On an old thread somewhere else, someone claimed Einstein was autistic. Someone else said that wasn't widely believed to be the case. Someone else said 2/3rds of history's geniuses were autistic. So, historians, is there any sort of consensus on various historical figures (including Einstein) were on the autism spectrum or not? I know diagnosing anyone without meeting them is suspect, to say the least, but I'm curious as to if the belief that a large percentage of history's geniuses (let's say over 10%) were autistic rather than neurotypical has any scientific or historical support.
Please bear in mind this isn't something I've ever thouroughly researched, but it's safe to say that claims like this about Einstein or any historical figure for that matter are incorrect. Obviously there could be pointers that someone was autistic or had another mental condition, but without a proper diagnosis involving numerous tests, interviews and observations, it's nothing more than a suspicion. These suspicions are not very uncommon though, during my studies (history) I came across texts aswell as professors who noted that various prominent historical figures might have been suffering from mental diseases like depression, anxiety, etc. based on their behaviour.
The issue is that you're basically limited to sources that are usually too limited for a psychologist or psychiatrist to draw any concrete conclusions.