This was a really interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing it. I’m enjoying your channel and learning a lot.

I think you made some really interesting points in this video, and I strongly agree that when someone has difficulties those difficulties should be acknowledged and not dismissed just because there are others whose difficulties are more extensive. However as you pointed out there does seem to be a vast difference in nature & degree between the kind of difficulties Melanie Sykes might have and those that you have described regarding yourself and others. That doesn't diminish any difficulties she has and nor does it mean she shouldn't receive any assistance that might help, but it does call into question the utility of Autism as a category; if it is to embrace people who are disabled as well as those whose difficulties don't seem to be any more significant than those that many non-Autistic people deal with in day to day life. It does seem like creating a new name to describe the experiences of non significantly impaired people like Melanie Sykes, might be helpful all round and it could presumably still be classed as a Neurodiversity if that was important to those who like that term. I have to say I was quite shocked when I saw that she said that Autism was not a disorder so soon after being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I thought that was a rather dangerous sweeping statement.

Great video with a lot of interesting points. People like Melanie Sykes coming out and saying Autism is just a diffference annoys me as if it was I wouldn't be living in supported living and being unable to work due to having very limited communication skills and social anxiety etc. A difference is someone having different hair colour not a condition that affects our daily lives and functioning. The worry for me is celebrities like Melanie and Christine possibly paying someone for a diagnosis because they've been out the limelight for too long coming out and saying they have it when they quite clearly don't, this gives people the wrong impression of what autism is and the difficulties we face in our daily lives when people like Melanie Sykes arn't disabled what so ever and function normally.

Agreed, there should be different names for different degrees of Autism..

Isn't this like saying you have to be obese to be called overwight? I have possible waiting to be diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, I only just manage and lots of things are a struggle. Having the labels helps because I understand myself. We only see Mel on telly, how do we know how much she stuggles under the glam package.

Disability - physical and cognitive - is certainly a broad category. For example within those who have mobility disability there are very big differences from people who might need a stick or frame to walk through those who occasionally need a wheelchair and those who need a wheelchair permanently. However it would be nonsensical for anyone to claim that the person who can walk with a frame "isn't really disabled". Anyone who cannot walk unaided meets the criteria of disability as without that support they would struggle to go about their day-to-day lives. As regards cognitive disabilities including autism there are again wide variations from individuals who are non-verbal and require constant care to those who really struggle to make friends or find and keep a job and find social situations very difficult but the latter are still disabled. By contrast there are individuals who might have occasional difficulties but on the whole can manage a family life, have plenty of friends and have had successful careers. Such people may benefit from certain adjustments and support but to class them as autistic is stretching the definition too far and can detract from those with greater struggles.