I wonder who we might turn to as the foremost authority on this subject? I wonder how many experts agree or disagree that SPD and Autism are the same? And I wonder why and on what criterion they agree or disagree. Is it the more an "expert" knows about the two disorders that make him/her more inclined to agree or disagree that they are one and the same? Or the less an "expert" knows, like an unspecialized bug observer lumping spiders under the catagory of "insect", when they are technically "arachnids"? Or is it a perspective derived from the vantage point of their own particular specialty?

I know many autistic people, most of them have the same sensory defensive patterns that I have, to greater or lesser degrees. But they have a relationship component that I do not have. They appear to have a disconnect in empathetic reaction, an inability to read social norms and a different way of communicating. That is absolutely not part of my experience. I am painfully empathetic. I am a fascinated observer of social norms, although I do not always agree with them or choose to follow them (does that make me autistic?). And as for communication...well, I'll let you be the judge.

It's possible that SPD and Autism share a common genetic basis and that there are variables (in other genes or in the environment) that determine which components get turned on in which individuals.

If they are officially declaired, in the end, to be the same. Would a person like me merit inclusion in the autistic diagnosis even though I lack that huge relationship/communication component? Or would that lack be enough to deny me a diagnosis and therefore deny me treatment coverage by my insurance?

If they are declaired to be one and the same, I forsee a problem for me, personally. I tell people who need to know, "I'm autistic." And they raise an eyebrow. And maybe say, "well not very." And my symptoms and needs are discounted just as they have always been. And that would SUCK.

But I, personally, am not an expert. There is so much about this I don't know, I don't even know what I don't know. AND I beleive in reading lots of information, and talking to lots of different sources and forming my own judgement on a large pool of information.

(I hope my long monologue doesn't fall under the catagory of "tomato"