Nonautistic people don't have a great track-record of guessing, about autism.
"Their social skills are broken"
(Ooops, new research shows ours are generally simply different, and as effective)/

"They move in pointless repetitive ways"
(Ooops, hundreds of thousands of autistic people explain that stimming e.g. hand flapping, rocking is a vital way for us to self-regulate, usually a joy, a relaxation)

"Their repetitive movements get in the way of learning - they must be stopped!"
(Ooops, research shows that autistic people learn just fine whilst rocking/hand-flapping, etc etc)

"Their refusal to make eye contact just shows how broken they are/how rude they are/how they're not listening!"
(Oops, hundreds of thousands of autistic people explain that eye contact is overwhelming and stops us concentrating, listening, etc)

"They are just making a fuss over nothing!"
(Ooops, research showing that autistic lives are made so appalling, and our rights so routinely ignored, that many die very early after truly dreadful experiences. Bullying, assault, defrauding, poverty, loneliness, etc etc)

"They have no insight into themselves, and no idea that other people are people"
(Ooops, so much good research, so many hundreds of thousands of autistic accounts showing the opposite of this)

"They lack empathy. They don't care what happens to others"
(Ooops, so many hundreds of thousands of autistic accounts saying we feel overwhelming empathy for others, so many saying how much we care about others)

"There are two sorts of autistic people. "Low Functioning" and "High Functioning" "
(Ooops, endless research and autistic accounts showing what utter nonsense this is. Every autistic people is an individual with their own strengths and areas needing support, same as others).

"Only 16% of them have proper jobs"
(Ooops, they hadn't even found most autistic adults (Royal College of Psychiatrists report, 2020). We've no idea how many autistic people are employed. But newer research suggests about half. Others retired, carers, parents, volunteers..).

"Autism is mostly white boys"
(Ooops, we're finding so many millions of autistic people who were missed from diagnosis/chances to self-identify, because of the myths. Females, older people, ethnic minorities, etc).

"It's important to use medical deficit language to correctly describe this disorder. Thus I will continue to use words like Deficient & Disordered"
(Ooops, so many researchers, Medics, etc now realising how many of their best colleagues are autistic, & having to hide as a result)

"Those poor autistic people are suffering so much. I will give money to this charity that want to Find A Cure. Aren't I fabulous for doing this!"
(Ooops. No, turns out almost no autistic people want the 'cure', thanks. See above for why.)

"Us nonautistic people know how to design the best possible buildings, without asking autistic people for their views. We can tell just by looking at you."

(Ooops. See recent threads on this page).

Being clear that some nonautistic people are great allies.
But...gee whizz...

Until we learn to actually ask, and listen, we're not going to get anywhere.
There is excellent research in the blog on my profile. Research from top teams, top specialists.
Read the research.
And ask autistic people. Don't make silly guesses.
Thank you.

PS "asking" does not mean, "I invite autistic people to a 'consultation'. They write their views on sticky-notes. I put them on a wall. Then, when they go home, I put the notes in the bin and do as I like, claiming that's what they said."
Seen this done for decades.
No, really.

...including by one or two big-name charities.
How do I know this?
Because I was also in the follow-up meeting with the funders. In which the charity would then claim that the autistic people wanted X, Y and Z.
We'd said no such thing.

Example: Big consultation asking autistic people for top ten priorities.
Almost no-one asked for situation A to be in the top ten.
In the funding meeting, situation A was declared to be thing we'd mostly picked.
Situation A was the charity leader's own project.
Mmm.

I have never been in any serious meeting where people's views were scribbled in a disposable note.
If you are asked to scribble on a disposable note, I recommend you refuse and ask how you can contribute formally instead.
How powerful were you, in their project? This is a clue

Worse still, even if you do manage to get in the acoustic-nightmare 'consultation building' and sit in the blinding fluorescent-lit room, your views will promptly be discounted by any nonautistic person playing the, "You're not low-functioning so we don't have to listen" card.

I wonder how many other marginalised communities are routinely told that only 2% of them count, and the rest are irrelevant?

I didn't make up that number, by the way.
The no. of autistic people who also have e.g. a severe or profound learning disability is about 2%.
Yes, people are routinely told it's nearer 30-50%.
Sigh.