The National Autistic Society website  Is your child autistic? Figures rose  from 1 in 10,000 to now 1 in 100 (yes 1% of  UK children) When Dustin Hoffman sympathetically portrayed an autistic person with savant abilities in the film Rainman in 1988, the public awareness of the disorder became much greater - albeit somewhat confused. The skills portrayed in Rain Man are quite rare and it is estimated that the prevalence of savant abilities in autism is about 10%, whereas the prevalence in the non-autistic population, including those with learning difficulties, is less than 1%.  AutisticSpectrum   AutismSpectrum Autism is a develeopmental disability that affects social and communication skills and consequently autistic people may behave in unpredictable ways as a result of their difficulty in understanding language and social situations.