(EDIT: this is the first of what became a long thread. Please read it in full to get the full picture. Thanks.)

There's an old joke that goes like this:

A Soviet scientist has trained a flea to jump whenever he says "jump!".

He tears off the flea's leg. He says "jump!".

The flea jumps.

He tears off another. He says "jump!".

The flea jumps.

This repeats two more times.

Then he tears off another. "jump!"

The flea does not jump.

The scientist writes in his notebook: "conclusion: after losing their fifth leg, fleas go deaf".

This post is not actually about fleas or Soviets or even jokes.

This post is about autism and how #actuallyautistic people were concluded to have an undeveloped theory of mind.

Bullshit science results in bullshit conclusions.