Going to rant here as I want it to be seen. I don't want to start a thread on MH and have it get delayed by admin.
Clearly only the only thing you need to be in the spectrum is this:
An intentional or subconscious desire to avoid events that involve other people, through disruptive or other means, especially at a young age.
if it is easy for a child to learn not to have certain behaviours or actions, then he or she is not in the spectrum. Otherwise that desire is set in stone; his (more likely to be a he anyway) social age never grows and he can never be taught any other social techniques that come easily to 99% of humans. So the NAS and other well - intentioned charities are just wasting their time really; making people aware of autism only increases the stigma against the autistic, no one is willing to accommodate them because of that inherent desire to avoid which is detrimental to society. And they'll never be able to take charge of their own lives because of that.