Critical reflections on autism advocacy for and against autism subtypes.

Advocacy relating to autism has a complicated history, no more so since 1993 with the parallel emergence of autistic rights and neurodiversity movements. Focusing on advocacy for and against dividing autism subtypes, primarily examining the advocacy efforts for “Profound Autism” and “Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) Profile of ASD”, to highlight how impairment category advocacy can be appropriated by those with vested interests, to control autism advocacy; for example, autistic opposition to “Profound Autism” can be construed as harassment, bullying, or stalking associated with “PDA Profile of ASD”. Consequently, through such processes, those with vested interests may overturn the consensus that autism cannot be successfully divided into subtypes and ignore the preference of most autistic persons for the autism impairment category to be undivided. While disability studies academics should validate the concerns of activists, there is a need to critically engage with claims of impairment category activists.