Not diagnosed with autism

NAS90504 said:

I can communicate well, understand and use body language and have good eye contact.

These are all things that, while potentially difficult for autists, can be both learned and indeed perfected by autists.

I have spent my whole life consciously studying other people and replicating what they do, in order to fit in with society and its expectations. I really wish that clinicians moved away from the view that autistic people cannot do certain things, and move towards the reality, which is that many autistic people can do most or all of what neurotypicals do, except that it is orders of magnitude more difficult and exhausting for us. All clinicians have to do is abandon their pretended abilities to divine the workings of an adult autist's brain just by observation and merely ask us about how we cope with life and our problems.

NAS90504 said:

I can communicate well, understand and use body language and have good eye contact.

These are all things that, while potentially difficult for autists, can be both learned and indeed perfected by autists.

I have spent my whole life consciously studying other people and replicating what they do, in order to fit in with society and its expectations. I really wish that clinicians moved away from the view that autistic people cannot do certain things, and move towards the reality, which is that many autistic people can do most or all of what neurotypicals do, except that it is orders of magnitude more difficult and exhausting for us. All clinicians have to do is abandon their pretended abilities to divine the workings of an adult autist's brain just by observation and merely ask us about how we cope with life and our problems.

Just in general in life, few things drive me more nuts than people reading my mind. It's the total incredulity and offence they express when you tell them they got it wrong that really tips me over the edge.