My first thought was "What does that even mean?" So I looked it up: It refers to Autism Spectrum Disorder, and I don't agree.

Sure, I sometimes have 'difficulties in social communication and interaction' but that is because I often simply do not wish to talk to, or interact with, someone - and it can be awkward when they clearly do. And, yes, I have a preference for 'predictability and routine', 'focused interests', and 'repetitive behaviours', but I don't think I have 'sensory processing differences'.

I do have a tendency to remember car registration numbers, even from 50+ years ago. I turn the pepper grinder precisely 15 times when I have boiled eggs for breakfast. My sister says she has always admired my ability to perform mundane tasks without complaint. And it seems that everyone in my family knows that I twiddle my thumbs and forefingers together when my mood is about to tank.

Apart from that I'm quite normal.

So why is there an apparent avalanche of diagnoses of mental conditions like ASD, OCD, ADHD, and many other acronyms (or initialisms, as they are technically known)? The consensus appears to be that there hasn't necessarily been an increase in these conditions in recent years, rather, the medical profession is simply getting a lot better at recognising, categorizing, and diagnosing them. I think maybe there has actually been an increase, given the frenetic pace at which life today is lived, fraught with noifications, emails, advertisements, and the compulsion to compare ourselves with the seemingly perfect lives, bodies, homes, and bank balances of everyone else in the world. Not too many years ago we simply weren't bombarded with the volume of information that rains down all day every day now.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: Modern medicine is much better at identifying and treating conditions, both mental and physical than it has been in the past, and modern life is taking its toll on bodies and brains which, on an evolutionary timescale, have only recently swung down from the trees.

I think my family are using the word 'spectrum' in a wider sense than it is used in the term Autism Spectrum Disorder. What they mean is that they consider me to be less normal than others. And so should we all be, rather than the entire human race sitting at the peak of the bell curve, or in the middle of the spectrum, whichever measure of difference one might choose to use.

We are all on the spectrum, just pick your spot.