I can see how someone can go free for lashing out when getting overloaded accidentally killing someone and going free for that but planned murder, no way. I still think it should only be mitigating circumstances, not freeing the killer of guilt.

I am not sure if I would officially be autistic but my youngest son is(diagnosed) and he is just like me in many of the autistic ways. I don't see there being anything wrong with him as I do not believe there is anything wrong with me. It actually helps me to have an argument with others on topics without getting emotional about it. I don't totally understand emotions or am able to express them well at all. I have been this way all my life and I turned 40 this month. Don't get me wrong, I can be passionate about my opinions but I rarely get angry or upset about someone that disagrees with me. I cannot see myself any other way and my youngest I would never try to change him. He is damn smart in many ways. He just has trouble with certain emotional aspects like I do. My eldest is not that way at all. Another my other issues is the same with my youngest. I can process only so many inputs at once before the flight or fight instinct kicks in. My flight method is shutting down or outright walking off and leaving the situation.

Example:
Hearing more than a few people talking at once. It takes a lot for me to sit through it.

That is a reason why I hate being around more than a few people and avoid it if I can get away with it. My parents love me and my mom gave me the love I needed while my father helped mold me into a decent man. They knew that I thought different than most kids at the time and they would explain why on a lot of things because explaining why they told me no made me understand and actually listen better because it made sense. Also, Autism is not a disease. It is a way your mind works and most can overcome societal perceived shortcomings.

Because of this I am able to push past a lot of it to function and I believe my youngest kid will be a good young man as he gets older.

And this concludes my rambling topical post.

P.S. When I was 7 I had a theory and have sadly yet to be proven incorrect. People are stupid or want to be. It has to do with willful ignorance.

It's like a RAVAGING FIRE your whole insides feel like there drenched in ACID you're screaming on the inside "I'm BURNING TO DEATH HELLLP MEEEEEEE!"

When people talk to me when I don't want them to imagine (CEREBRAL BORE out of turok 2 spinning around in your head) drilling holes into your skull it feels very similar to this 1st one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opFxvqefKTo

When Asperger's have social anxiety it's sensation feels like:

https://youtu.be/8RNuMa76sMg?t=53s (this car only)

I know that no-one asked for this per say, but I find the thread incomplete without some additional research links.
I'll try to keep it short. ;)

- For a short version and cute version, check out the Autism piece of the Real Monsters art series by Toby Allen (AKA ZestyDoesThings).
Link: http://www.zestydoesthings.com/realmonsters/image/16

- Wikipedia should be a good starting point for a general idea.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

- Some typical stereotypes covered by BBC Three
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d69tTXOvRq4
I found it to be truthful and amusing at the same time. ;)

- Males vs. females:
Autism is often misread as quietness or shyness in girls and women because in general, they don't stand out as much as autistic males do.

+ Article by The National Autistic Society:
https://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/gender.aspx

+ Some typical behaviors of autistic females covered by The Aspie World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bGIhCjGJU

- Overload & meltdown:

+ Article by The National Autistic Society:
https://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/meltdowns.aspx

+ Video by The Aspie World:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zakwb8YpWg

+ examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzaBmwhTv6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr4_dOorquQ

+ Diverted with Saskia Lupin, as an example of someone that really falls into the "doesn't look autistic" stereotype.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDXNmRo4CX0

Her interview: https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/tmi/stories/saskia.aspx

Asperger syndrome:

Article by The National Autistic Society:
https://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asperger.aspx

Sites with a LOT of AWESOME resources:

- The National Autistic Society website: https://www.autism.org.uk/
They have plenty of excellent articles.

- The Aspie World's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOKKRcJey93Ms-dL630UNIQ
His videos are very to the point and give great explanations.

- Inspiring people with autism:

+ Chris Packham
It was interesting to see his experience as someone who was exposed through television and likely managed to
"sell" people an idea of what he was like that very likely didn't match his real self.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjdEJdr-vfs

+ Rosie King
I found her to be very charismatic and funny.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ95xlZeHo8

+ Alix Generous
She was more serious and it was interesting to see how she turned her monotone into a humorous tool.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yfFwDq4R5M

+ Elisabeth Wiklander
Well, that was a twist and good one.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvvrme5WIwA

+ Carrie Beckwith-Fellows
This was very sad, but I imagine painfully true for some. :(
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF2dhWWUyQ4

TED Talks also has a number of different autistic people talking about autism from very different perspectives.
Though it may take some filtering to find them, searching "autism" and "Asperger's", should be a good enough filter.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxTalks/videos

+ Temple Grandin
I can't seem to find a link to the full movie, so I'll settle for an IMBd link.
I thought she should be on the list because she is one of the most well-known examples.
Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/

Note/disclaimer: I did not go and research these people's lives, so I have no idea what they are like or what they are known for outside of these videos.

Obviously, there is a lot more material on the net, but I promised to keep it short. ;)

One thing I would like to mention:

The most well-known autism-related charity, Autism Speaks, is rather controversial; many autistic people say the organization doesn't speak for them, and that Autism Speaks aims to find a "cure" for autism, which many autistic people (including, I believe, the OP here) do not want. Also, that charity has almost no (and for a while had no) autistic people on the board of directors.

There's also the whole debate between person-first language ("person with autism", like when talking about a disease) versus identity-first language ("autistic person", like when talking about things like race, religion, or left-handedness); it seems autistic adults tend to prefer identity-first language here.

Another thing: There seems to be much research done with autistic children, often involving surveys of their parents, but not nearly as much research done with autistic adults.

I was diagnosed at age 11 (AS), and found out a few years later, and well over a decade later, I've just learned to slide around social situations that could be potentially disrupting to my senses, social and otherwise.

Look up 4chan (possibly at your own risk)

I hope you don't mind that I shortened your post.

Question 8 confirms your observations (second paragraph and the "cure" part) are spot on. :)

Honestly, I never looked too deeply into Autism Speaks, for me their lacking articles were more than enough to leave the website buried in the depths of the Internet.
However, I have come across reactions you describe on Youtube in numerous comments, so there's likely some truth there.

I wholeheartly agree, and not only for this thread, but in fact on any other.

But getting back to this topic - back when I was studying we had one colleague on the same year who was (as I've heard) authisthic. In my opinion it was looking rather for Asperger's syndrome than "autism autism", but since I've heard that from someone who was rather reasonable and not spreading gossips, I'm guessing that it's just my impression.

Guy didn't had easy life. He was notorously seen in library, learning and learning, yet had problems with passing through many courses. It was quite characteristic for him that when he got outside of the lecturer's room (trying to pass through some unpassed excersises/exams) and didn't succeeded, he was hitting with fury in table with fist, but in his specific way, from "upside". And sadly, most of people on the year wasn't showing too much compassion to the guy, just find him as object of jokes. Usually he didn't pay attention, but one of our colleagues seems to make jokes of him a bit too much, because he once get so furious that almost chocked him to death (intervention of one of our lecturers stopped it fortunately). And how ironic - one of our colleagues, well known leftist, anticlerical and liberal, didn't had any respect or even compassion for our sick colleague. And normally he had mouth full with such terms as "tolerance".

As for me - I didn't had too many contacts with this person, mostly because I'm rather a "loner type" and I had generally difficulties with making contact with other people. Only once, when we were splitted on three groups and were supposed to talk about some topics, I've motivated my group to talk instead of being silent and listening to our colleague (who was in different group) to have "something to laugh". Not too much, but I'm glad that I've managed to do something like it at least once. Sadly, I admit that even I sometimes had laughed during our courses when our colleague had something to refer, but it's hard to resist when entire group (including lecturer) are laughing because our colleague has showed disapproval to lecturer than he "dared" to interrupt him. Yeah, I admit that about twice I've laughed as well and I'm not proud of it. For what's it's worth, I've always tried to avoid discussions when someone would make laugh of him.

He probably didn't manage to pass on 2nd degree studies, so I've never seen him after bachelor degree studies. May God have mercy on him, have hope that his further fate is more fortunate.

I hope you don't mind the shortening and I'll reply paragraph per paragraph.

Unbelievable, someone actually noticed that "rule" (I'm no moderator so I can't enforce it per say). XD
And I echo your view, people should talk over disagreements, downvoting is empty on its own.

Point 1:
I'd refrain from calling anyone autistic "sick", even medicine qualifies it as a disorder, not a disease; for many, it's also attached to our identity and such miswording can be met very negatively even if it had no ill intentions behind it.
I realize it had no malice behind it, but someone else might jump at you for it.
Point 2:
One of the reasons I avoid political topics at all cost.
I'd prefer not to put conviction under an umbrella, I'd prefer to take my time and think over a topic before giving an opinion on, every such topic is unique and deserves to be treated as such.
I don't care for political labels, they're all meaningless if ideals people "swear by" are not upheld with actions.
It's so simple yet for many so difficult: treat everyone with basic respect and kindness, beyond that lies compatibility and likeability, but those are entirely separate fields.
Regardless of whatever labels people are given or chose themselves, all of us share the exact same limits of being human (unfortunately that includes purely emotional reactions I think most of us can't control).

While I'm glad you didn't add to his torment, the next step would be to try and defend him, though I know that's anything but easy.
I've had a similar experience in the first year of my studies at the faculty.
One of the boys had a deformed arm, it was basically a stump reaching to where an elbow would usually be, all he had for fingers on it were little growths out of the main bulk.
The first time I saw his arm I gasped and the lecture hall was in the process of being emptied but still held some people. It wasn't that I wanted to make him feel bad, I was shocked because it was something I had never encountered before. And even though my dad reassured me that boy must be used to much worse when I got home and told him about it, I still felt ashamed for my reaction.
As far as I know, the person in question switched departments some time that year.
However, in the words of Holo the Wise Wolf (one of the main character of the anime Spice and Wolf ;) ):
"Remeber the lesson, not the disappointment."
I don't think the way we acted makes either of us bad people, merely ignorant at the point when it happened.
It's from such mistakes and failures that people grow wiser and what matters the most what is done with that new knowledge/experience. :)

Sorry if my English sounds bad, but your profile states you have autism (Asperger's syndrome), and are in love with wolves. Can I be nosy and ask you why you are so fond of these animals?
I have autism too, so I can't answer your question probably, as it's targeted toward people without it.
Wolves too, are among my favourite critters. So there's two things we have in common already.
Of course, if you want to send me a note instead, that'll be okay too.

This is the first time I added a thought on here, so please bear with me.

Take a second look at question 2 in my opening post. ;)
I'll indulge you since you're not familiar with the forums.

Hopefully, I can keep this short.
As for wolves, I find them beautiful and associate them with positive traits such as wisdom, courage and honesty, like fighting if you have to, but for a purpose or to protect someone dear to you and not for yourself - it's more about what they represent to me than the animals on their own.

P.S. When I wanted to ask you about the friend request (after accepting it) your settings blocked chatting with you.
I want to have people on my friendlist I can talk to, anyone seeking to add me just for the sake of one more person on their list will be removed from it.

A small request: If possible don't post off topic.

Okay, for anyone not interested, I'm not autistic according to the shrinks, I'm just a regular asshole, yay.....
As for my problems they're caused later in my life and I wasn't born with it.
Remedy pending....

I like the "not interested" part as a small, but clever word play. ;)

Either way, I hope things work out for you. :)