“I don’t remember anything about autism in the 50’s. Was it called something else then?”
I don’t know what they called it, but I’m sure it was rare; it still is, but has changed from “autism” to “autism spectrum” so parents and schools can conspire to defraud the government (read: taxpayers). It is used to describe anyone who might bring down a school’s average grades or reflect poor parenting skills (unfortunately lumping them with the genuine rarer cases).
Absolutely. I once worked with a guy who took both of his sons to doctor after doctor until he found one that would label both sons ‘Aspergers’ so he could get money for special schooling. All I could think of was ‘those poor kids’.