is rocking a SYMPTOM of autism?

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I first knew that I had some form of autism when I saw a news story on low-functioning autistic kids back when I was still in my early 20s. Their rocking and their dislike of being touched were immediately familiar to me. When the reporter asked the psychologist why the children rocked like that, the doc said "we really don't know that yet" (this was in the early 1980s, when very little was known about autism). I held up my hand in my living room, rocking in my chair and said aloud "Ask me, I know they why they do it. They do it because the world is too intense and it effing hurts." It was another 20+ years before I was officially diagnosed.

As for people assuming that a person is autistic because they rock, yes they do. I sway from side-to-side, constantly when I'm standing (and sometimes rock back and forth on my feet), I just can't help it - I can stop, but only for a brief moment, and it's for the same reason - I'm STRESSED, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365. I live in a state of high anxiety, because of all the sensory overload and the fact that my brain can barely process it all fast enough for me to function. Over the years, many times people I was talking to at work would ask me if I could stop, because it made them dizzy to try and carry on a conversation with me and on several occasions they flat out asked me if I was autistic. They were usually joking, but when I answered "Yeah, I think so - lil' bit." I wasn't.

I rock back and forth when over-stimulated or trying to stay focused.

I used to participate in speech tournaments, and when I was judged, I would always get points taken off for rocking from side to side. I tried my best to stop doing it, but my instincts just took over when reading my prose for the competitions. I got lots of red ribbons, but that damn rocking kept me from ever getting a blue one.

Because he publically rocks is an often cited reason why Bill Gates is celebrity diagnosed.

Not a symptom but the behaviour and behaviours similar such as hand flapping, pacing and chewing are all characterized as stimming and it falls under the symptom "sensory issues"

I also pace and bang my head, punch things and fall to the ground to stim.

Rocking back and forth is not exclusive to autism--but, perhaps, a higher percentage of autistic people rock back and forth than non-autistic people.

My rocking (and other stimming) is very often associated with an audio loop or rhythm of some sort. Do other people stim while conjoining modalities?

Some people believe that persons who have unkempt hair and dirty clothes are crazy, and are apt to do something on impulse--like maybe punch them in the face or something for no apparent reason.

Then there's the matter of scent. Some persons with unkempt hair and dirty clothes do not smell pleasant.

Its a behavioural characteristic but not exclusive to autism.
As for pacing, it too could be seen as a behavioural characteristic. As far as I know behavioural characteristics of autism are most often seen as repetitive gestures that release or express a specific emotion or thought process...
I pace when anxious or on the phone, helps me think rationally.