The culture is shifting and our voices, our perspectives, our lived experiences, and our wisdom is being heard. I've started writing a series called My Autistic Expression, because as a late dx, I get confronted often with "not you, can't be" and so I like to explain bits of my thoughts and processes in easily digestible pieces for NTs, including why I might identify to them at all that I'm actually autistic. I struggled, for years, to create the right masks for the right circumstances, and still somehow always felt outside the herd, so to speak. If I'm typical-appearing, its more of a compliment to my mimicry and observational prowess, nay obsession. Saying all that, however, the culture is much more open and accepting to us than it was even 10 years ago, and more and more people (even in older generations) are turning 'shameful' characteristics into accepted personality traits.