this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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Autism

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Are there more autistic people now? (www.bbc.com)
submitted 1 year ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to c/autism@lemmy.world
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
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[–] alucard@feddit.org 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Didn't read the article, but answering your question in the title:

> autistic people exist, but no real word to describe them adequately

> someone bothers doing research

> more and more people get the diagnosis based on scientific criteria and understanding, which is fluid as time and learning go on

> total number changes if autistic people are born or die, not just willy-nilly as so many people seem to suggest

> some person does not understand that growing number of autism diagnoses != growing number of autistic people

> "Are there more autistic people now?"

Not your fault OP, I'm just really bothered to read something like that. That's if our eyes got an upgrade and we were able to suddenly distinguish one more colour. No, nothing turned the new colour, it was always there. It just wasn't perceivable to us prior to the upgrade.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 12 points 1 year ago

NTs are hilariously bad at spotting us. My niece just got her AuDHD diagnosis...years after i mentioned her parents might want to check some things. Her parents didn't care until the disregulation started becoming an issue for them.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Also:

  • People first only use the label "autism" on individuals who also have intellectual disability, which created the stigma of autism = intellectual disability but worse.
[–] vzqq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The article is much better than I feared. It mostly highlights expanded diagnostic criteria and a more accepting cultural environment. Crucially, it does not mention the V word.

[–] retrolasered@feddit.uk 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whats the v word?

[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The conspiracy bullshit from the 90s about vaccines that doesn't deserve media coverage even to debunk it.

[–] retrolasered@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Oh lol. Thank you, im so out of phase 😅 its obvious now you told me but I would never have figured that out myself 🤦

[–] vzqq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

I went into the section about “environmental factors” with a lot of trepidation, but it was surprisingly good!

[–] noctivius@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

what is V word?

[–] vzqq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

“Vaccination”

[–] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The numbers are probably similar but back then more of them were abused into either permanent masking or madness/suicide. Not exactly an accepting world 80 years ago.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My grandfather died at 60 in 1990. Everyone who ever met the guy universally agrees he was autistic as fuck.

But he was employable, had a wife, six kids and wasn't uncommunicative so at the time he wasn't considered as such at all

[–] bigredcar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I came across an autism documentary from the 1970s and it was only covering the classic autism symptoms back then (non verbal/learning difficulties), and they only thought 3000 autistic people existed in a population of 50 million. So much research has been done since then.