I've had this thought for a very long time. It appears that people who are inflicted/suffer/have autism are incredibly gifted in some fields. Now evolution doesn't always take the right steps. Sometimes a creature is born with a mutation that inhibits him/her from living properly and they die off, but if the mutation is good then it will grow and thrive spreading the gene.
Many sci-fi authors have written that the next step major step in human evolution will not be of the physical kind, growing wings/third eye/night vision, but of the brain (which I guess is still physical). Sure while children with autism seem to have problems with lack of communicating and other things, most excel at some field. Their brains work better than ours in math and pattern recognition.
If Autism is a failed evolution, is Asperger's Syndrome a thriving evolution?
It's believed that some of the greatest minds of all time probably suffered from Asperger's syndrome. Telsa, Einstein, and Newton to name a few. Thoughts?