For those who say that everybody is a little bit Autistic, here are the DSM-5 Autistic diagnostic criteria:

• [A1] Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation, to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect, to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

• [A2] Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication, to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures, to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

• [A3] Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts, to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends, to absence of interest in peers.

• [B1] Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech – e.g. simple motor stereotypes, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases.

• [B2] Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior – e.g. extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat same food every day.

• [B3] Hyperfocus: highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus – e.g. strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests.

• [B4] Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment – e.g. apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement.

  Have you, who’s “everybody-little-bit-Autistic,” scored how many checks?

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