Yeah--there's a theory (I'm not sure how much credence it still has) that part of the rise in ASDs has to do with the increasing value of ASD-ish skills (think IT) to society. Thus, these people have income and cluster together and marry and reproduce. I read a long article in Wired about it once.
However, it seems to me that we keep finding out more potential causes for ASD. Age of father is a big new one, right?
In my own family, we absolutely see unusual, prodigy-like skills combined with ASD-type personalities. AFAIK, only one person was ever diagnosed. One person should have been, according to all who knew him, but he was also a literal mathematical genius who would be well known to anyone with a serious mathematical background.
