Autism here, autism there, ...
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An interesting article at The Guardian today.
In the UK, there was a 787% increase between 1998 and 2018, with the rise greater for women than men, and the single biggest jump among adults; credible American stats have shown an increase across the whole population of 175% between 2011 and 2022, with the largest rise occurring among 26- to 34 year-olds (in both countries, childhood rates have also leapt up).
“Some of them, I think, are being wrongly influenced by social media to believe that they’re autistic, because it’s a possible way to explain your difficulties,” she tells me. “And then we have a subgroup of people who used to be called neurotic, who have all sorts of mental issues, including anxiety. And a kind of hypersensitivity.”...
I speak to Baron-Cohen – who is in his rooms at Trinity College, Cambridge – via Zoom. “The term ‘autism’ is too much of a sledgehammer,” he says. “It’s being used to cover too many things. So … I want to see subgroups.
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Yep. I know kids who have been labeled with various degrees of autism. The label, like Asperger’s and the like then become their identity. It holds them back.
People all have different levels of developmental challenges. It doesn’t have to be deemed a deficiency simply because they don’t fit someone’s criteria for normalcy.
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@mik I agree with much of what you say, in substance, but I think a medical diagnosis should be given when it's clearly applicable. Children and adults can't get the healthcare they need, nor have access to the educational and social resources they need, without a diagnosis. It's just the way our society is...
Having said that, our society's insistentance on "normalcy" sucks.
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Especially with the strength of the stuff now. I recently shared a joint with someone. It reminded me of why I haven't done that for 40+ years. It was not the fun silly little buzz it was in my youth, but felt more disassociative like PCP or something. I cannot imagine it helps anyone with any sort of brain or nervous function.
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