I'm sorry it was hard for you, but this is the whole point in this context, if you don't hold your tongue, autistic or not, there are social repercussions, and for mostly good reasons. Even if it's innately harder for some people, it is generally good to hold your tongue and speaking your mind all the time shouldn't be glorified like the original quoted article seems to do.

It doesn't matter that you reached this "developmental milestone" later than neurotypical, you eventually did it. What I understand this editorial wants is claim that it's actually a bad thing because it somehow would go against freedom of speech, which denotes a lack of understanding of both the virtue of holding your tongue and freedom of speech.

I do understand you're upset by the "emotional intelligence" mention, and it just proves that even this guy could have exercised some restraint in his criticism otherwise relevant of this editorial.