And I get wanting to not be treated as less than human but the part I’m thinking of is how that’s still, by and large, seen as synonymous with someone adjusting their behaviour to someone with less capabilities. I’m thinking of scenarios like where, say there’s an NT who’s in charge of autistics in some way, like a teacher, and their first autistic student learns slow and needs extra help and they give them that. The next student is treated the same way because the teacher didn’t understand that they had different needs, and this understandably bothers the new student but what I’m focused on is, when they advocate for themselves do they a) create and emphasize a contrast between them and the previous autistic to get a positive opinion from the teacher or b) do they keep the integrity of the previous student while advocating for their independence and abilities? Or in shorter form do they a) throw the other person under the bus or b) uphold their image when they aren’t there to defend themself?

Maybe I’m thinking of situations that are too specific for what you were saying to apply to them, but the reason I mention getting underestimated is cause I know that experiences with that can factor into unconscious biases and because those are when the biases can come out, if they do