It still bothers me a lot but every time I see it, I just remind myself it speaks nothing of us autists and speaks volumes about their ignorance and willingness to act in ignorance (and perhaps their emotional state, but that's going a bit far).

As for the 'it's just words' argument; do you think we are stupid??? We know WHY 'autistic' in particular became the new 'retarded'. Why did autism become a new target? Because's its not 'normal' (as if that matters) and they know we are different on a fundamental level and whoever started this trend didn't care past that. We know it started as a shaming insult and it's a scathing reminder of the lack of true support we have in culture and society with regards to autism. I'm cerain people are just regurgitating 'autistic' as an insult just because they have heard it before without thinking about it AND THAT MAKES IT WORSE, NOT BETTER. People are willing to use us as a derogatory term without thinking about it and that is the worst reminder of how society views us. It's always either as entertainment or pity-fuel.