Catching a Ball in 2004

It was 1969 I was bat boy for the little league team and a good family friend was the coach. I wasn't even a good bat boy. I was always being yelled at to get out of the way. Autistically I was in the worst possible environment all of the those screaming kids doing "the chants" and in general the fast pace of a ball game were all too much for an Aspie. Of Course, Aspie and autism were unknown in my rural school in 1969 or I'd been diagnosed then. ( I'm glad to have missed that label.)

I'm sure dad was disappointed that I could never catch a ball or really use that Red Johny Bench base ball glove I still cherish to this day. I was even worse off swinging a bat. By this time it was discovered I could not run and skip without looking like a fool so perhaps it was just as well I was bat boy. Ironically I had the same types of trouble years later when I became an auto mechanic. I was always being pulled from danger and yelled at in that shop. I'm glad I was identified as gay as at least gay was something understood, even if autism was understood the stigma of it is worse than Autism. With both the ball games and the mechanics and even in gym class I was unknowingly having autism overload and thus things were not working completely, My hearing and my vision and my developing picture thoughts were all making 'normal' things impossible.

2004, Just last year I now live in a loud city the freeways the Beeps of the "Out of time car wash timers" over mile away the boom boxes and the blowers/mowers drive me crazy but yet I discovered I'm a great ball player. If only my dad could have seen me! Neighborhood kids were pitching a baseball among 4 people and I happened to outside and ignorantly, I thought joined in. Now 2004 the Picture thoughts are figured out and I simply turn them off and played ball. When the autism is controlled and in this case turned off the normal thought works well I shockingly discovered I could keep my eye on the ball and not loose it in overload as I had done in grade school. I don't know if was easy as it was for others in grade school but it nice to achieve even if was 40 years too late.

It seems everytime I has a clumsy attack or a special moment It was autism's slow unexplained thought process screwing up the works. It seems we can only do one thing at a time. I can hear well, I can see well, I can think OK but doing all of that stuff together is impossible. It seems the Autism inputs get mixed up and nothing works. Our hearing and our Vision are much more precise than a traditional person's. I can for example hear perfectly If I put a pillow over my face and block out all visual inputs,,,,,, Open my eyes and remove the pillow and the visual inputs actually effect my hearing it slows down its processing. Add in a picture thought that cancels out Optic vision and it is a wonder we can even walk let alone catch a ball.

The Autism thought process we ignorantly were learning was not yet advanced enough to operate with such things as picture in picture thoughts or projection thoughts. Those thoughts allow us to keep track of the real world and still think as were programmed. Early Grade school thoughts are complete optic canceling events that we absently try to ignore and If we do have picture thoughts they indeed interfere with our normal persona. I spent most of my first through 8th grade years in overload. Finally in 8th grade I realized those picture thoughts I was trying so hard to ignore were indeed connected to my thoughts and learned to use them.

The Autism Thought process has never been in Print before but it is wild and wonderful precise and useful in daily life. It is really good at deep complicated things and if we learn to water it down and think with it, Autism and real life are doable. We are doing two things at once in Autism we are thinking in Pictures (or trying to) that takes up lots of brain power and we need to translate those thoughts to speech. If an Aspie were presented with a "numberline" of Autistic thought development I bet our kids could learn to control their thougthts,use their thoughts and even get along in the real world by 6 grade. Our Anthropology had done the long version of this experiment many times just condense our experience and do it again by setting up a true autism school. Autisitcally we seem naturally programmed to think in pictures that is our defult process and we really have to struggle to learn traditional thoughts that we are being ignorantly force fed. (humor) Even ABA doesn't kill the picture thoughts some in our Anthropology have been through ABA and learn to picture think after meeting us.

ASA declines to let us in again

Are they Afraid of Gay Aspie? or a working living anthropology?


Dear Rich:ASA regrets to inform you that your Session entitled: Autism's Forgotten Anthropology has not been accepted for concurrent presentation at ASA's 36th National Conference and Exposition, to be held at the Nashville Convention Center, July 13 - 16, 2005 in Nashville, TN.This year's submissions presented the committee with very difficult decisions to make. ASA thanks you for your patience during this process. As there were a great number of submissions, we wanted to be sure and give every session appropriate review. Unfortunately, there are only so many available "slots" for concurrent sessions and with over 325 submissions, many qualified sessions could not be accepted this year.We do hope, however, that you will consider submitting next year when ASA visits Providence, RI. The Open Call for Sessions will be between Labor Day 2005 and Thanksgiving 2005.Sincerely,The ASA Conference Committee and the ASA Conference Department

Autistic driving

Autisitc driving,

Yes Autisitc driving, we are pretty good at it and we even do it on the left and right side of the road depending on where we live. Our Uk and Austrilian Drivers and others obviously drive on their respective sides. (South Africa?)

Many of us have been driving all of our lives, I for one was driving at 14 as I lived in the country and a sneaked a few trips. Plus I grew up driving Tractors lawn mowers and go carts so actual driving was pretty easy. I passed my drivers test by one point and that was pretty good as I had the "worst" 'strictest" driver's license examiner around and I even parallel parked a 72 Buick Electra (it was 22? foot long with a blind spot).

I have had a few crashes in my time most were do the fact I was red color blind (defective) and once I started wearing colored sunglasses I haven't had a wreak. Over the years I have honed my driving thoughts like many in our anthropology have : I never picture think and drive anymore. Many of us have Projection thoughts where the a brain generated thought is projected in to our visual field. It allows us to think without disturbing our optical vision. If any one has ever driven a GM Car (Cadillac?) many of them have a feature where the speed and gauge readings are projected displayed on the back of the windshield, Our projection thoughts are kind of like that. If we have to picture think while Driving this is the mostl likley thought we use. For those Gasping about now. (Come Now.) that is not any worse than talking on the phone, adjusting the radio or eating while driving.

Autism Thought however has indeed saved me from a major crash. Autistic thoughts if you know how to use them are very current, precise, useful and much more complicated than traditional thoughts are. I used that advantage to save me from a crash. I was about to be hit offset head on while an approaching driver was about to run a traffic light. Their attention was too busy watching another traffic event across the road. I seen the crash coming and thought gee, That person is most likely to stomp the brakes and scream when they finally see me. With picture thought I figured the angles of how their car would end up sliding and how far it was likely to go. I did the same with my car and figured what would happen (with picture thought) If Idid the same thing and discovered If I pressed on the GAS and not the brake my own car would stay under control longer and I might promote enough tire grip to miss the entire crash. I wizzed by the other driver perhaps with a millimeter or two spare.

Aspies can't think quick enough to be scared (my humble opinion) or perhaps we are too busy figuring things out to be scared. I knew from driving experience the most likely reaction of the other driver. Please forgive me, I mean no disrespect, Humans are so predictable weather it is the out come of a TV show, or a traffic accident or a conversation most times they fit a pretty standard pattern. I used all of this insight along with my knowledge of my car and its tires and physics that I was able to figure my way out of trouble. I did blow my rear axle gears powering my way out of trouble but that was an easy fix considering the other outcome. I had a bit of nervous reaction and emotion after I made it through the "crash" but nothing during it. Years eariler I had driven down a BIG HILL with no brakes and again used picture thoughts to keep calm and I was even picturing (Brain Generated Thoughts) the Driver Education manual and the page of it telling what to do with no brakes. I did some downshifting and some dancing and all ended up fine. After I was finally stopped and the "entire Student Body" gathered around me cheering on my good driving I had some emotional letdown after that finally.

Some of my first trips featured my Aspie GPS where as I studied maps of where I was going and memorized them and as such I could follow my progress on my route by imposing a dot on my brain generated mental map. That was GPS long before it was in a car as an option. Other than that, Cruise Control and a super Quiet car and non talking passengers are a must for my style of driving. I realize where many folk in the spectrum today would have a few comments and thoughts and reservations on the idea of letting a loved one drive but, please remember we have done a different autism experience. This is a good example of how autism thought can work if it were ever admitted to or even taught in an Autism School of some type.

Injured Aspies

Injured aspie's

Many moons ago, the autism brochures of the time noted Aspies have a pain tolerance. I wonder how many people reading this have seen their kid fall out of a tree or something like that and the kid walks away "un hurt"?

In real life after an injury or an accident we still do the same things. I have been injured 'all the time' as an auto mechanic there are always cuts and scrapes and burns to attend to, and I have given my self stitches many times. My anthropology reports similar kinds of horror stories We have had broken elbows that have shortened our arms by 2 cm but yet it seemed just like a sprain? The Elbow still bent with ease. It seems the first time many of us really feel massive pain is in our 30's when a tooth causes trouble. Interestingly we don't feel much of it typically but often times it is abscessed and It hurts like the devil and many times like in my case on the way to the ER the abscess breaks and all returns to normal INSTANTLY.

We walk on broken bones, again with ease and I have heard of parents close to being charged with abuse as they take their kids to the ER a few days after an event and a broken color bone is discovered? I might be as far as I know the most injured Aspie on the planet and I was crushed with car axle and I should have been Instantly crippled and shipped off to the ER but It was a full month before I made it to the ER. Walk in the ER a month late telling them you were crushed and trust me your story is not creditable. To make matter Worse I showed little in the way of pain reaction. Despite being really sick with a temperature legions of doctors and nurses all punch and probed me time and again and I showed no reaction. I was in and out of the hospital for a month and finally one night after a shower the wound/split in my body became obvious. It seems the deeper in our bodies the wound is the LESS of it we feel.

It was in the exact spot where the Axle had landed and it was only the top layer of skin that held me together. Literally you could reach right in the wound and fell the layers of things and I was NOT in Pain but I now felt the need to throw up whenever fingers were probing the area. Today 3 operations later I have a big patch and 12 staples holding me together. The First operation went well but I went back to work too soon and resplit the wound and needed a second M*A*S*H style operation to patch it again (I have no Insurance) and finally I had the 3rd operation this time with the mesh added (Humor) hope It is Kevlar!


PLEASE NOTE very important we often don't show black and blue marks from simple things like drawing blood or the big things either. I have seen people of color with more black and blue marks than I have had. My First injury in 3rd grade was when an on old wooden window fell on my left hand, It never turned black and blue it hurt some but that was all. It did swell a little and I could still use it (I'm a lefty) and only at times did it hurt. Everyone was commenting were was the black and blue marks, My classmates that seen it happen all tell of how fast the window came down and thought for sure it would have been broken. With all of the power of hindsight It probably was broken we just didn't know it.

I urge Everyone autisitc to FAKE Screams of Pain during Exams . I knew just how bad I was hurt at times but never showed enough natural reaction to convince the medical personal I was hurt. I have lost track of the times people read my X-rays and stutter and stammer you have a needle in your foot etc. Also remember X-rays don't show tissue damage and X-rays (America) done for Social security or insurance purposes are often poor quality and over exposed hiding some obvious things.

I recently had a hip X-ray done (social Security) and It was obvious the pelvis was two different sizes (from side to side) and didn't line up and I had a funny growth on one end of a left side pelvis. The Social security report said the all was well. I had trouble all my life with running skipping jumping and jumping jacks and still can't do those things. Coupled with the birth defect and now the crush injury I often have to wear a hip brace to walk.

I think I have a felt a few MILLISECONDS of Pain sometimes sharp pain every time I have been hurt or ailing. It seems like we might have an instant Pain relief drug we are on that INSTANTLY and Completely hides our wound or hurt. Of Cousre no medical School knows anything about this an the world has seen aspies on the (american) Tv show ER and they don't have a story like this associated with them. Today, Pain free injuries seem to be less and less an issues in autism. I must note that many aspies in our anthropolgy are painless! (most of us) Perhaps Aspie and and non Aspies are being mixed together in modern Autism circles thus skewing the studies and views of autism.

Early autism "tests" If done today might point out a few things

Quirks and stunned mullets' (Australian saying)

Undiagnosed Autism was just ''screaming'' at the time of our youth and no one knew what it was about.

In First grade I had a few firsts. One was a hearing test, Everyone was sent to the Sick room and the county health nurse was there and she was giving everyone hearing tests. I grew up in a rural 'backwards place' if you will. When I did my test the look on the nurses face was stunning and priceless. I set opposite her and was wearing hearing head phones connected to her machine. She started out with low tones and with a hand signal you told her you had heard a particular tone. Then she would do another and so on. Finally she was at the highest setting of her machine and I was still telling her to keep on going! She had me turn around so I could not see her and we did it again and she was stunned! I don't know if she ever mentioned that to anyone but she marked my card passed. I wondered for years after that WHY I passed that hearing test and could not hear? Of course the hindsight answer is Autism hearing and thoughts turned off my hearing during complicated fast paced times. I was deaf and blind in gym class as I discovered (7th grade, due to overload) Several years later I was expected to mow the lawn and had lots more factors running a lawn mower, I found ways around them.

Another Big Clue was the first stormy day in 1967 as I set in my First Grade class room. It was neatly dark outside and pouring rain and this was firstime I was ever working under fluorescent lights (new for the era) and old UNPHASED lights of this era actually turned off and on with the cycle change. Traditional people never noticed it but Aspies did. Just like in a Funhouse at the fair the room got brighter and darker in a consistent fashion. I even asked Mrs. Nutter (my teacher) why the room was getting brighter and barker and I think she thought I was talking of the Lightening bolts. Most times enough natural light filtered in the class room that this was not obvious. This would make a good test for autism today. Even as late as 1995 in an interior hallway At the Nosinger Center on OSU campus I still experienced old unphased lighting. Modern fluorescent lights are wired differently and the cycle changes are no longer obvious to anyone viewing them. Perhaps if a modern aspie were to view an old light system It might make for a visual test for autism.

My First Autism mechanical repairs were filled with a few firsts as well, I BROKE nearly every bolt I touched. I now know my Autistic Pain tolerance has a role in this as I could NOT feel when bolts were tight. Eventually I started using a torque wrench and learned, to feel what 20 ft LB (n/m) felt like. When I checked previous work that didn't break it was consistently overtorqued. This to would make a good test for autism. It would identify the pain tolerance. when I was writing my book and older lady told me of her flat tire experience on a 1950 something Chevrolet (she was Aspie) In those day there was no Auto Clubs or Cell phones and Ladies did change their tires if they had to. It seems she broke the first lug nut she tried to undo not realizing it was left had threads (spins opposite). She got back home and told her husband (she was Lesbian, but married for 'show,' typical of the era) and he was STUNNED how could she break a lug nut. She joked when he took it to the garage to be repaired he told them he broke it as he just could not explain his wife doing it. She never even felt the strain or screamed in Pain. We had met online sharing our stories of Pain tolerance and the odd medicine that promotes. Her doctors were shocked of all the lumps and tumors she had removed associated with female trouble and she never felt any of those things! Many of us in our anthropology today also have Pain tolerance stories of injuries we typically walk away from.

This too could be a test for Autism as we could have the aspie tighten a series of bolts until they are tight and I suspect the Aspie would break the bolts and not even strain doing it. Agood grade of bolt that wouldnot break could be included in the test to see just how far off we might be. Again I was typically off 20 Ft Lbs on small things and I was over 40-50 Lbs on bigger bolts.

Where Did We Come From?

Well, (humor) some might ask us what planet we came from but, I defer to answer that.

Actually for those understanding Gay and Lesbian and Transgendered and Bisexual Issues they will realize that growing up this way/ is a calling. As such many of us grew up ,had to grow up differently than 'normal' . In our case we grew up in a time an era before Rain Man and Autism were buzzwords and we were doing blind backwards experiments in Autism as was everyone in the autism spectrum at this time (1970's and before) . All of our experiments seemed to be the same except that those of us Gay had a group of close friends. When you were in school and suddenly find your self in in a minority getting bashed you become pretty close those getting bashed alongside of you.

Our Autism that we were unknowingly developing responded really well to the social lessons we were forced to learn. We were even odd among the Gay folks in some respects BUT they cared enough about us to tolerate us and were patient enough with us to help us figure out social things. I personally learned a lot from one of the football team stars (in the closet) that often turned the heat off our small group of 'out gay folks' as he walked by with the team mates. (He came out to us years later after High school. ) In this Era there were no gay clubs in schools and we were on our own. I'm afraid Gay has developed too much these days like autism has , and now being Gay and autistic would not offer an obvious advantage. In fact modern Gay's would probably ignore an Aspie like the typical populations do.

Sadly, It indeed hurts me to say this and I mean no disrespect but the Straight Aspies of our Age range the real world kind of present like the Rain Man stereotype. It seems fewer of them drive hold traditional jobs or blend in as well. I can assure you Autism Researchers are not thrilled to hear about us and are too petrified to even check out our anthropology no matter how good we do. Gay and Aspie just don't mix in some people's eyes. To complicate matters we do pretty well in real life and our Anthropology also unknowingly acts as a reserve of "untouched" Autism. Modern aspies finding us today searching out Autism and Gay (LBT) offer a unique 'plug in' to an autism 'standard' of time gone by.

By the time many of them filter through our GLBT boards on Yahoo it is discovered many don't relate to us at all ,and some do. For those of us that relate we seem to share Picture thoughts of some types, A pain tolerance, super senses ,intolerance for scratchy clothes and a few social quirks that we have mostly overcame. Many meeting us online don't have a clue to what we are about have no picture thought ,or pain tollerance and can wear about anything.

True research in autism would Jump at the chance to observe and study and learn form a living 'untouched' anthropology like ours but sadly they must live in the real world. Their funding sources would be ignorantly slashed if they were investigate us. The actual results might not be appealing either as we don't have to work real hard to prove the obvious,in terms of how we do the traditional world.

In real life If we are not making good money working within our splinter skill somehow, we are possibly working lower end jobs that we usually adapt the best we can to fit our lives. Not many researchers are eager to look up people living on the edge. Perhaps we might come off as the village idiot at times or the Odd person that gets along in our own way. Still we fly under the radar of proper research.

A compromise /an experiment

Modern autism has so much going for it lots of it works ,lots of it doesn't. Why not try to duplicate its successfully working past?

Autism's unadmitted to Anthropology typically holds traditional jobs, drives and does life OK so obviously, we have done something correctly even if it was by accident. If some university or Autism Group were to set up an experimental school incorporating our anthropology and the best of the modern stuff -it might work.

A school set up that taught picture thoughts is a most needed addition to Autism. Granted Autism the thought process has never been in print before but, all of us seem to have figured it out. It took us 25-30 years or more of trial and error and autism ignorance to succeed but something has worked. If we present picture thoughts to everyone in the spectrum those that have them as their natural process will be delighted to have their thought process explained to them. Students that don't connect to the Picture thoughts could be schooled in a manor more suitable for them. Picture Thoughts could be taught along with traditional school subjects and at first we all would be pioneers. I bet we would learn just as much from our students as we did teaching them.

Today when new people connect with our anthropology many connect with their picture thought for the first time. Picture Thoughts for and Aspie are like nouns and verbs are for a traditional thinker. Those of us figuring out our Aspie thoughts have already identified milestones in Autism Picture thought development. It seems certain type of thoughts happen before others.

Our school could teach classes on Picture translation ,relating Autism to Social skills. We could teach our students what type of thoughts to use for a specific events. We could incorporate ideas on how to think traditionally to keep up with the real world and to really think autistically (with a brain generated Image) at different times ,allowing for an easier life. Advanced Thought classes could explain Projection thoughts, Picture in Picture thoughts and how to drive a car as well as other fast paced life events.

This is not so much a far fetched idea as it is Autism is simply unknown in traditional circles. No amount of research will work unless the elevator is on the right floor. Search for your car all you want on the wrong floor of a parking garage and never find it, Go Up one floor and it is there to drive away. Autism is in much the same boat It is on the wrong floor of the parking garage and all it needs is a key from it past to open a door and drive away.

The birth of a book 35 years ago.

An Interesting book based on a true experience.

The Birth of Rich Shull's Pre Rain Man Autism ,

I was 35 ,just injured and never really felt it, and I heard Temple Grandin on the Radio talking of her book Thinking in Pictures. BINGO! (American saying) My Life just came together in a matter of 15 minutes. Suddenly there was an answer to every question and puzzle in my life. Until that time I had been (unknowingly) a very strange Autistic auto mechanic. I was obviously in a dangerous field and by necessity had to invent all kind of Autism thoughts and practices to survive in a car repair shop. I was always being pulled from danger. Thankfully I was Gay and not Autistic, I don't think my coworkers would have tolerated Autistic. I was using my supersenses and autistic thoughts to troubleshoot cas and it seems I could fix anything. Autistic hearing was a big advantage in troubleshooting I can hear what other mechanics could not.

My Professional DX was atypical Autism. Soon after my discovery I was hailed as the next Temple Grandin for a few weeks at least, until I outed my self speaking at an autism event. Suddenly the wonderful caring people in the Autism spectrum became something else (I'm being kind here). Most due their understandable homophobia will not give me the time of day but I have my share of supporters that understand gay as well as Autism. We all agree Autism would be cutting its own throat admitting to me and now and my Anthropology of many more like me. It is very bad for Autism funding and reputations to admit to us. (especially sense we do so well)

As all people do today, I wrote a book but not for profit, I wrote a book that explains picture thoughts from baby thoughts to our super advanced ones. I took up were Temple Grandin left off in her Thinking In Pictures. The book is largely my experience but my anthropology shares many of the same points. I asked and sent early versions of this book to the ASA and others in the Autism spectrum and asked for help in writing it and never heard a thing from any of them. (no shock).

However, after the book was released, It was bombarded with horrible hateful press and my own personal Email was filled with hate mail. I was sent tons of child porn and told by one person in particular that the only reason I ever wrote an autism book was I wanted to have access to children. (UGH) That hate mail and the hate instant messages continued for some time and I never got mad I simply replied in a calm manor. Eventually they stopped and I even got an apology or two. The majority of the hate mail came from one or two places and when traced every location, was on the West coast of America was and close to a fashionable Autism address.

My book is admittedly not perfect, It was written over the period of 7 years on many hand me down computers. With each new computer I lost the ability to edit a few things. Besides working and being broke and dealing with my injuries I could not feel: editors were few and far between. That is why if the ASA would have helped or anyone in Autism would have, my book would flow much better. Some of it's best pages are locked in a computer in the basement that died right before final publishing. I was an Autistic auto mechanic and not a writer, but I have an obligation to share working autism with the Autism Spectrum even if it is not welcome news. Again as you read this blog please pass a link along to others, (much obliged) and keep in mind until every stone in the Autism puzzle is figured out Autism will remain lost. My book turned out at 150 pages and explains Autism thoughts from Baby Thoughts on. It has 24 illustrations of Picture thoughts and my "autism" text books, and one X-ray of a painless injury. It has chapters on how to teach Autism (the picture thoughts) and a chapter on Autistic driving and indeed one on Gay history that spans from BCE to the present. It devotes TWO chapters to pain free injuries we are famous for.

Call it what you wish, call us what you wish, but, where else will a living working Autism anthropology ever be presented and gift wrapped? We are Autism research already completed.

An Anthropology of Aspies

Perhaps the we are the last living anthropology on earth? My Aspie anthropology has met online over the past 5 years to discover we all did blind backwards experiments in autism. As we met one another and compared notes online we share our Autism development stories . Today we also share a very similar autism thought process. That is remarkable considering we are all self taught, and ignorant of one another. Autism was our Natural programmed language and we learned it by accident on our own. We grew up in a time and space before Autism was diagnosable (unless it was severe) and thus we missed modem Autism's CURSE.

Our Parents, Teachers, Tutors all did the WRONG things according to the modern experts to get us to learn , we did life and do life via our splinter skills. If Autism were to be taught in a traditional class room we would need a Picture Thought development guide to along with the current numberline and alphabet. If we condensed all of our experience we could easily teach Autism by 6th grade when most aspies could be mainstreamed into traditional classes. We did the long version of the experiment and many of us were in our 30's before we heard the word Autism but, knew all of its secrets already. Autism is simply speaking in one language and talking in another - thing is- the other language is 'invisible' to the average person and it has yet to grace a text book that any' Expert' must read to get a PhD.

Our anthropology is mostly older than 30 years old but it also includes some modern Aspies that have found us online as well. Most times we are picture thinkers ,proficient picture thinkers ,have a pain tolerance ,preference to be alone ,we have super good hearing and vision and can't stand scratchy clothes, or harsh soaps. Many modern Aspies that find us don't have a clue to what we are about and don't connect at all. Even those that have been through ABA relate to us at times.

Please note we also grew up in a time before the modern pills and diets and in a ERA of Strict discipline. Homework was graded, you did your homework the basics were stressed , you were tutored until you got the point. You could and did get Whacks for bad behavior and you sat at the dinner table until your plate was clean, (humor) or the dog ate the Lima beans. All of this really done wonders for Autism's bad behavior traits. Modern Autism claims it is the Autism and not the kid, but it seems the discipline of the era paid off well for us.

For the record I did follow-try the Modern gluten Free Autism Diet once and (humor) thankfully it DID NOT affect my Autism .I'd was afraid it might slow up my thought process.

One last point to our Anthropology. Most of us seem to be Gay Lesbian Transgendered and Bisexual and if you boil that point down, that simply means that many of us had a close group of social friends to hang out with. It gave us an advantage autistically as we were able to relate our picture thoughts to the real world, kind of like a Version of " Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" Sadly, I meet our straight counterparts online and in person and they seem to know autism well but lack the charm school or the ability to adapt social conversation to picture thoughts.
When all is said and done the Transgendered Aspies will have given autism it's best insight.