As I've looked at autism over the years, I've come to the conclusion that it's largely made up. Not that there aren't these neurologically different people, with different behavioral, social, and neurological tendencies, but the way that autism is classified. Obviously, you're familiar with the DSM, and with the way that it 'diagnoses' someone with autism. Essentially, it takes a list of 'symptoms', and if you have a certain number of these symptoms, there you go.
But practically every single one of those 'symptoms' is a neurological characteristic or condition all by itself, documented as appearing by itself, with its own library of medical or psychological literature. And some of the symptoms contradict each other, a good example being sensory sensitivity and sensory insensitivity.
It drives me nuts, sometimes.