As someone who comes from the "gifted side" of the Autism Spectrum, its not that great. Having a brilliant mind is a great gift - but to be honest I would rath

As someone who comes from the "gifted side" of the Autism Spectrum, its not that great. Having a brilliant mind is a great gift - but to be honest I would rather be of normal intelligence and be able to better understand how to be social than anything. Whats a brilliant mind going to do for you if your alone? Humans, even autistic ones are social creatures and require social interaction. I do also agree with other posters that Autism diagnosis are on the rise due to a higher push for screenings of children, and awareness of autism. However I do think it still is possibly on the rise. Aspergers is now Autism. I'm mixed on this, as even Aspergers has a spectrum. I've seen people with Aspergers that are near normal functioning, and those that are completley fixated on Star Trek to the point thats all they care about. I've also seen non verbal classic autistics hold down employment in a competitive employment atmosphere. The aspergers vs classic autistic has nothing to do with functioning level, it has to do with verbal delay (or it used to - its now the same).