I remember, 37 years ago, my primary school was the first to have a dedicated hearing impaired unit outside a dedicated school in the CBD. I remember the teacher saying, "They're not deaf; they're hearing impaired." The term "impaired" is problematic as to me, a hearing impaired person is someone who can still hear, and may rely upon a hearing aid (so if someone has 100% hearing in one ear and 40% in another, they are hearing impaired, if they have 100% hearing in one ear but none in the other, they have a hearing disability) but if someone cannot hear, full stop, they are deaf. I don't think hearing impaired should be used as a politically correct term for deaf, though.

By the social model, yes, an autistic person is disabled. For example, I cannot abide nightclubs as the music at tinnitus producing volumes and the whirling lights make me uncomfortable, but my autism is not something that needs to be cured. And nor should I be forced to go into a room with loud music and be forced to listen to it without reacting.

I think we need to look at it in two ways. What can the environment do for us and what can we do for the environment? By that, I mean, an autistic person, when doing their shopping, can opt to wear sunglasses or noise cancelling headphones, or, the supermarkets can dim the lighting and turn off the tannoy.

And yes, I agree about toadflax. Some people might find Satsuki Azaleas awful, but I like them.