As a clinical Psychologist, I have two things to say:
(1) Freepers are some of the smartest, most discerning folks around, especially when it comes to sniffing out BS.
(2) Autism is often diagnosed inappropriately (too early an age, too few symptoms) because it is an easy default (i.e., full diagnostic criteria are often not met) and reimbursable. There are also “autism activists” who put a lot of pressure on physicians and want to find someone to blame for actual cases (e.g., their child’s) autism. Big Pharma is often their target of choice. Very often “autistic” 2-4 year olds just turn out to be developmentally delayed or somewhat odd in their personalities. Remember Albert Einstein did not speak (according to legend) until he was six years old. Guess what he would have been diagnosed with today?
Albert Einstein flunked his first math exam and still could not tie his own shoes as a matured adult. If Albert Einstein would have been diagnosed as autistic, he would have been regarded as a savant.
While I would agree that too many people jump on the bandwagon, simply denying there is a problem is no way to solve the social issues of integrating such people into the society as productive, self reliant individuals... unless you'd rather have them dependent on the rest of us and our taxes...