What would YOU like to see in the future of autism?

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This is an open-ended, opinion question. I see a lot of stuff on here about what people do NOT want to see, but less what of what they DO want to see. Basically, I want to know what alternatives you want for the stuff you don't want to see.

I'm interested to know stuff like (but not limited to): How would autism be treated in society (in your ideal future)? What kinds of scientific advances regarding autism would we have had?

I'd like those who are publishing a novel with autistic characters to be required to send their novel to an autistic jury, who'll check over it to make sure that it isn't horribly offensive. I'd start with these people, but eventually you'd want it to be a rotating position. I just hate how novels starring autistic caricatures go on to win awards.

More importantly, I want something to be done about employment. Maybe make it explicitly illegal to unreasonably discriminate against autistics. Have employers focus less on recruiting through interviews and more on resumes. Less talk about 'soft skills' and more on actually being qualified to do the job.

I want relationships and sex to be made easier for autistics. I'd like for there to be a frank and honest course on sexuality and how to go about it in High School, with emphasis on what body language constitutes flirting. That would save a lot of stress. I wouldn't object to a social change that made the whole dating process transparent.

I'd be satisfied if, in five years, autistics get the same grudging respect that homosexuals do now. Celebrities who use 'ret*d' or 'autistic' as an insult would be publicaly shamed and lose sponsors, and the mainstream would regard autism cures with the same disgust it views gay-conversion therapy. Really, what I want is to be out about my autism without reducing my career prospects or having people patronise me.

Acceptance replacing awareness.
More spent on research on improving true NT/Autistic communication rather then a cure or making the Autistics as NT as possible. So then there would be realistic hope that you will understand what your autistic son is thinking and visa versa

I've already seen a lesser scale of tolerance and certain degree of acceptance. I want that scale to grow bigger and evolve it to understanding.

A culture must match up with the autistic (AKA Acceptance and understanding) and hence the norm won't be a 'problem' to autistic and as NTs ARE the norm. NOT the autistic keeping up with the culture they cannot please (AKA Elimination, 'Cure', and more misunderstanding). Then after that, the elimination of discrimination.
After all, NTs are most likely willing to please a culture that are surrounded with them as it's their nature.

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Legal protection against eugenic elimination. In the form of AS people being recognised as not a disease or defect (or anything to that effect), but an intrinsic part of the person by the UN. And a normal extension of humanity. For research and experimentation into finding a way to prevent AS, to be officially deemed unethical and also unlawful internationally, not just repulsive. Also, policies and measures put in place to protect the spectrum from people that have no problem with ethical boundaries.

Anti discrimination policies to be updated to higher standard, and, spectrum sensitivity training (specifically for neurotypicals) to be introduced into the workplace, and the military, can't leave out the military now can we. Also by court order for serious offenders of discrimination.

As for public safety, I would like something similar to the sex offender registry, where you can see how many curebies live in your neighborhood, and see what they look like, along with their criminal history. At the very least, I would like some sort of investigative service for people that do openly admit to these desires. Are they an immediate threat to someone in their family? Do they have a history of violence or abuse? Do they live with an AS person? How often do they have these thoughts?

Schools, for schools to be built. Not NT schools, but schools dedicated to educating AS people. That way there are more options available other than either mainstream or special ed, both being highly unsuitable.

But if anything else, I'd just want NTs to stop hating us, to just stop with the assumptions and judgement. I just want the same opportunities in society that everyone else gets, the same treatment. To be able to just walk up to a stranger and start talking to them normally like NTs do would be a huge boon. It happens to the point where you can predict it, people don't like even the slightest of differences (eg less eye contact), assume all sorts about you and treat you horribly. A simple job with good pay, that I can even take for granted and complain about, and a nice girl to be with.

Doctor Matthew Israel, founder of the Judge Rotenberg Center, found dead, his severed head adorning a pike on the front lawn of his torture facility. Affixed to this pike is a QR code containing a URL leading to a video of Dr. Israel's death. The doctor's heart quit on him after only the seventeenth hour of continuous application of electrical shocks to his [REDACTED] via his own GED device.

I think more acceptance is very important. I'd also like to see more supports for those of us who have trouble finding a job.

I would want to see a world where the goal of parenting ALL children is to facilitate their independence and develop their gifts.

In the mainstream educational system they're only teaching so that the maximum number of kids can pass standardized tests. Who cares if you can pass a test if you can't balance a checkbook, hold an intelligent conversation, or have marketable skills?

I am largely self-educated because the schools I had to go to were woefully ill-equipped for someone like me. I can only imagine what an average first grade teacher would do with a five year old who reads on a college level. Putting me in the fourth grade reading class did not help.

I'm glad that kids on the spectrum are being diagnosed earlier-instead of finding out the hard way at age 35- but that diagnosis should not be seen as an excuse. The fear and anxiety and depression that people on the spectrum live with is very real and very debilitating, but the point of education and of therapy should be to help people cope and to be able to do everything they are capable of.

I never was given a pass on anything. I was expected to function socially and achieve academically as well as I was expected to either go to college or learn a trade (did both) and be gainfully employed. Granted, my parents didn't know what was "wrong" with me, but they knew from the beginning that I wasn't "normal" either. My fear is that today so many parents use a diagnosis of autism to avoid the stressful and frustrating task of ensuring their kids learn self sufficiency. I'm not saying all parents do that, but it's not the school system's problem or the government's problem to make sure your kid learns and functions. As a parent, it's your problem, like it or not. If a parent fails to advocate for his or her children, who will?

It's easier in some ways to cry, "my kid has special needs, etc." and give up rather than to take the extra time and effort to make sure a kid is given the tools he or she needs to become functional and independent. I think that the focus on education for kids on the spectrum should be empowerment. Too much potential is going to waste, and too many people on the spectrum are not living the lives they are capable of. That's what I'd like to see change.

I've always felt that "autism acceptance" is a vague term. What are we accepting? That it exists? That it's never going to be cured? Our current knowledge of it?

-Ableism and curism being looked upon as socially unacceptable by the majority in the same way as racism.
-Consequently, organizations with those views will fall into the dustbin of history (Autism $peaks, TACA, NAA, Generation Rescue, etc.)
-Abortion and preimplantation genetic diagnosis banned, thus avoiding ethical pitfalls of genetic research. Discovering the autism genes will lead to more accurate and objective diagnoses.
-At the very least, forms of ABA that use aversives or attempt to make an autistic person indistinguishable will be banned.
We will know how to develop systems of AAC for all non-verbal autistic people.
-Adequate system of independent living supports and small group homes for autistic adults who can't live independently.
-We will learn to educate everyone to reach their full potential and maximize their talents in the least restrictive, most inclusive environment possible. In doing so, we will make almost everyone job-ready.
-More understanding on the part of employers, so that they see that interviewing skills don't necessarily reflect skills on the job.

This isn't exhaustive. Never lose hope.

I'd like to see greater awareness of what autism is and what it means to the people who have it, as well as greater acceptance of autistic and other neurodiverse individuals in society. As it is right now, neurodiverse individuals are extremely misunderstood by most of society, and as a result, many people aren't accepting of people on the spectrum and their differences.

I'd like to see a society where education and employment can be better suited to individual needs, where people who lack neurotypical "social instincts" can learn how to navigate human socialization in a safe environment, where people who happen to be gifted in certain areas can easily obtain jobs doing what they love without having to take unnecessary courses on a bunch of other crap, where people aren't dumped into a "ghetto" for not conforming to the educational and employment standards of neurotypical society. The way things currently are, neurodiverse individuals often end up homeless, institutionalized, imprisoned, or doomed to suffer an impoverished, boring life living on benefits. This needs to change.

I'd also like to see a society where socialism is not only embraced, but valued. All of that tax money that goes towards hookers and blow and fighting in pissing contests on foreign soil should instead go towards things that help people, like healthcare, education, and a minimum, livable income that everyone is entitled to. Call me crazy, but we shouldn't have a society where only the "strong" survive and the "weak" starve to death.

The only problem with all these great ideas? Human nature. We are a selfish, sadistic, egotistical, self-destructive species at our very core, and while many of us try to fight this, ultimately it always comes back to bite us in the ass and screw things up for us. If it weren't for our callous, self-centered nature, the human race would be much more advanced, and successful, by now. We would probably have colonies near Alpha Centauri!

To sum it up, I'd like to see greater acceptance and understanding of neurodiversity, and in order for this to happen, the human race as a whole would have to change and learn to overcome its flaws.

I agree that I would like to see no stigma attached to an ASD diagnosis, because it would make it easier for those of us with ASDs to navigate in a world that isn't made for us- and to explain to others why we are the way we are.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of ignorance surrounding ASDs and people with autism. Most people don't know that a person on the spectrum can be extremely gifted in one area, while woefully deficient in others. Some of us have language difficulties, as well as most of us have social difficulties and/or motor deficits. Some of us navigate better in the "world of normal" than others.

My own mother thought that being autistic or having an ASD automatically means a person is "mentally ret*d." It took a lot of effort and education on my part to help her understand that ASDs do not necessarily equate to cognitive deficits. We do see the world and navigate it differently, but that's not always a bad thing.