I'd look at it a little differently. We "normal" people aren't as focused on one thing not because we chose it, but because we can't help it. We want to eat good food. Walk in the sun. Find love. Have and raise children. All those distractions. "Normals" can become obsessively focused, but not to the degree Autistics can; it's the difference between trying to ignore something and not seeing it.
All this talk about savants not understanding what’s important and what’s trivial, and we’re arguing about a headline.
Aye. That's a very clear and accurate way of putting it.
And NYFriend is totally right. A lot of people (particularly the parents of autistic children) have very unhelpful views of autism. It's as if they believe that diminishing the mystery behind the ability diminishes the ability itself, and diminishing the ability in turn diminishes the person.
Both premises seem deeply flawed. If an autistic's artistic skill comes from practice and perseverence - just like everybody else's - then it's still just as impressive as any normal person's talent. A painting is no more nor less beautiful because it was painted by some superhuman wizard rather than a mere mortal.
And besides, who ever said that your value as a human being depends on how well you draw or how fast you can multiply gigantic numbers in your head? Some of my best friends are some of the most useless, talentless people I've ever met! :) (Okay that's not actually true, but you get the point.)