Spectrum Codex

A self-description language for autistic people. Because "I'm on the spectrum" tells you almost nothing, and the full explanation takes an hour. This sits in between.

Build your code Decode a profile

What is this?

Autism is often described as a "spectrum," which implies a single line from "a little" to "a lot." It's more like an equalizer with dozens of independent sliders. Two autistic people can have almost nothing in common in how it shows up day-to-day.

The Spectrum Codex gives you a compact way to describe your particular configuration. Rate yourself across dimensions — sensory experience, communication style, energy management, masking, and more — and produce a short code that other people can read.

It's inspired by The Geek Code from the 1990s, which let early internet users describe themselves with a single line of ASCII. Same idea, different identity.

What does a code look like?

-----BEGIN SPECTRUM CODEX BLOCK-----
Version: 1.0
Ss+++ Sl+ St++ Sf- M++$>- SE-- Cv+++@ Ct+++ Cl+ SI+++$ R++ EF-- Sm+ B- Dx:rl SM:si
------END SPECTRUM CODEX BLOCK------

Ss Extremely sound-sensitive. Carries headphones everywhere.

M Heavy professional masker - but the $ says it's a career skill, and the >- says they're working on unmasking.

SI Intense long-term special interest - the $ means it became a career.

EF Significant executive function challenges. Knows what to do, can't make themselves start.

Dx Re-diagnosed and late-diagnosed. The :rl tells you the path they took to get here.

That's a lot of information in one line. And this is only showing five of the sixteen categories in that code.

What this is not

This is not a diagnostic tool. This is not a severity scale. This is not a contest. There is no "more autistic" or "less autistic." There is only your particular configuration.

These traits are neither deficits nor superpowers — they are dimensions. Some days a dimension is an asset, some days it's a wall, most days it just is.

You choose which dimensions to include. If your code and someone else's code don't overlap at all, that itself tells you something about how differently autism can express itself.