I was diagnosed with ASD as an adult and it's been an ongoing process to come to terms with what the diagnosis means for me and how to face the world in that context. Do any chapos know of any resources discussing ASD in the context of disabilities studies? I have all these neurotypical friends who take one disabilities studies class and insist that the ASD diagnosis criteria are somehow "arbitrary." While I agree that autistic people sometimes otherize themselves by not recognizing the universality of the autistic experience (anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, etc.), and certainly that the criteria for a diagnosis of any disorder in the DSM V is contingent norms for functionality in society, calling it "arbitrary" just flies in the face of all the data and our lived experience. Unfortunately I haven't been able to track down any resources that approach this from the theoretical perspective that is necessary to meet my friends where they're at. In particular I'd like to convey the struggle between the exhaustion of "masking" and the shame of being seen as weird, which imo is one of the main things that is obfuscated by this unidimensional spectrum of NT -> Autistic with an arbitrary division. I find that many people do not understand the multidimensionality of the spectrum diagnosis outlined in the DSM-5 and frequently confuse categories of the DSM-4 like Asberger's as being "points" along this spectrum. I would like to convey how we as people on the spectrum experience the world differently even if the constitutive parts of that experience are universal and part of the larger human experience.

TL;DR: Point me towards disabilities studies resources on autism so I can deconstruct the arguments of my friends who are way over confident in their understanding of ASD because they took one class on disabilities studies but don't even understand the difference between editions of the DSM.