I can't remember what the textbooks said exactly, this debate happened a while ago and it wasn't compulsory to my education, I took it out of my personal time to read these textbooks. Most likely why I can't remember.
However the general point is that I was trying to make is that what is written in books also connects to real life accounts because the research is based off encounters with those who have autism (normally its more than one encounter otherwise it isn't accepted by the British Psychology board, deeming it unrepresentative). Though not all cases of autism are the same, and there is an aspect of generalization within the psychology research, it can still be applied to those who suffer as although not all autistic people show exactly the same symptoms, they still obviously share traits. Thus treatment of said autism can be carried across to various sufferers.
^ this all stemmed from my comment that the effect Autism has on an individual can be lessened by cognitive therapy (not cured, just think of it as a coping mechanism). During the conversation with Jonez, the type of cognitive therapy that I had in mind was the negative thought cycle therapy (it has another name, but I forget).