Authism - discussing 'black & white thinking' in autism

Today I wanted to talk about black and white thinking - one of those traits they say is characteristic of autism but I'm not sure I have this. There probably are some situations where I have strong views eg some causes and ideoglogies but feel this is true for many people  not just autistics. I often see too many sides, if anything, which can make me very indecisive - another exhausting autistic trait and contradictory to the black & white thinking one. Reading through my post diagnosis assessment notes, indecision came under another autistic trait but seems to be contradictory to the black-and-white one.

I have included a couple of links here where one of them gives a good example which I can relate to. The  link takes you to the full article where the quote is from.

"Handling conflicts is a tough one to begin with, but for someone with ASD, an argument or lack of agreement about a topic = no more friendship. A young woman with ASD may get in an argument with a friend at school and immediately feel they are not friends with this person anymore, struggling to understand that disagreements are a natural part of any relationship and can be worked through."

https://www.psychedconsult.com/no-room-for-gray-here/

So in the example above I'm assuming the black and white thinking here would be not giving someone you've had a rift with another chance. They are either your friend or they're not. But even then I think that example may be more to do with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphonia.

The link below also offers some interesting insights although must be a bit of an old article as it refers to AS.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asd-black-white-thinking-style-nelle-frances/

I do grasp the concept of black and white thinking up to a point and those of us who have strong political or social justice views tend to be binary in our thinking. But, talking of binary - or actually non-binary - I've not got the actual figures but it is said that there's a higher proportion of ND compared to NT people who identify as non-binary. So, again,  the argument doesn't hold up about 'black and white thinking' to me. If we look on social media where nuance and shades of grey aren't in abundance, do we assume that autistics are overrepresented in such posts?  

I'd not looked through my assessment notes until thinking about this blog. My assessor said that most individuals with a diagnosis of ASD find change and unpredictability difficult to manage and at times may struggle to adapt to change. "Many have a thinking style which can seem slightly fixed, for example thinking in either/or, literal or black-and-white and it’s very common for individuals with the condition to have a strong preference for structure and predictability as well as a need for certain routines." Yes, change of routine and predictability is something I do get really distressed about eg if something is changed, if transport is slightly late or an appointment is changed. These can throw me completely but is that what’s meant by black-and-white thinking? I didn’t think so. Yes, OK, I can see flexibility is related to being able to cope with change to routines etc but the whole need for structure and routine characteristic of autism seems like a different dimension to me.  I like to think that I do see other  viewpoints. I do think I'm fairly nuanced and not extreme in most things,  depending on the situation and context, of course. But people-pleasing, the agonies of  indecision and masking all seem to contradict or work against black and white thinking in my view.

In the video version I said this wasn't related to writing but it actually is! In writing we very much depend on nuance and different thinking styles of our characters, even if we ourselves don't agree with them or share their view of the world.

Enough about me anyway. What does black and white thinking mean to you? Do you have examples? Then I might say 'ah yes' I can see that now! Please do share your views in the comments below or on the YouTube video. Thank you.