good job, Bird! My father-in-law, who as an adult would proably get diagnosed with Aspbergers but because of significant language dev. delay most likely had a form of autism, went through university, became a professor, and was married with 4 children. Now, how sucessful the family life was can be debated (my mother in law has her own issues, my husband basically raised his sibblings in terms of love and encouragement) but he did his job well and as long as social roles were clearly delineated, he could manage.
I have another friend, actually diagnosed as a child with high funtioning autism, who joined the marines, made it through taining, became a medic and and exlosives expert, and was honorably dischargged due to injuries he sustained in service. He might be called a bit "odd", but once he calms down around people, there is no real sign he has any troubles except for a certain social clumsiness and a nagging anxiety his time in the services hardly helped.

There are a lot of social functions that determine how we see males and females, and there are always exceptions. I was always catching it because i didn't fit the typical male/female behaviours as a child, and that was considered sick. If I were a boy, it would scarcely have been commented on. My marines friend would be considered to fit a lot of the "female" charateristics; he has developed into a very verbal, insightful and social person in that he likes to be around people and enjoys exchanging ideas. It's just a certain inflexibility that he shares with my late father-in-law when it comes to handling social situations that are not clear or scrippted that one notices the cracks. Huggs all!