As someone on the spectrum myself (in a family that produced 2 others, as well) I still don't really understand what rationally makes all of it "autism". The OP

As someone on the spectrum myself (in a family that produced 2 others, as well) I still don't really understand what rationally makes all of it "autism". The OP has a section on what we have in common, but it didn't answer my question. Is it a scientific or medical thing? A root cause? Or is it the type of situation where 100 years from now they'll look back and laugh at our archaic psychiatry.