Ubiquitin, if he said what you quoted (and I have no reason not to trust what you said), then he shows an abysmal ignorance of what autism is. OK. However, the point he clearly was trying to make, and did rather badly, is that often we run to put a diagnosis of i.e, autism spectrum, ADHD, ADD, etc. on kids who really may have been poorly brought up AND ARE BRATS. Have you never seen a child throw a fit because he didn’t get his way? To an outside observer, not knowing the details, it could appear as hyperactivity.
Of course there exists a condition of autism, there is a condition of hyperactivity, there is a condition of Attention Deficit Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. However there most certainly also is a segment of the population suffering from BRAT disorder, Babies Raised Abominably Today. And I think that is probably what he meant, but said so poorly. Autism and other disorders are nothing to speak of pejoratively, and if he did that, shame on him. Even intelligent people say really appalling and unacceptably stupid things from time to time.