I remember first becoming fascinated with this disorder back in the early 1970s when I wrote a review of a book on autism. Like most books back then, that author took seriously that this was a psychological "disorder" caused by refrigerator moms. This was especially cruel because the poor mothers of autistic kids are overwhelmed by the problems that this condition creates, the additional burdens of mothering, and to then turn and blame the mother! Sadly this was from the idiotic "Freudian" interpretation of disorders as all arising from problems in relationships and not from genetics or disease.
From Wikipedia:
Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants.The good news is that intense intervention early in development gives these kids a much better life. They will never be "normal" but many of them can have reasonable lives. In the past, most were "institutionalized" which is just another name for warehousing until they die. And if you put a person in an institution with little loving interaction, many die fairly quickly. So the "solution" in the past was a kind of euthanasia. I have no problem with people choosing this option. It should be the decision of the family. But the good news is that for families with the strength to meet the challenges of raising an autisitic kid, there are much more positive outcomes today than there were 30 or 50 years ago.
One of my favourite science writers, Stephen Jay Gould, had a son with autism who was a calendar calculator like the twins Flo & Kate. I also enjoy books by autistics. Some that quickly come to mind are Temple Grandin's books Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation and Daniel Tammet's Born on a Blue Day (a savant with synesthesia).
Watch this talk given by Temple Grandin at a TED conference:
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