Over use of autism diagnosis

I recently went to Walmart, which I already know is basically where all the annoying people in the world go to merge. 😂

I took my son to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy tech was being really nice, but she kept looking at him because he was showing her his Spider-Man toy and his Spider-Man shirt. I told her, “Yeah, he’s just in that fully obsessed-with-Spider-Man stage right now.” 😂

She then said, “Yeah, my son is autistic too.”

I just stared at her and said, “My son isn’t autistic.” 😳

And honestly, this whole interaction really bothered me. Since when does a child being really into something automatically mean they’re autistic? Kids can become completely obsessed with a character, toy, dinosaur, animal, sport, etc. without it being a sign of autism.

I even mentioned the situation to our doctor, and she completely understood why it bothered me.

Autism is absolutely real, and I would never minimize that. It’s a very real diagnosis that affects many people and families, and I think it’s actually harmful when we start casually labeling every child who acts a little different, has an intense interest, or is simply quirky as being “on the spectrum.”

Can we just normalize saying, “I’m weird. They’re weird. That kid is quirky.” 😂 There is NOTHING wrong with being a little strange, peculiar, intense, or just plain weird.

Not every unusual behavior needs a diagnosis attached to it. Sometimes a kid is just a kid who REALLY loves Spider-Man. 🕷️❤️

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Cannot get behind this post enough. Well said.

(Also Spider-Man is awesome, your son makes sense!)

Couldn’t agree more! My nephew went through a stage of lining his toys up (as they all do) and immediately it was a question of whether he was displaying signs of autism. No he’s just being a kid.

As an autisim momma...yeah that was wrong of her to have labeled a kid she doesn't know. But to her defense.... I think because we are living in this "other world" we end up going to deep and some moms end up going way to deep as to 'studying' traits, diets, social life etc. of what it means to be autistic and how to help navigate our little ones life. I'm sure she didn't mean no harm or meant to offend you in any way. Maybe she was just trying to make a connection with someone as we sometimes can be feeling a little lonely.

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