ABSTRACT
This chapter will specifically review the importance of presuming that the clients diagnosed with autism (ASD) are competent and capable. It serves as a reminder for us all that even though we may think we are presuming competence and capability in the clients, the work of monitoring our biases does not have a stopping point. The chapter draws from best-practice, research-based recommendations for the general and ASD population. The neurodiversity movement is a cultural phenomenon that has shifted the neurological disability paradigm to a humanistic, strengths-based view on people diagnosed with a variety of conditions. Within this movement, treating ASD adults and children as a cultural group, much like those of minority race, ethnicity, or gender status, is an approach that honors and respects their experiences as a group that has been marginalized and discriminated against.
