Why many autistic people focus on that?

[Neonatal RRT]

All of this is highly nuanced

When you spend your whole life feeling misunderstood, marginalized and as target practice for NT bullies, some autistic people feel the need to explain who they are up front, I guess

This is my personal situation. Take the fuel out of their fire. I'm not going to put up with any of your crap. I'm not your target.

In the US, we have a Gay Pride month, a Black History month... marginalized people taking back their identity with pride in some attempt to diminish the discrimination and attitudes of the past.

On the other hand, "pride" can also be one of the faces of an egotistical personality... someone you don't want to be around. There are egotistical autistic personalities that can come off as "the victim", "the justice warrior", "the I'm right and I will scream at you if you don't agree with me", "the overbearingly sensitive to every little perceived slight", "the people you are walking on eggshells around"... the type of people that are just miserable to be around.

There are ways to stand up for yourself and identity without being a jerk and causing further emotional chaos and distress.

 

[Aspychata]

This is a very mixed question for me. l can participate with others somewhat anonymously and feel at home with sensory overload, stims, alexithymia issues, masking, repetitive thoughts, or black and white thinking, observing patterns daily about everything, and so on. Sorry if l took this response out of context because this feels like a tribe perhaps?

 

[Jonn]

but I do wear the "rainbow infinity" (as opposed to the Autism Speaks puzzle piece) symbol on my work ID lanyard. Most people have no clue what it means, except for others within our community.

I didn't know we had a symbol.
I thought you were talking about the LGBT+ community.

 

[Jonn]

In the US, we have a Gay Pride month, a Black History month... marginalized people taking back their identity with pride in some attempt to diminish the discrimination and attitudes of the past.

I am not a huge fan of any sort of cultural, religious, moral, or political "posturing"... generally speaking... but I do wear the "rainbow infinity" (as opposed to the Autism Speaks puzzle piece) symbol on my work ID lanyard. Most people have no clue what it means, except for others within our community.

I did, at one stage, embrace identity politics many years ago when I was a very angry man, but no more.
However, I will educate NTs, at times.

I prefer social interaction online with my own kind.
It is only natural, after all.

 

[Shamar]

Apparently, diversity is OK for some but not others...

It apparently also depends on exactly what KIND of diversity. Some diversity seems to be more acceptable than others.

 

[Luca]

For me, it's "don't ask, don't tell." I almost never disclose that I'm autistic unless it's relevant or someone has figured it out. It's not really a big part of my identity or my personality these days. I just exist and be myself lol

 

[Hypnalis]

It apparently also depends on exactly what KIND of diversity. Some diversity seems to be more acceptable than others.

I think this is the empathy issue.

NT's don't understand us, so their "empathy circuits" don't kick in. And most of us aren't different enough, or different in acceptable ways, so we don't get any sympathy either.

Instead we activate NT us/them reactions - we are seen as potentially dangerous members of an out-group.
We don't even have easy access to the widespread 21st century misdirected faux-empathy (**), which seems to be over-ridden by the "don't understand / fear" response from the us/them test.

In 2026, the easiest way to gain acceptance in society is probably to hide among the "+" community /lol.
It has no barriers for entry, a very low threshold for demonstrating conformity, and is highly accepting of non-standard appearance, speech patterns and body language.

FWIW it's possible to learn how to avoid being unconsciously classified into an "out-group". The process isn't natural for someone with ASD of course /lol. But IMO it's possible for many of us.

(**)
I can expand "faux-empathy OFC, but it's off-topic. I'll do it only if the OP asks.
Anyone else -maybe check out what Gad Saad is saying in interviews these days. There are also some fairly new analyses of the process, but IMO they're not "AF-friendly"

 

[thejuice]

NT's don't understand us, so their "empathy circuits" don't kick in. And most of us aren't different enough, or different in acceptable ways, so we don't get any sympathy either.

Yes were in the uncanny valley, NTs have expectations of behaviour and presentation that when unmet will lead to bullying via exclusion, cold shouldering, rumour spreading, disdain or even assault in bad cases.

Conversely humans don't bother to understand the pets they own but it seems most care more about animals than people. They're so different that they can project whatever idealised human traits they want on to them.

It apparently also depends on exactly what KIND of diversity. Some diversity seems to be more acceptable than others.

It's also complicated by the fact you can be more than one demographic category that cancel each other out, making it hard to weigh up your perceived level of oppression.