Jeremy Stangroom

I worked as a care assistant for a year or two (partly) looking after kids with severe autism. I often think autism activists have absolutely no clue just how profoundly disabling & destructive the condition can be.

I think it's pretty close to a general rule among American autistic advocates who have claimed the label for themselves without diagnosis, assessment, etc

That has certainly not been my experience.

Many of the people who claim the label for themselves without a formal diagnosis come to the realisation they're autistic themselves after a family member receives one.

Others come to see themselves as autistic because they know autistic people from other contexts, and realise how much they have in common. Sometimes those autistic people are very decidedly disabled; sometimes less so. Either way, most understand highly disabled autistics exist.

Right, but how many have spent a lot of time with autistic people with severe disabilities? And if they did, do you think that would change how they viewed the issues?

Probably a minority have spent a lot of time with such people. It's a substantial minority though; and many autistic advocates have high support needs themselves though, which is not obvious when you're meeting them through the internet. Of course it changes how you view things.