I always find these studies super confusing. Autism isn't a single curable condition that fits into a neat little box like depression, or the flu, or anything like that.

Autism is an orientation of the brain that exists on an extreme end of an empathetic/systematic spectrum. In layman terms its a brain that prefers highly systematic though processes over empathetic. Neither is better or worse, just different.

There are highly empathetic people in the world who have a lot of trouble with basic problem solving. There brain simply isn't able to cope with systematic thinking.

How come those people aren't classified as having a disorder and why don't we spend all this time telling them that they have a problem and try to "cure" them all the time.

A common psychological requirement of "Asperger syndrome was higher than average IQ". So if gut bacteria is making me smarter with the downside being that I'm a little bit socially inept, hell ill take it.

This is why autistics have trouble socialising, they look at things in terms of objects and systems, not feelings and emotions. Just as empathetics find solace in communicating with humans, autistics find solace in communicating with objects.

Of course there is low functioning autism, which is definitely a problem. But the majority of people on ASD are high functioning, and it is a hot topic of debate about whether high functioning ASD is actually a disorder.

Autism to me is a disorder of social conditioning. Its not that being autistic is a problem its that normal people have a problem with autistics. Normal people think that when a kid isn't socializing, its a problem that needs to be fixed. No he's just fine being alone with his things. Just because the kid doesn't think like you doesn't mean its a problem. Just wait till he's 13 and inventing things whilst the other kids are going out to parties.