My son's a high functioning autistic.  Beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful kid.  He can play in the water for hours.  Tunes out and loses himself in it, which isn't a problem in a pool, as he's a good swimmer, but is a real problem in a less controlled setting.  We found out the implications of that the hard way when he strayed - just 15 feet or so - off Santa Monica beach and got caught in a rip current.  That was my fault.  My nephew and I tried to bring him back, but we all got caught and nearly drowned.  We were dragged out at the last moment by a couple of lifeguards who very literally saved our lives.  

My son has had swimming lessons for much of his life.  They were money well spent, because they probably kept him alive until help arrived.  I'm not sure they should be publicly funded - we've already benefitted from tens of thousands of dollars in public funding which have helped him enormously - but I'd spend my own money on that before lots of other things, I can tell you.