Could being beaten for years somewhat mimic ASD traits?

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It's why I said 'mimic', I know actual traits stem from genetics, likely; it's nice, though, for it to be "very functional", can hardly imagine... (more imagining myself with a gun to my head, usually...)

I feel the only option is to acknowledge (it's emotionally healthy as well) that you were physically abused as a child (I was as well) and move on. I decided that I was not going to let my childhood (which I had no control over) affect me negatively now.

Not when it's impossible to 'move on', physically almost too, now (got a lot of practical problems that are likely due to all that) - (unless, of course, it's 'moving on' beyond life itself, in which case not being conscious would probably resolve some issues, just like sleep itself does... occasionally, when I don't have all sorts of weird dreams connected to this... or, at least more rarely now, he's in them...)

yes, trauma and autism can present similar "faces" to behaviors. I have read many articles from around 2015 that urged doctors to diagnose trauma instead of autism. But today it has become accepted science that trauma forms more easily around autistic individuals due to our sensory processing differences, and that it is quite possible, and even likely that autistic individuals can suffer trauma from events and circumstances that do not bother neurotypical individuals.
dual diagnosis of both trauma and autism is accepted and becoming more frequent as time goes on. a simple internet search for "trauma and autism" will usually bring up recent articles and studies regarding this issue. PTSD and CPTSD diagnosis is becoming more frequent for autistic individuals, and it is definitely possible to have all 3 in one person.

Well put. ^

I was diagnosed with PTSD and CPTSD before my ASD and ADHD diagnoses. The ASD assessor looked quite carefully at my early childhood development pre-trauma to ensure I met the criteria for ASD separate from trauma.

(Note CPTSD is not a stand-alone diagnosis separate from PTSD in the DSM, but it can be diagnosed off-the-record / informally based on clinical evidence.)

In my daily life it's fairly easy to tell which is which, but there's definitely overlap at least in my case when I freeze, shut down, ruminate, self-sabotage, have difficulty trusting people, etc. even though I can usually determine if the cause is trauma or ASD in each situation.

+1 to the above two posts. Maybe more but I didn't read through all of this. Not trying to be a snubby jerk or anything. Just those two made me go yup.

I know for myself, it took me going to a team of people at the UofM because of my trauma past. It can be hard to pick apart what is trauma based and what is autism. They ended up deciding that yeah, I am autistic, and yeah, I have CPTSD as well...among other things. There is a decent amount of overlap with several symptoms, and it takes a good mental health professional (or more) to help pick that stuff apart and get a handle on what's going on. I still struggle to know what with me is nature, nurture, or both. It can be impossible for me to know sometimes, which is unfortunate.