Autism is a lifelong neuro-developmental difference. This means it is a condition that affects the development of the brain. Autism affects the way a person communicates and interacts with others, how information is processed and how the person makes sense of the world.
The human population is highly diverse. Neurodiversity is a term that describes this normal variation across all people. Within the autistic population there is also a great deal of diversity and autism manifests differently from person to person.
Autism often co-occurs with other neuro-developmental differences including;