“If they aren’t going to listen, why should I talk?”
I learned about Speed of Dark from Katrina Owen on Ruby Rogues. The hero is an adult autistic in the near future who is working at a pharmaceutical company doing applied mathematics.
Most of the book is narrated in first person with shivering accuracy I might say. I never knew about Elizabeth Moon so midway I looked her up; she is a mother of an autistic. And the efforts to understand her son show. A true advocate for autistics, adult or not. And great parenting advice.
I really cannot write much about the book without giving away the plot, but it is all there: autistic education, effort to fit in, bullying, sportsmanship, search for love, search for meaning, tough choices. A really fascinating book and a touching story. And lots of music. With detail. And I keep thinking that I started the book while I paused Birth of a Theorem at a chapter full of music in order to reread it.
Speed of Dark will affect you regardless of whether you know of autistic people or not. It is one of those books that make you a better person.
Managing organized complexity 
How does it compare to the “curious incident of the dog in the night”?
Very different, even though both are written by people with appropriate background to depict autistic persons. The “Dog” is the story of a youngster who needs to know what happened, while “Speed of Dark” is close to a thriller.
In terms of how they present how the autistic person thinks, they are both on equal terms. However, in “Speed of Dark” the hero’s parents are dead and he lives alone.