I think social awareness/skills is a big part of an autism diagnosis. Men are generally worse in this domain than women and this aligns with the frequency of diagnoses being higher with males. Autistic people tend to make others more uncomfortable in social situations without realizing it. They may not make eye contact in socially appropriate ways and they may not realize how their tone, body language, or behaviors are perceived by others as inappropriate. A few months ago I was in the bathroom of a restaurant washing my hands and this autistic teen stood somewhat close to me. I couldn’t tell right away he was autistic but I immediately started mentally preparing myself for some type of conflict. He kept staring and started leaning close to me. I was high as fuck so I was a little more paranoid than usually and reacted kind of aggressive and told him to back up. When I looked at his eyes I realized he was severely autistic. You can tell by the dull stare. But he had no idea that what he was doing is inappropriate and couldn’t tell that it made others uncomfortable. I think the autism spectrum may have caused more confusion by grouping functional autists with dysfunctional ones under the same label. I think it would be more useful to call functional autists neurodivergent and everyone else just autistic.
Discussion
Yeah I can see how that grouping can be harmful - in the understanding of it and also the feeling of inferiority it might induce in someone who is mostly functional. But also I wouldn't want people to be unaware of what's going on... You can become more self aware and start working on yourself.
That kid might've just smelled the joint and was hoping for a puff.