[Part 2 of 2 because I Talk Too Much™ and exceeded the text limit for forum posts]

We aren't able to read situations as well to be able to figure it out easily, and a lot of us would rather just not engage than end up being rejected or disliked. I know for me personally, the quickest way I figure this out is if someone is regularly trying to strike up conversation with me for a long while and engages me about my interests (without being too pushy)

It could also be that they just aren't sure how to properly initiate a conversation, so they overthink to the point that they just don't do it.

On the flip side, you could just give them vibes they don't particularly like. But that's something that happens between people sometimes, autistic or not.

It's not so much about wanting or not wanting tolerance. Actually, first, "tolerance" really, really sounds like the wrong word here. That implies you're just "dealing with" them. "Acceptance" is the better word/goal. If you ever feel like you're just "tolerating" someone, you aren't doing them any favors and you ain't gonna become friends.

or like leveling in a video game. I don't enjoy leveling at the slightest. But I understand that it's a required stepping stone towards end-game content. If it's relatable to something like small talk. Why would someone with Autism choose to do something they might dislike like leveling a character, but would avoid small talk? Shouldn't the philosophy be the same?
My dude, my buddy, my guy. These can't be compared. Leveling a character is something that we are choosing to go do, of our free will, on our own time, and we can just as easily choose to simply not bother and walk away from the game. Small talk is something that can be thrust upon us when we might not even be expecting it, and if we don't handle it right, we could end up making someone dislike us or think we're weird. You feel me?

It's true that I tend to lump Autism in the same groups as depression and schizophrenia. I wouldn't really know what to clarify it as. I'm open to suggestions! But while I understand that people are happy and content with Autism. I get a vibe that a lot of people still suffer socially from it. And if the positives don't outweigh the negatives--then doesn't that make it an illness?
Look into the term "neurodiversity." Also, it can be argued that most autistic people are only suffering because society and the world at large are not built to be friendly for us at all. It's loud, bright, convoluted, full of seemingly arbitrary social rules and standards, etc etc. There was actually a study done recently where they compared autistic-to-autistic communication, autistic-to-allistic(non-autistic) communication, and allistic-to-allistic communication, these were the findings: https://bit.ly/31hIVqb

Okay, I'm tired now lol. I'll read the rest of this thread and respond to other stuff after some sleep.