Reply #204: But that's the thing...

[Banazir]

Driving only became something many people did within the past century. Before driving became commonplace, and in places where driving is not commonplace, being unable to drive was not considered a dividing line for anything.

There are many communities in the world where virtually nobody lives on their own. There are some people in this society who would be considered dysfunctional for being unable to survive 'on our own' (I'm one of them, by the way), who in other times or places would fit right in in that respect (even if possibly considered strange). I've seen examples of this.

I don't feel particularly bothered or threatened by people describing themselves as autistic if they can do things way better than I can. (I can sometimes do things they can't, too, but that's beside the point.) It's not necessarily easy to detect autism in someone with good enough acting skills, it doesn't mean the person is suddenly non-autistic. And if those acting skills finally fall apart on them, I don't want to be among the ones responsible for claiming they were never really autistic to begin with. I'm no more bothered by them being considered autistic than I'm bothered by someone who can't write being considered autistic.

I just regard the whole argument about where to draw the line as pretty much moot unless it's in the context of applying for services.