When you say "most of us are comfortable with the fact that we're different", keep in mind that you are now speaking for many children and adults with autism that are entirely incapable of expressing whether or not they are or are not "comfortable" with anything.
When we read an article like this we tend to think of autism as mostly a diagnosis for the high functioning end of the spectrum, and we completely forget that there is a large percentage of the population with autism that lacks communication skills or the ability to even connect a few words.
Please be careful when speaking for "most" of those with autism. There are many (what percentage is hard to say based on the numbers changing so rapidly) that can't speak for themselves.
"us" certainly could be referring to just those students. My reaction was based on the interpretation of "us" as "those with autism".
There is a trend of the high functioning population (see 'neurodiverse' or ND) debating those that advocate for the low functioning as to whether or not we should try and help the low functioning to "change". It's more complicated than that, but those that advocate for the lowest functioning get frustrated by the debate. It usually comes down to "if you have the ability to say you 'like' your autism, you can keep it, but don't try and prevent others from trying to help those who can't advocate for themselves."
If orik was only referring to a handful of fellow students, he/she wasn't speaking for all of the spectrum and I misinterpreted who was meant by "us".
Advocating for them - full transparency, I'm a parent of a low-functioning daughter with autism. I wouldn't support an organization that tried to develop prenatal testing for autism.
When we read an article like this we tend to think of autism as mostly a diagnosis for the high functioning end of the spectrum, and we completely forget that there is a large percentage of the population with autism that lacks communication skills or the ability to even connect a few words.
Please be careful when speaking for "most" of those with autism. There are many (what percentage is hard to say based on the numbers changing so rapidly) that can't speak for themselves.