Autism is a specialized way of thinking and interacting with the world. It is simply a neurophysiological idiosyncrasy in how the brain processes information. Autism is characterized by perpetual hyperfocus, intense mental concentration fixated on one thought pattern at a time to the exclusion of everything else, including one's own feelings. Having an autistic brain is analogous to living 24/7 in an intellectual laboratory into which emotional and social distractions are prohibited from entering. Autism is currently considered to be a disorder, i.e., a pathological condition. It most assuredly is not. Michelangelo, Mozart, Darwin, Jefferson, Edison, Tesla, and Einstein were autistic and can hardly be said to have been suffering from any mental pathology.
