Geniuses & Autism?

It has been speculated that both Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton were mildly autistic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/298864...

Apparently, mild autism is often linked to enhanced abilities in such things as mathematics, computer science, and physics. It has also been observed that families that have many members that were physicists or mathematicians have a higher risk of having children born into them with autism.

In my personal experience, I noticed that the people that were at the top of the class in the physics and math classes I took in college often showed signs of being mildly autistic, (social ineptitude, etc).

Recently, experts have found a major increase in autism in the population. Those findings have been disputed, but the most recent studies indicate that it true.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/Autism/news/2...

Does it seem odd to any of you that we would be seeing an increase in autism at a time when the technological level of our society would make mildly autistic people especially useful to society?

Being socially inept isn't a basis for autism, soical abilities stems from expeience, interests, upbringing, medical issues etc. A label of autism is gained through a number of behvioural issues not specifically limited to social interactions.
i enjoy reading about helath for hours and dont enjoy sports though thats just one of my many interests, i still socialise though not in the usual ways, i am not autistic.
I would argue that there is a rise in autism due to a rise in pollution of all sorts not a divine will as suddenly we have reached the limits of scientific understanding and now need a gentic varient to survive.
pollution is not acknowledged generally though just look at the facts that are acknowldged, ...many chemical poisonings display the same behavioural issues...the majority of chemicals have never had any long term studies on health effects completed...and lets look at the generally accepted means to help these people ( early intervention ) it is accepted that early intervention is needed why do you think that is? because at a young age the brain is still developing and is able to make new neural networks around the damaged and problematic area's, after around six or seven years of age your ability to do this declines dramatically as the brain nears the end of its development.
So even though the authorities that be deny pollution from all sources including vaccination being an issue their suggested means of helping these kids tells the true story.
just have a think about it...

I don't believe mercury causes autism. Evolution does. Report It

This isn't exactly a question, just a bunch of facts.

Like with any of these studies they do you have to take them with a grain of salt unless they have done many many years of studying worldwide. It is just like them saying adhd is on the rise. In the past they would all be classified as one thing- Mentally retarded, but now they are able to do the research and are discovering a lot more than they could back then.

Well for starters the exact definition of Autism is up for debate. The diagnosis has been continually "watered" down with each successive version of the DSM. At this point just about anyone that is a bit shy or socially inept could meet the diagnostic criteria for autism. It is really sad and does a huge disservice to the families that are dealing with "real" Autism everyday.