ASD is short for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Autism is a neurological (how the brain functions) disorder that is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates, interacts with others, learns, and behaves. It's caused by differences in the brain and impacts people differently. Autism is characterized by persistent social communication and interaction deficits, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior or interests. People with this disorder (like me) may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention and may struggle in some school subjects but will pass with flying colours in others.
The reason why it's a spectrum is because there are many other disorders and disabilities that fall under "the Autism umbrella" and because no two autistics will ever be the same and would rarely even have a few shared interests and traits, unlike the more common neurotypical, "normal" people that could have lots of the same traits, interests and abilities. :/
