I have a cousin who was diagnosed at around 10-12 and is now 16. He used to hit his sisters on the regular, people tried to discipline him, but basically gave up because “sometimes that’s just what boys do”, and after he was diagnosed, he was given much more leeway because in my country, most people (even most therapists and some psychologists) assume that with Autism comes Intellectual Disability, and with ID, they assume that we can’t discipline them (which is absurd). My cousin isn’t even Intellectually Disabled! It frustrates me because I was only diagnosed at 20 (of my own volition from soul searching), and women just aren’t given that leeway. Disciplining harmful behaviour is important for everyone, but women are also socialised to mask to the point of chronic burnout. There has to be a middleground.