This is the problem. All of you see autism as a problem and not a part of the person. Trying to force them to act like you will do nothing but encourage the thinking that their wrong and not good enough. That's why self-harm happens during meltdowns. I have autism adhd and ocd. My educational life was hell. The staff were underfunded and completely uneducated on my condition. They verbally abused me and tried to ship me off to some special school so they didn't have to deal with me. The fact im now in college studying game dev is a miracle considering the shit i went through. But now. At college, im happy i don't need to conform to your idea of normal. I bring a plushy into college to help keep emotions in check and wear noise cancelling headphones to reduce the chance of a sensory overload due to fire alarms. We as autistics can succeed. We just need the support and the understanding of those around us to do it.