Is there a cure for autism or is it a lifelong developmental disorder?

Is there a cure for autism or is it a lifelong developmental disorder? Can it be prevented in children?
[Answered on Quora.com by Angela Birch]

The psychiatrist who diagnosed my husband said: It is essentially a variation on how information is processed - a slightly different wiring harness.

The evidence is, it tends to run in families and is almost certainly genetic. My husband was born autistic, is now 79, and is still autistic. He is an intelligent, hardworking engineer. He had a mother who realized early that her son learned differently from other children, and made it her mission to learn to help him succeed. She did so. Not by trying to force him to be like all other kids, but by figuring out what worked.

There isn’t a thing wrong with my husband. Yes, he rocks, and so? Yes, he is highly organized and doesn’t like chaos - and so? Yes, he finds almost all music annoying. And so? He isn’t social and can be brutally honest - and so? Yes, he is a variation on the standard, and not a thing wrong with that.

We in society seem to have made a god of “normal” - not realizing normal is nothing more than pablum.

No, an autistic person is not going to be cured, because they do not have an illness.