When professionals get autism wrong: a critical look at common misconceptions
Outdated ideas about autism remain widespread, including among some professionals. Recently, a psychologist subjected me to an interrogation that dismissed my lived experience as an autistic person by comparing me with “severely” autistic people—in her own words. What she said was particularly violent. For nearly thirty minutes, she questioned my diagnosis and my experience using a very dubious line of reasoning built on a whole collection of misconceptions. I am going to examine them in this article.