Maggie's Farm

I have 3 nephews who are autistic, 1 severely, 2 with Asperger's.

It most definitely belongs on the general spectrum of autism. My 2 nephews, one mild and one severe, share many common traits with other autistic kids. The nature of their relationships, their interactions, and even their interests are so similar to others who have various ranges of autism, you sometimes struggle to tell the difference.

Since autism is a spectrum disorder, it's hard to classify anything specifically to autism, which is what leads the door open to the possibility of Asperger's being moved out, as the general spectrum of autism has been expanded to include many other things these days (politically motivated, as mudbug notes, for some kind of benefits provision).

The difference between my two nephews with Asperger's and the other who does not but is autistic is that the first two can actually hold down some kind of meaningful job. The third can work, though has much more limited options and will always require some level of supervision due to his infrequent, but sometimes violent, emotional outbursts.

That said, my nephew with mild Asperger's will be able to work a much more reasonable job than the one with severe Asperger's, whose highest degree of occupational capability has been working as a guide at the zoo and aquarium. His lack of social skills, however, have led to some rather humorous (if mildly shocking to the people in his group) situations as he sought to share more information than is commonly felt necessary about the behaviors of various animals.

At any rate, the fears about the rapid 'growth' of autism, from my perspective, are misguided. As my wife once said to me, we all know the weird kid on the bus, we just didn't know he was autistic back then, and now we do.

I also think it's overdiagnosed. I've seen kids diagnosed with autism who, it later turns out, were just developing slowly and needed special attention.

On the other hand, I had a friend whose son was clearly autistic, but he just thought his son was 'quirky' until he read a Time Magazine article on autism, had the boy tested (at the age of 13), and was told he had Asperger's, but a very mild form. The only reason I was able to spot it was because of my experience with my nephews.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of thing you brought up with people, back then. Not sure you can even now. But when he told me, I explained my family's experience and told him I didn't find it surprising or worrisome.

By the way, since "Rain Man" was mentioned in the article, I'll add this. Most people do perceived that as the quintessential 'autistic'. It's anything but.

My sister-in-law told me a much closer movie, if you'd like to get an idea of Asperger's in particular, was "As Good As It Gets". The difference is Jack Nicholson's character is very clearly autistic but high-functioning - the Sheldon Cooper type of autistic - while many others, like my nephews, are not. Intelligent? Crazy smart, all of them. They are fonts of information.
When they were younger, I said "I believe they understand everything, and are capable of learning, but are simply incapable of spitting it back out in many useful formats."

My wife disagreed then. Today she'd agree. They are very, very smart. But most of what they know is unconnected and random. It's hard to find much use in what they have to offer.