Like hell it is. I hear this "gift" nonesense a lot from people who don't have a clue what they're talking about. Maybe they know or have a child with high functioning autism (usually Aspergers syndrome) who has an incredible gift in music or art or some other obsession. That's not uncommon. But it's not true autism. For every budding Mozart or Michelangelo there is a child who cannot sleep, who cannot talk or understand any form of communicating, who harms himself,.who has painful debilitating comorbid health issues, who has constant meltdowns,.who destroys his home and quite often, destroys his family. Many will never be able to care for themselves. This is autism and it is certainly no gift.
Autism cannot easily be classified. It is as different as the personalities locked inside of it. I reject any form of classification used beyond a very basic tool. It is not difficult, however, to see the difference between someone suffering from high functioning Aspergers syndrome and the severe brain damage which is true autism.
My son falls into the later category. He was not always that way. He was born perfectly normal but was given 22 shots of poison in two years and lost everything. That will not be the focus of this essay, where I'm beginning at the present. 
My son is beautiful. And this is very fortunate because as a society we tend to give a pass or at least more leeway to those who are pleasant in appearance. One of my biggest anxieties now when we're out and about (and he is with me 24/7) is that he'll touch someone inappropriately. I guess you could say any unsolicited touching is inappropriate, but until recently it's mainly consisted of patting a stranger on the shoulder. 98% of the time they find it cute, sweet and harmless, which it is. But lately there have been a few times where the person was older, maybe the pat a little harder or the touch somewhere other than the shoulder... I'm hyper vigilinant always, have been through the last 10 years, many of them very rough times. Like a soldier in a potentially dangerous situation it never really leaves you. My son is sharp, he knows those moments when my eyes can't be on him constantly, for example during checkout in a store or any time I'm having a conversation with someone. He uses those opportunities to push boundaries. I can't say that I enjoy going into public places with my son. I feel some stress every time and so does he. Almost everywhere we have to go is a sensory nightmare. The crowds, the cocophany of voices and buzzing of the fluorescent lighting, completely souurounded by objects. Honestly I don't see how it could be a pleasant experience for anyone, even the neurotypical.
This is another area where I must count myself and my son as fortunate. It wasn't always that way. When he was much younger our son would let us know it was time to leave with screaming mealthdowns, and a bit later with as much destruction of property as he could muster. I to this day know kids the same age as my son or older who still use these techniques to extract themselves from a sensory nightmare. When words fail you, you use what you got, and they're very effective methods. Parents are going to drop everything and get you out of there quick.
As an optimist and someone who feels that we create our reality, I understand the importance of perception. Life moves on and we often need to make the best of a bad situation. To focus on the positive. This is in no way unique to the autism community. People experience it everyday with a variety of serious health issues, addictions, trajic accidents, untimely deaths of loved ones and a whole litany of terrible occurances and situations.
Life is a challenge. However the parents of those fortunate high-functioning,, talented children who were somehow given an autism diagnosis (or simply adopt the label) often don't realize how insulting and offensive it can be when they carry on about autism being a gift, that these are God's chosen special children and we must love them and be grateful. Of course we do love our children, to a degree they'll never understand. We completely devote ourselves and give up our lives to care for them. We simply accept reality.
They ignore the high percentage of cases that are pure hell for both the afflicted and the family. Like the boy in the video below. Please watch it and explain to me how this is a "gift".