on the spectrum

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

on the spectrum

1. (autism, informal) Having autism spectrum disorder or exhibiting traits pertaining to or within the autism spectrum.
   • 2009 April 7, John Elder Robison, “Autism and Art as a window into the mind” (blog post):

     I spent some time walking around the exhibitor area before my turn to speak. […] The first exhibitor was a mom with a kid on the spectrum. […] The next person is an artist on the spectrum.

   • 2009, Lynn Kern Koegel, Claire LaZebnik, Growing Up on the Spectrum: A Guide to Life, Love, and Learning for Teens and Young Adults with Autism and Asperger's‎^[1], Penguin Group, →ISBN:
   • 2010, Julie Brown, Writers on the Spectrum: How Autism and Asperger Syndrome Have Influenced Literary Writing‎^[2], Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN:
   • 2010, Zosia Zaks, Parenting on the Spectrum, Jessica Kingsley Limited, →ISBN:
   • 2011, Valerie L. Gaus, Living Well on the Spectrum: How to Use Your Strengths to Meet the Challenges of Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Guilford Publications, →ISBN:
   • 2014 Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai, "Minimum Viable Product", Silicon Valley season 1 episode 1, 6 minutes 10 seconds

     There is a personal ad section on this Asperger site. Holy shit this one is looking for "a relationship that has a potential to become sexual in nature". Boy, is she on the spectrum. She can't even make eye contact with the camera.

   • 2023 March 21, Virginia Heffernan, “I Saw the Face of God in a Semiconductor Factory”, in WIRED‎^[3]:

     might slag the project as monotonous or, more callously, "on the spectrum"

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on,‎ spectrum.
   • 2012 September 1, Spectrum, Science, Grade 7, Carson-Dellosa Publishing, →ISBN, page 40:

     [Infrared light] waves are too long to see, but they have enough energy to make your skin feel warm. They come right before visible light on the spectrum.

   • 2019 December 3, Katie Steele, Julie Nicholson, Radically Listening to Transgender Children: Creating Epistemic Justice through Critical Reflection and Resistant Imaginations, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 70:

     The basic spectrum model is often coupled with the sex-gender distinction, whereby one's sex is seen as binary and immutable but one's gender can be anywhere on the spectrum.

   • 2023 May 30, Rebecca J. Cook, Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 166:

     This subsection marks out the different points on the spectrum, starting with a minimal level and moving to a higher level of engagement.

Synonyms

• autistic
• spectrumy