This makes a lot of sense to me. I've grown up with my feet in two communities, my smaller ethnic community and the greater local community. My ethnic community

This makes a lot of sense to me. I've grown up with my feet in two communities, my smaller ethnic community and the greater local community. My ethnic community is really tight, and most people get along with one another. There's a shared kinship, so even the awkward kids are invited to hang out often. I've always felt the 'awkward'(as in seems stereotypically autistic) kids in my ethnic community were a little better at socializing and a little less anxiety-ridden than at school. I really think having a social environment makes a huge difference in severity of these kinds of things for those that are high functioning. Unfortunately, our greater society isn't very good at being an inclusive community. It's very dog eat dog, and most people don't have strong family and friend networks anymore. It's something that used to be important to humans, and was necessary to survive really. We don't need it anymore and as a result, neglect it. Why wouldn't that play a part in severity and presentation of autism?