While autism is very much real I am of the unpopular opinion that the vast majority of people diagnosed with autism are incorrectly diagnosed. What we see as Autistic a lot of times is just what it looks like being the only sane one in the room.
It just makes sense, many of the people diagnosed are the only ones being rational and respectful in a conversation while everyone else is going to fly off the handle and accusing them of being rude or insensitive.... Its not that the Autistic cant read emotions, its that the other people are so malajusted they fly off the handle at getting offended frivilously, often some sort of personality disorder at play. But instead of labeling 90% of people as having the personality disorder or whatever it is that causes them to be toxic, we blame the 10% of rational people who dont play into that game and call it autism.
Keep in mind im largely talking about people here who are fairly high functioning, If they have trouble with verbal skills or any of the other symptoms of autism that dont relate to human relations directly, those cases are likely very real, even the higher functioning ones.