I agree, I much prefer the discomfort of knowing to the discomfort of not knowing and understanding.

In regards to autism, the thing is thanks to the internet, people are realizing autism is much deeper than expected. It's also more broad than expected. So these rules are changing daily as the autism community pulses and speaks their experiences. It's kind of incredible in my opinion.

In regards to aspergers, looking into it the guy who coined the term was a Nazi. Beyond that it doesn't seem to have much application to autism as a whole, especially as the autism view changes to accomodate minorities.

When I talk to those who encourage me to not call myself autistic, its generally because they feel "most people" feel that there is something bad about it. Like we are retarded or psychopathic or something of the sort. Cause the norm thinks of difficult kids who seem to lack empathy. Previous descriptions of what autism means come from neurotypical people who don't understand.

But the internet is finally allowing autistic people to speak for themselves which is causing huge changes in what autism means. Because the reality is what autism is for an autistic person is very different from what autism is for a regular neurotypical person.