I say that you can view autism in multiple ways. You can view it as a neurotype, which it is, and you can view it as a culture, which it also is.

Yes, relationships take effort and there has to be give and take, but in the case of the Australian man and the Chinese woman, if one partner smokes and one doesn't, the relationship can work out if the smoker agrees to smoke outside and clean up after themselves. If one partner smokes and one doesn't and they have two cars, they need to have a policy whereby, the smoker can smoke in the smoker's car but not in the non-smoker's car.

A relationship between an extrovert and an introvert typically does not work because the extrovert will be, "Okay, it's so and so's birthday this week and we've been invited to the party." And the introvert thinks, "Oh, no, not another party. We had one last week." And a functional relationship can't be where, say, a man and a woman are together and the woman's diary goes something like, "Coffee with so-and-so, Saturday morning. Coffee with so-and-so, Saturday afternoon. So and so's birthday party, Saturday night. Sunday morning, tennis with so-and so. Went to so and so's house for lunch." And the man's diary is, "Needed two days to myself to recover from five days in an open plan office."

I think there needs to be balance, and balance can mean, autistic and non-autistic partner in Australia, "Easter Long Weekend, couple are together for four days." "May Day/Queen's Birthday Long Weekend, with two weeks' notice, autistic partner says to non-autistic partner, "I need a break, so over the long weekend, I'd like to head off. Autistic partner heads off for a few days, texting the non-autistic partner during the time." NOT, autistic partner walks inside Monday night, "Where have you been? I've been worried about you! Your phone's been off!" "Oh, um, I needed some time out so I went for a drive."