My spouse Mike and I may have been autistic together. Perhaps that was why we were drawn to each other during my inaugural college year. I was a bright-eyed seventeen-year-old, and he was an intense and seasoned twenty-something university student, driven to sling code and design all kinds of inventions. His near fall over my outstretched legs led to our initial conversation,...

I was 30 when my son’s Yeshiva principal called and asked to speak to my husband. When I pressed for details, I was told my 8-year-old was “awkward” and struggling, and that we should pursue testing. An evaluator within our Chassidic community in Brooklyn recommended an autism assessment. Soon after, several of my children received diagnoses.

As a young housewife in an...