I feel like talking about being #ActuallyAutistic

First, I want to make it damned clear that several things can be true at once:
1) Some of me being autistic is 100% an *advantage*
2) I'm still disabled, because there's a lot of it that ... isn't

I'm actually really smart. I can see patterns that a lot of other people can't, and it's served me very well as a developer, because it means I write better code, more readable code, and I have been told on multiple occasions that I'm a dev that people like inheriting projects from. This is part of me being autistic.

I'm a decent writer, and what people compliment me the most on? It's all directly related to me being autistic (how I experience the world with different senses, how I connect things, how I treat words and how important I find the *right* word)

I picked up crochet with lightning speed. Within a month, I could do advanced patterns.

I also tire easily, especially when I need to deal with people.

I am seen as very good at talking (and I am), and I'm the one mainly doing phonecalls at home ... but if I don't know what to expect, I have a *really* hard time doing it. Especially if I've done something they might be chiding me for.

Things needs to be in a very narrow band of "not too challenging, but also can't be easy", or I *can't* do them. Not "doesn't want to". Not "I just need to work through it". Can't.

Starting things? Almost impossible without external urging, and if the urging is too much I'll shut down because it's now too stressful.

And that's why "high functioning" or "Light ASD" or whatever the latest fad for dividing autists into "put in homes" vs "doesn't need help" doesn't work: you can be extremely good in one (or more) parts of life, and still need a lot of help in others.