Why is Autism considerd a disorder?

I understand that an autism diagnosis is only given when a person is considered to be disabled by their autistic traits, so I looked up the definition of disabled.

A disability according to the UK equality act is an impairment that has a long term adverse effect on your ability to do normal day to day activities. It doesn't have to stop you doing things completely, just makes them harder - for example if someone cannot go to the shops alone or has problems socialising. 

People who have type 1 insulin dependent diabetes are considered disabled, because they cannot live healthy lives without insulin. Modern society doesn't make them disabled. But I feel that most of the disability experienced by autistic people is caused by society disabling them.

For example:

Sensory issues - would these be a problem if we lived in a more primitive way amongst the sounds of nature? With clothes made from soft cotton or furs and no stitched on tags?

Trouble socialising - would that exist if we lived in extended family groups or tribes where we felt secure and could contribute with our specialist skills - maybe pottery making or animal tracking?

Trouble with executive function - is that due to the stresses of modern society and having to remember so much stuff like passwords?

Trouble going to the shops alone - in a primitive society there were no shops and everyone went to places in groups for security.

Any other ideas?

I understand that an autism diagnosis is only given when a person is considered to be disabled by their autistic traits, so I looked up the definition of disabled.

A disability according to the UK equality act is an impairment that has a long term adverse effect on your ability to do normal day to day activities. It doesn't have to stop you doing things completely, just makes them harder - for example if someone cannot go to the shops alone or has problems socialising. 

People who have type 1 insulin dependent diabetes are considered disabled, because they cannot live healthy lives without insulin. Modern society doesn't make them disabled. But I feel that most of the disability experienced by autistic people is caused by society disabling them.

For example:

Sensory issues - would these be a problem if we lived in a more primitive way amongst the sounds of nature? With clothes made from soft cotton or furs and no stitched on tags?

Trouble socialising - would that exist if we lived in extended family groups or tribes where we felt secure and could contribute with our specialist skills - maybe pottery making or animal tracking?

Trouble with executive function - is that due to the stresses of modern society and having to remember so much stuff like passwords?

Trouble going to the shops alone - in a primitive society there were no shops and everyone went to places in groups for security.

Any other ideas?

There's been research into the potential 'stone age origins' of autism, with parallels identified between paleolithic cave art and the drawings of autistic children. The Stone Age Origins of Autism | IntechOpen I think in a hunter-gatherer culture having advanced observational skills and excellent recall would be a positive advantage. 

I agree, but for example the inability to read expressions may lead to being abused. I’m not gonna share what kind of hell I went through, but I guess I would be more likely to save myself from that if I could interact with others on a neurotypical level. I fell into that trap also because of being so lonely I craving connections that combined with poor social skills had a really tragic outcome. So I would have to add, I wouldn’t be disabled if other people don’t lie and are not malicious. I can’t be 100% sure that it’s due to autism although both therapist and me suspect that, I’m much more vulnerable than NTs. 

I think if over 50% of the population were autistic, then being neurotypical would be the disorder, because we would be living in the world that suits us: quiet, ordered, structured, direct communication. Having to live up to neurotypical expectations disables us. Living in a neurodiverse world would enable us. Just my take on it. 

I think we would just find the isses were different:

Lotus said:

Sensory issues - would these be a problem if we lived in a more primitive way amongst the sounds of nature? With clothes made from soft cotton or furs and no stitched on tags?

Most primitive fabrics are quite coarse, probably badly fitting and lacking in modern washing techniques to make them feel softened or even that well cleaned.

Lotus said:

Trouble socialising - would that exist if we lived in extended family groups or tribes where we felt secure and could contribute with our specialist skills - maybe pottery making or animal tracking?

I think you would find quite different stressers there - tribal leaders often were more draconian in their implementation of their rules which were subject to their whims. This lack of certainty would be a challenge.

Smaller groups would require the constituents to perform a wider range of tasks and adapt to the demands of the hour, the lack of consistency and need to perform under pressure would also suck.

Lotus said:

Trouble with executive function - is that due to the stresses of modern society and having to remember so much stuff like passwords?

You would need to know how to take a pile of wool and make it into a dress for example, how to take a fish, clean  gut it, season and cook it and not kill people with food poisoning along the way, how to mend a hole in the roof or set a broken bone in a childs leg  - the lack of specialists to do some of these tasks means you would have to be able to cope with them often alone.

I don't think it would make for any sort of utopia - just different stuff that we would soon enough run into problems with.

Maybe we could like in a world where AI does all the hard work in conjunction with robots and we get to live a life of stres free relaxaton. What could be better?