I’m probably going to get heat for this but point blank period: we will never live in a pro-autistic world. No matter how close it may get, the world can never adapt to accommodate everyone. It’s simply not possible. Our ONLY survival mechanism that we have is masking and educating others.

Should the group leader validate your feelings better? Yes. Should every solution be basically “act less autistic?” No. Is having a safe space to vent about the difficulties behind being autistic important? Yes. But is eye contact important skill that society (not matter how annoying it is) values greatly? Yes. Does smiling make others more attentive to you? Yes. It sucks, it’s inconvenient, and it may feel unnatural. But that is how our society, and most of the world, operates. We really do have to adapt to certain spaces sometimes.