Needless to say, using 'autistic' as a slur is also flamebait and therefore against the site guidelines. No more of that, please, either.
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. You've broken it badly in this thread.
Jesus Christ. There's just no need for this level of bile, on Hacker News or anywhere else for that matter.
The funny thing is, I have a lot of sympathy for your original comment. I have worked with the odd coworker or two (hence throwaway) who surely were autistic and were impossible to work with and the two things were certainly connected. It may not be PC but it's true. But stately things plainly doens't need to extend to personal insults, never mind this extreme.
If you struggle finding good projects at companies that respect you and your work, maybe this is something you could work on.
Because tolerance is a valuable thing, and makes your workplace a better, stronger one by allowing safe harbor for alternate viewpoints. I suspect your future employer would not look fondly on your choice of words if you chose to use "autistic" in the same manner in a professional setting.
A big problem in this industry is sensitive people like you
I am proud to be problematic to the industry in general and to you in particular if taking a stand against unacceptable derogatory language is considered "problematic".
Why should anyone else have to deal with people like you?
Well, sorry to burst your bubble but you're already dealing with autistic people in your daily life. Worse, you're being a dick about it. It's a spectrum (or more like an equalizer with many sliders); the ones you describe are low in communicativeness (or low in giving a shit about you), most manage all right. See also: masking.
But yeah tl;dr IT has tons of people on the spectrum; just because you don't notice them means they're good at masking and/or you can't actually tell.
Whether that's because the individual is on the spectrum, or because they're a dick who just doesn't care... is a medical diagnosis question.
But there's a reason "reasonable accommodation" exists in disability law. There's a balance to be struck between increasing workplace equality and doing so at the expense of coworkers.
I think everyone who's worked in the industry 5+ years has been on a team or project with someone who "reasonable" probably shouldn't have covered, whatever the underlying diagnosis.
I understand this, but I also strongly oppose the fact that OP equated "autistic" and "antisocial and/or poorly communicating".
That is an incorrect and harmful generalization towards people on the autism spectrum.
Because if you ask a question that can be answered in one word, but are expecting more for whatever reasons, that's your own damn fault.
It's like greeting people with "How are you doing?" It's not a real question. No one wants a comprehensive answer to that. So if you actually answer that question, people are going to get annoyed with you.
This style of communication is infuriating to some of those on the spectrum because it involves navigating a byzantine set of rules that are never defined and ever shifting.
Communication should be clear, concise, and honest if you want it to be effective. Don't make the other side work to understand you. If you want to know something, ask for that information. Don't ask a vaguely related question and hope the other side volunteers the information. Because it's just like the "How are you doing?" greeting. Except, we're not supposed to volunteer information there. And sometimes we're not even supposed to volunteer information in those other situations. So when do you expound? You're stuck in a position of trying to read the other person's mind trying to figure out if they really want to know something. It's tiring and infuriating.