During a lecture on Afternoon of a Faun, a thought occurred to me that might seem a little radical, but it's really very interesting to speculate upon. As you know, those affected with complex autism have a propensity for suffering from facial dysmorphia, something that can also be expressed with such characteristics as fingernails coming to a point and possibly other nonfacial ideosyncrasies. This is evident in my other, whom I've long suspected of being HFA, who was born with pointed, "elf-like" ears. What struck me was that these ancient myths of half-human creatures and such humanoids as elves must have come from somewhere. Because of the autist's strange behavior and difficulty with spoken language, it wouldn't be unnatural to suspect the possibility that some of these mythical creatures might have arisen from some of the birth defects accompanied by complex autism. For example, the Japanese fox spirits kitsune are, in the mythology, generally held to have a superior degree of intelligence, and this might be a manifestation of today's perhaps mistaken belief that the autist's savant skills (freak talents arising from a synaptic short circuit) necessarily indicate a truly higher intellect (though some autists do admittedly demonstrate superiority in specific areas, even offsetting the disability if properly developed). I don't know if it's pertinent, but the kitsune also had a propensity for panicking in reaction to barking dogs. Although I have not explored this deeply yet, I consider this possible evidence that autism has always been present in numerous cultures and time periods.