Book of Wrong Info

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Is it just me or is this wrong?

There was this book to help writers develop characters which gave decriptions of different types of people. It said that people who have autism are mutes and get in connected to objects (such as a paper bag which they carry everywhere). The book was right on things like middle child syndrome and depression.

I don't know any autistic people, since I was always mainstreamed. Are we really like this?

PS: It's way past my bedtime, but my brain is already asleep so I can't really think right.

It's a trope. They might be depicting an extreme case of LFA but what do they say about "Eccentric Genius/Artist" or chefs - I've heard the line "threw a chef fit" designed to get a laugh but it is a fairly plausible rendition of a typical aspie meltdown

I think that in a fiction it's often useful to use characters that fit in a stereotype even if that stereotype might not realistically accurately describe all the people in that group in real life. After all a fiction is a fiction and readers seem to prefer clearcut characters that simply fit in a stereotype. The villains tend to be absolutely evil and the good characters tend to be absolute angels. Otherwise stories are not interesting.