General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So, why the rise in peanut allergies anyway? [View all]Chan790
(20,176 posts)In fact it was predicted. It's almost entirely the result of expanded definitions meant to reclassify individuals who would not have been and were not diagnosed as autistic as being in the autistic spectrum in order to be able to recognize and help them. We went from a benchmark view where either you were or you were not autistic (and that benchmark fell to the more-extreme end of the current spectrum) to recognizing that it's a spectrum of ability.
These were the kids that even 20 years ago were just dismissed off as "funny" or "slow" or "dumb" or "socially-stunted" and educationally-warehoused, not expected to make much of themselves. But we've had the means and understanding to help and educate these kids for decades, lack only for the will and resources to do so; put them in the right classrooms, teach them with educational methodologies that address their differentiated needs and they become productive and functional adults capable of full achievement. When you change the diagnostic criterion explicitly to increase diagnoses because you recognize that more of the borderline cases really are autistic and you can help them, wouldn't you expect diagnoses to increase? It did...then the public freaked out over it.
What happens when go back to the previous diagnostic criterion? Most of these increased cases move back to "normal"...the rest can be attributed to better assessment means.
There isn't an explosion of autism...there's a parallax between the reality of where the number of cases is (and probably always has been) and the public perception of where the number of cases should be...and there are people who are flogging that pony to line their own pockets. (Jenny McCarthy and Andrew Wakefield M.D. for two.) Note that legitimate Autism researchers and organizations like Autism Speaks almost never talk about an explosion of autism but a better awareness of autism.