” It almost implies that they are closer to being neuro-typical than other autistic people, thus making them demand more of themselves – trying to fit-in instead of being themselves.”

This is really making me think right now. I used to believe that autism as a spectrum had neurotypical at one end, Asperger’s somewhere in the middle, and nonverbal with extreme sensory processing problems at the other. Now I am beginning to realize that “neurotypical” is not on the autism spectrum at all. I used to think that I was “close to neurotypical” but I realize now all of that was a coping mechanism. I can appear neurotypical for certain stretches of time, but eventually I fall back into being myself and people have to either take me or leave me as I am. It takes a lot of energy and anxiety to put up a neurotypical front. I am very independent, and my sensory problems are easier to deal with than what some others face, and I have learned a lot of coping mechanisms and strategies to survive in this world. But I am always drained and have significant nervous breakdowns every few years. I wonder if this is related to how I believed I was “close” to neurotypical, when perhaps I never really was?