Interface between those who have been diagnosed with ASD and those who may/may not be on spectrum

Late diagnosis and how people feel about it sparked this particular discussion, Chris. The point evolved spontaneously but seems eminently worth pursuing.

I am trying to understand the interface between those who have been diagnosed with ASD and those who may or may not be on that spectrum but have not been diagnosed and have concerns about whether diagnosis may be appropriate for them.  Considering how differently people view ideas offered by others in this discussion seemed like a very useful way to try to clarify points of difference or similarity.

If Scope believes that this discussion would be more useful as a separate thread, then please separate it off so that it can be developed elsewhere on the forum.

Hi @Ariel
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who was finding this offshoot fascinating!

If you look back at the original thread, Sam has managed to pull together almost all the essential bits that I had in mind and - doubting my copying skills on this site and just how this separate thread trick works - I've asked him to add a couple more, to give the whole picture, and copy them over here.
So you can refer back to the original thread for those last two posts and/or wait a bit, until the whole exchange arrives over here - I hope!

@joannarashelle oannarashelle reacted to this by saying, "Maybe One doesn't want to adopt someone else's philosophies maybe One enjoys having heir own?"

While I see her point in general - and certainly wasn't trying to force my ideas on her - it's harder to see why someone would be so averse to this particular suggestion. I had simply offered my personal solution to her earlier comment, "humans as a species are baffling to me".

That was where the exchange potentially became so interesting, because each of us seemingly found the other's reaction inexplicable. I'm left wondering if J didn't like the idea in general, didn't like being offered it by me, or just didn't want to answer my question - whether for some personal reason or because, at this point, autism might affect the sufferer's view of being offered any suggestion, at least by someone who's apparently not on the autistic spectrum.

In a general psychotherapy group, it's common for member(s) to offer any helpful suggestions they can think of for another member's problem and not really acceptable for that other member simply to snub the person making the offer. Does autism make it hard (or even impossible) for the sufferer to grasp the intention behind an offer of help?