There are two things this book accomplished for me. One was just simply describing a large number of common experiences autistic people face, and the other was looking at how some conventional forms of therapy can mess up an autistic patient. I would say that it succeeded in both.

First, we have the autistic experiences. I posted several quotes as I read because they hit hard. Things I've been trying to explain for years were written in simply, easy to understand paragraphs. Oh how I wish I'd had those paragraphs years ago! Autistic burnout, hyper-vigilance when talking to other people, and the feeling of overwhelm that a small amount of expectations can cause were some of the most salient, but I highlighted many more paragraphs as I read.

When it comes to the second part, how (some) conventional therapies might hard rather than help an autistic patient, the message was as much a warning for me as it was any potential therapists who might be reading. Certain things that therapies can try to "fix" in a neurotypical patient are just facts of existence for people with autism. At best, someone might succeed in teaching an autistic person how to better mask these things, but they will not be "fixed." More often than not autistic patients don't need fixing, they need help understanding how to manage their emotions, work through confusion in interpersonal relationships, understand how to take the mask off, and create a life that is manageable and sustainable.

All in all, it was helpful to me. At the end of the book, in the concluding chapter, one conclusion stuck out to me more than the others:

"The key task in therapy is to create a neurodivergent-friendly life which works for us."