Ok, so you're a "autism is overdiagnosed" Andy, in your own words. That likely puts you in the NT camp so you should probably sit this one out as you have absol

Ok, so you're a "autism is overdiagnosed" Andy, in your own words. That likely puts you in the NT camp so you should probably sit this one out as you have absolutely no idea what impact autism has on people's lives. I don't think I've ever seen someone diagnosed with autism who turned around and said "it's not a big deal". It always, always, always has a profound impact on understanding the trauma and difficulties they've suffered their entire lives. These are people who once wore labels like "being a nerd" or simply "being introverted" when their brains were wired in such a way as to be at a severe disadvantage in an allistic world. There were answers to why they had few friends in school, were likely bullied, had difficulties getting and keeping jobs and had problems maintaining social relationships. These are people who sought out (or were forced into) jobs where social connections didn't matter (as much). These are people who were told their team in the office was "like a family" but were somehow always excluded and were told they were being difficult for asking qualifying questions on tasks or simply pointing out how something was doomed to failure. What autistic people learn is that allistic people are dangerous and needy because they demand conformance to unwritten rules, who will talk about rules while ignoring them when convenient, who will talk about consistency while having none of it and will talk about morality while discarding it in a heartbeat. It is the most allistic trait ever to simply dismiss all this as "overdiagnosis".