I always wonder when neurotypical people tsk tsk at this stuff I’m like — what coping mechanism would you prefer this person to engage in when they’re sad or anxious or bored? Complaining incessantly? Bullying other people? Cigarettes, or something harder? When you take away a harmless coping mechanism you often get a harmful one in its place.

I think they always see conformity as the desired outcome, while being weird is seen as a threat.

And yet, they have their own coping mechanisms. Drinking, snorting horse, using crack cocaine, and ketamine. Not everyone. Just like us, they have different triggers, and cope in different ways. Who would have thought? @eirias