It's super fucked up and offensive to claim that someone who is autistic "doesn't have autism, they're just a bit quirky"

This is genuinely doing autistic people a massive disservice, taking away their identity and invalidating them. Just because someone doesn't fit into the stereotype of being non verbal/low functioning, it doesn't make them any less autistic<br><br>If someone in their 30s comes out as autistic, don't say "you're not autistic you're just different, nobody grows up and gets diagnosed" That's a massive red flag, someone who says something like that is unlikely to be autistic, they've either never had an autism diagnosis and are trying to use it as an excuse to get out of a jail sentence or something along those lines.