# I pit the belief system that says that autism isn't bad **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-belief-system-that-says-that-autism-isnt-bad/1031621 "2026-07-12T14:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 144
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-belief-system-that-says-that-autism-isnt-bad/1031621/144 "2026-08-13T16:01:13Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m curious what you think about the theory that these are not really two different disorders. I referenced this thread in the contemporaneous Pit thread on species when mentioning “Why Fish Don’t Exist” and the following post about groups there has lots of parallels to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric labels and categories: > [@Change in species](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-in-species/1032282/124): > > Some random ramblings on ‘fish’, because I’m bored: Traditionally, “fish” have been identified as belonging to one of three vertebrate Classes: Agnatha (“jawless fishes”) Chondrichthyes (“cartilaginous fishes”) Osteichtyes (“bony fishes”) The problem there is that two of those three groups are paraphyletic - that is, they do not include all the descendants of a parent group. Agantha (mostly extinct critters, but with some extant clades such as hagfish and lampreys) is paraphyletic because … As does that article with the jargon dense reference to “transdiagnostic”. I’m not sure functionally what we should be calling “disorder” … clinically looking alike? Responding to the same interventions in similar ways? Same root causes even though the presentations are very different? We tend to use the first in practice but probably the latter two are more meaningful and it is by now clear that we barely understand the interactions of the genes involved but that clearly the same root causes can have very divergent and overlapping presentations. It’s why I love using labels as tools but use them with lots of caveats as to the limits of their usefulness as tools. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-belief-system-that-says-that-autism-isnt-bad/1031621)._