One of those is Ros Blackburn, a British woman who speaks more insightfully than practically anyone I know about what it feels like to go through life autistic. Ros often repeats this mantra: “If I do something you don’t understand, you’ve got to keep asking, ‘Why, why, why

One of the many harmful myths about autistic people is that they are isolated loners who neither need nor seek relationships. That’s not true. In fact, for many the presence and proximity of another trusted human being is the key to emotional regulation.

Autism isn’t an illness. It’s a different way of being human. Autistic children and adults aren’t sick; they are progressing through developmental stages as we all do. To help them, we don’t need to change them or fix them. To be sure, we should address co-occurring biomedical or mental health issues to reduce suffering and improve quality of

When my wife has had a bad day or feels worried, she organizes and cleans. If I come home and find my personal items I left around the house in a pile, and our home is more immaculate than usual, I know that something is bothering her.

wide range of celebrities—from the climate activist Greta Thunberg, to the actor Anthony Hopkins, to Tesla CEO Elon Musk—have not only acknowledged that they are on the autism spectrum but attribute their success to their unique minds.

Millions of people have become familiar with such minds on TV shows such as “Love on the Spectrum,” and “Atypical.” Even “Sesame Street” has added to its cast an autistic Muppet, the delightful Julia.

Rocking, talking to yourself, pacing, jumping up and down, flapping your arms, zoning out? We all do these things. The difference, of course, is that you might not have seen it as persistently or as intensely (or at an older age) in a typical person. And if we do engage in such behavior, we generally make sure we’re not doing so in public.

Why were they so easily upset about seemingly minor issues such as changes in routine or loud noises?

what they’re really doing is stripping the person of coping strategies and communicating that what the person is doing is offensive or wrong, possibly leading to low self-esteem, depression, and a sense of oneself as flawed and incompetent.