[bluSCALE4]

You're right in that it's not a disease but it's also not a label. It's an identity. You can stop being poor, but you can't stop being black. Just like you can learn to compensate if you are autistic but never stop being autistic. I mean, there are documented shifts to becoming nuero-typical but of the few I'd read about, the change was bitter sweet.

[Cthulhu_]

This is why the autism "treatments" are so dangerous; they cause serious mental damage, not to treat or "cure" autism, but to force people to mask it, to pretend they're neurotypical. At least these treatments are being banned left and right.

(brainfart, I can't think of the name of these treatments atm)

Anyway, autistic people tend to have to learn how they're expected to behave, it costs them energy and analytical capacity, etc. In general they learn to manage, and you probably won't be able to tell someone is on the spectrum at first glance. This is especially true in women with ASD, who grow up with higher societal expectations. Same with ADHD really.