Greg, this isn't scientific evidence either.

I didn't know any autistic people when I was growing either. There was the kid in high school who used to spend his lunch hour spinning around in front of the building. Kids whispered about him and laughed at him, but nobody just asked him "why do you do that" maybe if they had, the way a little kid without fear of offending someone would have, things would have gone a bit better.

Those of us who aren't autistic don't talk to those who are. Or, put more simply, we're afraid of what we don't understand. We're afraid of exposing our ignorance.

Everyone is different. Someone I worked with who taught autistic kids said the axiom was "once you've known one autistic kid, you've known ONE autistic kid." Most of us who aren't autistic have some quality we feel doesn't let us fit in, but maybe we don't feel as isolated. It's hard to judge what goes on in anybody else's head that we can't say other people DO feel isolated. We feel sorry for people because we'd feel bad if we were in their position. We aren't, and somebody else's life may be just fine to them.

"Awareness" is a good thing if it cuts past some of those uncomfortable questions we dare not ask, but it doesn't help us get to know people. It just helps us see what we understand is normal isn't the same for everyone. It helps us be more open. After that, talking to people in our lives, and listening gets us further.