I’ve got ND of various types and NT people in my immediate family and friend group, and those gaps in communication styles can be bridged, but only if hands are extended from both sides. You know, like solving any communication issue.

I think one of the things that is frustrating is when there’s people who are on one side of the gap dismissing the other and assuming that because they are friends, they must be on the same side. “Oh you don’t have autism you don’t act autistic, I’m not and would somehow know” and, more commonly in my experience, “oh you are friends with me, an autistic person, so you must be autistic”. (Replace autism with ADHD or any ND condition in either example).

I feel that either way it’s dismissive of someone’s personal experience and diagnosis, and dismissive of the person overall.

So yeah when I saw something that was implying that you’ve gotta have X if you’re friends with people who have X, it set me off.