Spoke to my Uncle yesterday about my Great Grandfather; oh yes, that man was definitely Autistic, no question in my mind about it.
In fact, I think even his father was too: the man was the lead dance instructor of the Hungarian Royal Palace in the late 1800s.
My great grandfather was a very peaceful man who did poorly in school, and got the everloving sh!t beaten out of him by his parents for it; funny enough his brothers were the more aggressive type. He came over to America at age 13, and had a love of cutlery, which he developed into a career, running several eateries in NYC.
He also took long walks every day to clear his head apparently, and according to my Uncle was the type of guy who was "a cut above the rest; a guy ya just couldn't forget".
Sounds like us, alright!
Wanna hear a creepy parallel? In many ways, a lot of his life sounds very similar to my experiences, but what gets even creepier is....he died the day my mom became pregnant with me.
I actually joked around with my Dad that his soul metaphorically went into my Mom, and I'm his reincarnation.