i have worked with many mild autistics - mostly asperger's kids.
the symptoms always vary massively, but when you are familiar with them you do start to notice how many people would probably get diagnosed with asperger's if they went through school again and i reckon many men who regularly frequent online forums about specific topics would score highly ;)
including myself in that, i sometimes take things too literally, misread social situations and get obsessed with certain topic's (a useful symptom for people like Einstein)
some say they lack a sense of humour, but i have often found its just different. May not understand when people are taking the piss out of them, but when they learn to recognise their literal translation of situations is different to other peoples it can lead to great observational comedy (usually in their teenage years)... ever had a laugh out loud moment from a comedian pointing out something so obvious you take for granted everyday... its that kind of humour. only funny when they start to realise what's going no, which is why it pays to speak to them about their condition and interpretations - but we could all do with that sometimes
the key is to remember is that its a scale we are all on - severe autism at one end and 'normal behaviour' the other - very few people are at either extreme,
...
i am also dyspraxic - which actually was picked up when i was at school, they were on the ball with that one. most of these things are relatively new, and possibly over diagnosed because of it
