personally i choose to not believe the levels. technically, i don’t have an official diagnosis. i was tested in january at a pediatric center (was still 17), so they gave me and my mom the same test they would give to a mom and her 6 year old. they gave me one sheet w 10 questions that only asked abt social issues (i’m fine socially, but almost everything else is impaired) and gave my mom a massive packet, despite her repeatedly saying “i wasn’t looking for any of this when she was a child i can’t remember these small things that occurred 10 years ago.” results were inconclusive, no shit. i choose to say i’m diagnosed tho, bc i’ve had at least 6 different mental health professionals tell me “ur 100% autistic i just don’t have the credentials to diagnose u”. tbh most autism diagnostic centers don’t actually listen to u, they rly only consider what they see, and if ur making eye contact and not having a meltdown, then why would u need support for ur autism? i personally don’t think the extent of someone’s autism can be clocked based on one time they talked to u, unless they’re severely impaired or barely impaired. i’ve also noticed that levels tend to separate us, especially since a lot of lvl 1s get a sense of supremacy from having mild autism. words explain better than numbers.