When I was a kid, you could tell someone was what they called autistic just by looking at them, or sometimes observing them a bit. Even with today's broadened definitions, Musk and Thunberg definitely stand out in some way, in their outward expressions and mannerisms; not so with Aykroyd, as far as I've seen.
The behaviors range from the most severe forms of autism, in which individuals are nonverbal and intellectually/developmentally stunted, to the mildest forms in which individuals may actually be intellectually gifted but evince social deficits and also certain atypical behaviors such as perserverence and extraordinary focus, even obsessive/compulsive type tendencies.
I've often wondered whether the extreme forms exist because of a possible evolutionary benefit the milder forms might provide.
Hello @alexanderalexis, Nice to see you here. This is a puzzling topic for me, although I did choose to handle it. This whole spectrum thing kind of grates against me. I think that we are all on some kind of spectrum, but that society only accepts readily those who fit in a very narrow band of behavior pattern. I know judgment of those who are 'different' must somehow serve species survival, but it still irritates me. Those who are at the higher end of the autism 'spectrum' have only one problem: people and judgment.
Anyway, I like raising this issue and prompting all of us to think about what is normal, what isn't normal. I think it's a good exercise.
Thanks for stopping by and for your, as ever, interesting comment.