I'm just one sample, but I remember my mother telling me, when I was 13, that she could rely upon me, as a one year old, if a lizard came into the house, to take it outside. I also remember, when I was nine, her buying a lettuce from a market stall, that had a frog hidden in it and she screamed. I took the frog outside and put it in the garden. I had the affinity with frogs and lizards. What I do hate, however, is cane toads. I remember, at school, when I was 13, a kid in my class had put a frill-necked lizard into his bag and intended to scare me with it, but what he didn't care about was, the lizard was frightened as it was trapped in a scary space and I was disgusted that he would do such a thing. I wanted to get the lizard away from him and would have done, if only I'd been able to get near to it. I have long hated animal cruelty, while some neurotypical people delighted in it.

One of the most appalling examples of autism research I saw was by Jeremy Nicholson, who wanted to prevent it and said he hoped to have the phenotype of every person in Western Australia. I thought to myself, and told the newspaper that reported it exactly what I thought, and not diplomatically, either, that hell would freeze over before he got my phenotype (I don't live in WA, anyway) and that I did not think the reference to us as a "big scary monster" was appropriate.

Autism research needs to be directed NOT towards preventing us or curing us, but upon understanding us and discovering our strengths. Let's not forget, Chris Packham is autistic and he has an affinity with nature and wildlife, like I do with the lizards. That is why it needs to be done by autistic people and those who celebrate our difference rather than trying to assimilate us.