Azeen Ghorayshi

I think there's broad recognition, and Kathy certainly also recognizes that folding everything under one diagnosis hasn't worked.

What is not clear is what will work and what will fix the problems that they were trying to solve for in the first place without leaving anyone behind.

The parents of kids with profound autism maybe will be satisfied by having a distinct diagnosis, but that still leaves a lot of people with wide range of needs.

Kathy is also worried about

I also spoke with autistic self-advocates who are really worried about if the diagnosis is split apart.

The message that that sends is that the people who don't have profound autism don't have autism at all.

And I think there's a real fear about that support being lost, that then we will be dividing the spectrum up into people with real autism and not real autism.

And I think that's a real concern too.

Kathy, thank you so much for taking all this time and for walking us through all of this.

Yeah.

You know, having this separate category made for profound autism will maybe solve some of the problems that we've been talking about.

But it still leaves a lot of unanswered questions about where is the line between a disability and a difference?

Who should be speaking for a community that is as broad as this one?

Where are diagnoses helpful and where can they, in some cases, cause harm?

I think these are a lot of questions that the field of psychiatry in general is wrestling with right now.

And I think those are still unanswered.

Being able to transition absolutely saved my life.

Being able to transition absolutely saved my life.

So are you going to be able to bring that inside? No.

So are you going to be able to bring that inside? No.