Well, that person believes that she knows what the cause of autism is, and so then she can extrapolate those trends. If you don't agree that we know the cause of autism, then similarly you'd agree that we can't simply extrapolate.

There is a huge amount of over diagnosis. Our developmental ped said a child with a history remains autism for life. My child was misdiagnosed. He refuses to consider anything else. Having it a spectrum makes no sense and does a disservice to kids with true autism. The only advantage to keeping it is kids can get far more services being diagnosed with autism than another delay or disorder.

When you consider the breadth of the autism spectrum, it is hard to imagine that all forms will be normalized, though. I have a friend who is non-verbal and will always need care. Our society will never consider that to be just another personality trait.

Also, I'm just a nobody off the street, so what do I know, but that statistic sounds overblown.

Why stop there? Why not 100% in 2035?

But if we are to buy the fantastical thinking, yes, I think it would be normalized. Are you an intravert? extravert? autistic? just another personality trait.

According to this MIT professor: http://www.medicaldaily.com/autism-rates-increase-2025-glyphosate-herbicide-may-be-responsible-future-half-316388

If half the kids in the country will be autistic, will autism just become the norm, rather than a special need?