WHY WE'RE ALL A BIT ON THE SPECTRUM IS NOT TRUE.
Picture this: we have doctor, author and media personality, Cindy Pan, and Blossom Ah Ket, whose great-grandfather, William Ah Ket, was the first Chinese-Australian barrister, in the same room. Both of Dr Cindy Pan's parents were Chinese-Australians, so she is 100% Chinese-Australian. Blossom Ah Ket, on the other hand's, most recent Chinese relative was her great-grandfather, and all the others were European, therefore she is only 12.5% Chinese. Nevertheless, I would argue that Blossom has as much right to pride in her roots (and that is the case whether her great-grandfather was a well-educated trailblazer or a humble gardener who arrived searching for gold and found love in the arms of an open-minded European woman) as any other Chinese person and while she may not qualify for Chinese citizenship, she has as much right to join a Chinese Community Group, identify as Eurasian and travel to China to see her ancestral home as much as anybody else does.
Many Anglo-Australians like Chinese food, and some older ones who survived the racially selective immigration era may have fond memories of taking a billy can on a Saturday night to the local Chinese kitchen or taking their clothes to the local Chinese laundry, even if some in the community took their clothes their because they believed they were inferior. (I, myself, feel guilty about having an Indian trolley collector take my trolley at the local Woolworths because of the colonial implications. One thing that makes me angry with nationalistic Australians is that they carry on about so-called sovereign borders but fail to understand that they are here because their ancestors took over the sovereignty of many countries and without a treaty.)
Chinese food has made its way into the Australian culinary scene and many Australians eat it, but that doesn't mean to say that we're all a bit Chinese. So if we don't say we're all a bit Chinese, why then, do some say that we're all a bit autistic?
Just like the examples I've given above, autism is a spectrum. Yes, if we go by Kanner's narrow definition, autism is confined to a non-verbal kid who plays with his faeces and is largely confined to males. The definition of autism has broadened, and without taking this to be selfish, the best synonym I can give for it goes to the Maoris, Takiwatanga, meaning, "In one's own time, or space." As I said, that is not to say that autism is selfish, but rather to say, yes, some autistics can be lonely, but there is also the autistic person who is quite happy engaged in their hobby or interest and isn't keen to mix with others.
Some autistic traits can be shared by neuro-typical folks, but if we take one example, a neuro-typical may have a car that's a hobby car, and so might an autistic, and again, an autistic person may have an interest in a particular type of car, say a Ford Falcon, and research all there is to know about different models, such as saying, "The XK Falcon rolled off the production line in September, 1960 and had problems with ball joint failure, and was followed two years later by the XL and then, in 1964 by the XM, and the XP was the last of the original line-up. 1966 saw the XR, which had a wider body and was the last to have the same taillights as previous models, when the XT arrived in 1968, it had taillights that were punctuated by a horizontal indicator…." And keep going, whereas a neuro-typical may say, "I've always had Falcons," and it may be because their Dad had a Falcon and they followed suit or a car's a car, or, they had the choice of a Commodore or Falcon as a company car and just went for a Falcon as a default setting.
Every few months, my parents hire a wheelchair van and I like taking my father down to collect it because the man who owns the business has a set of die cast model cars in a display cabinet and I like being able to say, "Well, the XW Falcon has a different grille to the XY, in that it is divided in the centre and the XW has a square taillight punctuated by an indicator while the XY has a square taillight with a stoplight mounted at the top and an indicator at the bottom." A neuro-typical may say, "Yeah, I had a 1972 Falcon for about five years. I remember we took it to Sydney, towing a caravan, with the kids in the back. A few years later, we sold it, and we bought a 1978 model, because we wanted to upgrade."
A neuro-typical sharing some common interests with an autistic person does NOT mean the neuro-typical is on the spectrum. Likewise, an autistic may dislike corduroy (I do) and so may a neuro-typical, but that doesn't make the neuro-typical on the spectrum.
Another example I can give to illustrate a point is a hypothetical question posed 28 years ago. If you arrived at a hospital, needing an urgent operation, and you had the choice of three doctors, one was an alcoholic, one was addicted to tranquilisers and the other was a heroin addict, which would you choose? The correct answer is the heroin addict because the alcoholic, when they've had their alcohol may be aggressive or sedated (I've lived with an alcoholic and I know, that after a day on the booze, their senses can be heightened and their aggression can emerge) and without it are shaky, the person on tranquilisers would be shaky without them or sleepy with them, while the heroin addict, provided they've had the right dose, can function safely. Now, I'm not advocating people become heroin addicts, as the amount needed to get a high can increase at regular intervals and it is highly addictive (no, I've never used it). An autistic person, when in the right environment, can thrive positively. That is not to say that a comfortable autistic person should be stressed or agitated, as their level of functioning will be negatively impacted. Some of these factors may not impact upon a neuro-typical or may only apply in certain circumstances.
Humankind is a spectrum and so is autism. Autistics are human beings, but autistics are on the spectrum, and not in a fixed place on it, and they have a place on the spectrum of humankind. Neuro-typical folks are on the spectrum, the spectrum of humankind.