Is Autism on the Rise

Is Autism becoming more common?

In the past, severe autism was probably looked at as retardation or demonic possession. More mild was probably less of a concern in a world of strict manual labor. I think many aloof aristocrats were probably autistic. A lot of Cowboys (lanky-wiry fellows) may have been autistic.
Autistic soldiers throughout history may have thrived under the strict regime of military discipline. An autistic person may have thrived in a craftsman or artisan role.
So it is only in the last 100 years of standardized educational standards that we would even really notice autism as atypical.
And so for a while autistic people may have had a hard time forming relationships and having families. But then in the 20th century when society is trying make everyone fit in to it the social issues associated with autism are a more obvious problem.
Woman (more approaptirately school aged girls) are supposedly diagnosed with autism at a rate 4 times lower than men. I suspect that a quiet shy autistic woman was considered an ideal wife for much of history.
Of course society would probably lament that these woman didn’t have more social grace to help them find a husband, but as the 20th century progressed an autistic woman could fill reasonably well enough a lot of traditional woman’s roles; Secretaey, nurse, teacher.
​They might have been the more strict variety of school teacher, the real stickler for the rules, the type you didn’t worry would make the kids soft. And in todays world where more women than men are going to college, the ranks of “girl bosses” that will take over the world over the next century likely are full of woman on the ASD.