Frequent Photoethnography blog contributor, MuseumFreak, has a post on her site with links and continuing discussion about autism, anthropology, and (mis)representation:
A common aphorism thrown around the autistic community is: "NTs (neurotypicals, the opposite of autistics) assume everybody thinks like them until proven otherwise; autistics assume nobody thinks like them until proven otherwise." Because, a lot of the time, other people's motivations don't make SENSE. The experience of being an autistic is a lot like the experience of being an ethnographer--we're in a culture we don't understand, and forced to rely on our ability to observe to learn, get by, and adapt to the world.
Very astute observation. In marriage and family therapy we talk about defining the norm so that we can know better what is perceived to be not the norm.