"A lot of what autism is, is trade offs between one ability and another, because of a brain flooded with information and incapable of handling all of it a once. So we handle a tiny bit and make trade offs between one skill and another. Some of us make permanent trade offs, some of us are constantly switching, and some of us go in between somewhere. Some of us also go from one set of long term tradeoffs to a different set — depending on what set is which and which skills people value, this will get seen as either progress or regression, regardless of what is actually happening. My brain once made some ultimately wonderful changes in my life, setting firm limits about what tradeoffs it was willing to accept. But because speech was one of the skills on the chopping block, other people choose to call it a regression. Because speech is that important to them, even though to me it’s a peripheral skill I barely notice in the scheme of things other than for its capacity to cause pain and wreak havoc on my other abilities."
-Mel Baggs, Don't think that we don't think
This is only a small part of what is a very excellent and nuanced post that isn't only about autism or loss of skills, and I recommend reading it as it's very important, but this particular paragraph really stood out to me. It rings very true to my own experiences, and this way of thinking of autism and skill loss/gain still feels so radical, so progressive, even today.