Passing had a bad rap. The autistic survivors of lost generations need a different message: be proud. You passed to survive.

As a child, I needed three skills to effectively communicate with humans. First was the physical capacity to vocalize. Check. The next requirement was a reasonable vocabulary. Roger. The last ability was putting my voice together with the right language to express myself. Two out of three ain’t bad.

People have been searching for the cause of autism for decades.

Compare the clinical or parental viewpoint on the left, used to diagnose a child with a particular disorder, with the right side which represents the innate characteristics of the child, as seen from the inside. There is great value in early diagnosis. Treatment is an essential element of care and improves the lives of many autistic children, but that doesn’t change who they are.