The diagnostic terms for autism were overhauled 10 years ago. Experts, campaigners and autistic people reflect on these changes
Chris Bonnello, 37, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2011. But these days he just says he’s autistic. “A lot of us did not want to let go originally, it was something that fitted us very nicely,” recalls the teacher turned autism advocate who runs a website called Autistic Not Weird from his home in Nottingham. “But it is better for autistic people if we are all recognised, acknowledged and appreciated together.”
Sarah Weston, 47, received a diagnosis of autism spectrum condition in 2019. Yet in daily life she describes herself as an “Aspie” – an informal, affectionate term for a person with Asperger syndrome. She doesn’t have the complex learning disabilities some autistic people do and which non-autistic people can think of when they hear autism. She says using Aspie or Asperger’s just helps outsiders understand what she’s like and clears up confusion. And she is certain, based on her cognitive and language abilities, that she would have received the Asperger’s label had she been diagnosed earlier.
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