An autist, properly managed, is a wonderful employee. Way better than "normies". Great for science and engineering. Strong motive for creating more autists.
Autism is a varied condition and the stereotype that you are referring to does not apply to a very, very sizeable portion of people with autism.
They really know how to concentrate. It's next level, unknown by the normies. You want a guy who can give his full obsessive waking attention to a riddle for days or years, that's where you look. And that makes them valuable. Which brings us to my actual point.
Digression from this narrative is often met with hostility. That's popular, emotionally-charged narratives for you.
If not all, what percentage?
And this is just more of that darn hostility to which I referred. It blots out rational conversation.