ASD is a fact that explains things about me, not an excuse that forgives the chaos that can emanate from me.

My theory is that autism is actually a condition of authenticity that underlies what have been assumed to be symptoms of autism, I see autistic people as people with a sense of positive liberty instead of negative liberty. You are not offending them, they’re choosing to interpret it as offensive (besides physical offences). What we get upset about are the things we teach ourselves to get upset about, we can always reverse it teaching ourselves not to get upset about it.

Let’s think of social norms for a moment, social norms are actually inherently bad and are just an excuse. Not long ago slavery was part of the social norm, seeing men as greater than women and welcome to more rights was part of the social norm, LGBTQ+ defined as pathological disorders less than a century ago etc… Social norms by their nature are discriminatory and violation of human rights, as we look through history we see the trouble has always been caused by “normal people”.

My theory is that autism is actually a condition of authenticity that underlies what have been assumed to be symptoms of autism, I see autistic people as people with a sense of positive liberty instead of negative liberty. You are not offending them, they’re choosing to interpret it as offensive (besides physical offences). What we get upset about are the things we teach ourselves to get upset about, we can always reverse it teaching ourselves not to get upset about it.

Let’s think of social norms for a moment, social norms are actually inherently bad and are just an excuse. Not long ago slavery was part of the social norm, seeing men as greater than women and welcome to more rights was part of the social norm, LGBTQ+ defined as pathological disorders less than a century ago etc… Social norms by their nature are discriminatory and violation of human rights, as we look through history we see the trouble has always been caused by “normal people”.

Daniel said:

autism is actually a condition of authenticity

That's a really interesting concept / theory.  I can see the logic of it and I definitely possess a pervasive demand for autonomy in my life.  I have curiously crafted my life to enable that autonomy and seem able (generally) to avoid the "offence" that is created by breaching "social norms"....but my behaviours do generate actual harm and anguish in the real-world - and that in turn causes actual harm to those around me too.  Have you ever tried not paying a parking ticket for instance?!

Just to be clear - I am not, nor have ever been, a physically violent individual - that is not the type of harm I mean.

Social cohesion is important when there are so many humans around these days so I don't think it would be wise to burn the idea of "social norms" just because they are often ridiculous?  Some rules and expectations (AKA laws and social norms) are needed to maintain peace, surely?