups of severity like category 1, 2, 3, etc.
