You know, I had not even heard about the autism diagnosis when I wrote the article, or I would have included something. I'm autistic myself, so I hate to see neurodiversity painted as a mental illness that might make a person violent. That's as ridiculous as calling trans people prone to violence.

Also, people are using this to strengthen a toxic argument that transgender teens are likely to be autistic and therefore must not be allowed to express trans gender identities. The same people often make a similar toxic argument about sexual orientation.

Sorry, but as an autistic person I knew beyond any doubt before I turned 12 that I was gay. My autism in no way limited my understanding of myself.

If anything, autism changes how we process our feelings about who we are, because people with autism, to varying degrees, haven't received society's unwritten rule book about social interactions.

That's not necessarily a disability, unless confirmity is a necessary virtue. Obviously, I don't believe it is, not do probably most queer people.