I've been thinking about these matters quite a bit recently and ultimately to be outside the norm whether by choice or not tends to lead to social exclusion and disadvantage. Autistic people can want friends and / or partners and feel excluded because they struggle to get them. However it's also true that autists - unlike neurotypicals - are more comfortable with their own company and have less need for sociability and social connections. However even the autist (or anyone else) who chooses not to have relationships can find themselves excluded. This can be because they don't have the same reservoir of experiences as those who are socially connected so while a socially connected person often talks a lot about their partner, children, friends, social events, etc, the autist often finds it hard to respond in kind - in a sense the neurotypical thinks they are "bringing nothing to the table" and the conversation and relationship struggles to progress. On another point many autists are not very interested in going to pubs and clubs (and some don't drink alcohol at all) so this creates a barrier to socialising when so much social contact is based around going to such places. The greatest feelings of exclusion are likely to be felt by those who do want what the majority have but even those who don't want those things can end up on the outside.
Autism has such a high rate of comorbidities that you can rarely find an autistic person without any. I agree that this is not a coincidence. Researchers have found a loop of 60+ genes that are related to autism, ADHD, bipolar and Schizophrenia.
One way someone might not be severely impaired by autism is if they have improved a lot since diagnosis. I am sure that it happens but it is probably pretty rare. Or the assessor is lenient on who they diagnose.
I've been thinking about these matters quite a bit recently and ultimately to be outside the norm whether by choice or not tends to lead to social exclusion and disadvantage. Autistic people can want friends and / or partners and feel excluded because they struggle to get them. However it's also true that autists - unlike neurotypicals - are more comfortable with their own company and have less need for sociability and social connections. However even the autist (or anyone else) who chooses not to have relationships can find themselves excluded. This can be because they don't have the same reservoir of experiences as those who are socially connected so while a socially connected person often talks a lot about their partner, children, friends, social events, etc, the autist often finds it hard to respond in kind - in a sense the neurotypical thinks they are "bringing nothing to the table" and the conversation and relationship struggles to progress. On another point many autists are not very interested in going to pubs and clubs (and some don't drink alcohol at all) so this creates a barrier to socialising when so much social contact is based around going to such places. The greatest feelings of exclusion are likely to be felt by those who do want what the majority have but even those who don't want those things can end up on the outside.
Autism has such a high rate of comorbidities that you can rarely find an autistic person without any. I agree that this is not a coincidence.
Researchers have found a loop of 60+ genes that are related to autism, ADHD, bipolar and Schizophrenia.
One way someone might not be severely impaired by autism is if they have improved a lot since diagnosis. I am sure that it happens but it is probably pretty rare.
Or the assessor is lenient on who they diagnose.