Autism is over-diagnosed.
It used to be that only the profoundly autistic children were diagnosed as such -- the kids who're nonverbal, don't interact with others, and spend their days in repetitive actions such as rocking or banging their heads against the wall. Some friends of mine have a son who is profoundly autistic, and believe me there is no mistaking it, and no question that he will never be able to function on his own in any way. He will have to be institutionalized when his parents are no longer able to care for him.
Now they have "autistic spectrum disorder" and "Asperger's Syndrome" and so forth -- not children that you would immediately pick up as "autistic" in the usual sense. In fact, I would describe a lot of them as just "geeky kids".
As to why this is going on -- follow the money. Federal money for treatment, schooling, etc. = more diagnoses.
I don’t want to disparage kids with real issues but I would agree with you. The drug co. and the “educators” and quick to create a spectrum diagnosis to cover damned near every kid. More victims to save!
Bingo! We have a winner. Schools get $$$$$$$ for every child diagnosed as "special". It's an open secret that learning disabled, autistic, etc. is waaay over diagnosed, in schools, at least. Schools also get $$$$$$ based on how many children qualify for free breakfast and lunch and are "in poverty"(rolls eyes). Cheating on these numbers is rampant. I'm not a fan of Savage but I've heard his rants like this before. He's full of hyperbole but he makes the point that, yes, some kids that my generation called "hyper" and "disruptive" (and some real brats) in class are now being labeled "autistic". He probably went overboard on his rant but I don't give anything from Media Matters a second thought.
I think some parents look to the diagnosis as a kind of out for their poor parenting skills. A few weeks ago, there was the case of the kid who was voted out of class by his fellow classmates because of his disruptive behavior. The kid’s mother claimed junior was “in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome”. Huh?