To think more people do have autism nowadays?

Yes but the criteria is too broad and open to interpretation, and autistics will list lots of symptoms not included in the criteria that other autistics don’t have, I feel the diagnostic criteria should be far more specific

Surely a person is diagnosed if they meet the criteria?

I can’t deal with this conversation anymore, I’m too tired but I feel I have said what I needed to say and I don’t really agree with your suggestions, a person is very much diagnosed based on the opinions and interpretations of the clinicians and everyone involved

I was diagnosed with “autistic tendencies” which I later learned was Asperger’s Syndrome just after I started school, my parents pushed for answers from the doctor. Throughout school I never knew anyone else that had autism so I felt I was in a minority and my parents didn’t know anyone who had been diagnosed themselves or whose own children had it. It was only when I was with my now ex-partner and one of his relatives who isn’t much younger than me had been diagnosed that I realised others my own age had it and I later learned it runs in my ex’s family. My first “clue” about their relationship with autism was that my in-laws didn’t tell me to snap out of autistic behaviours or scold me for over-reacting, make me feel embarrassed or that I was showing them up about socially inappropriate things I did etc as my own family and other people. I always believed that they reacted differently but then I realised they understood having witnessed similar traits and behaviours.

Now as a parent with a special needs young adult and a younger child, I have a lot of connections with other parents whose children have autism or similar and my youngest daughter gets on with a few children who have autism. I also feel she maybe has similar tendencies to me and her Dad towards autism, OCD and she has a few traits of ADHD as well.

The criteria set out determine whether individuals are diagnosed. They have to.

YouTube is interesting for subjective accounts which can help with understanding the autistic experience for some people (though obviously everything on YouTube needs to be taken with a pinch of salt) but it is not remotely relevant to understanding what leads to a clinical diagnosis.

There’s obviously more to autism than the criteria sets out, because if you go to YouTube, for example, autistic content creators will list the symptoms that they experience as an autistic person, and other autistics will relate to those and others won’t. Parents, family, friends, and even individuals will suspect autism in relation to symptoms that are not listed in the criteria and suspect they have autism, or, for example, one person will think of a symptom they have and how it relates to the criteria but the criteria is subjective and interpreted differently by everyone. It is not very specific. I also don’t think autism should just be one big broad condition . If you say you’re autistic no one will know what you mean because it is so different for everyone

The criteria are relatively clear, it's not a matter of opinion although (as you say) there's obviously no chromosomal test. You can look the criteria up in the ICD 11 (although most people have diagnoses under the previous ICD 10).

icd.who.int/dev11/f/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f437815624

I have also had others say they are autistic and respond to something I have said and describe what I have said as allistic and assume I am allistic because of one or a few things I have said and how they themselves have interpreted it. so at this point when someone describes me or someone else as non- autistic, allistic etc I just assume they are referring to how they either interpret what I have said and not me as an individual.
an autistic person can say or do something that another autistic person thinks is allistic because it’s not how autism presents in themselves. But to the apparently allistic person it is part of their own autism.

@MsCactus

I'm not saying you are wrong, just that there are variable and the age at which autistic people have children could also be a factor

This is what I struggle with - I work with teenagers and young adults with learning disabilities plus autism in a training setting and am doing lots of professional development on the subject - everyone sticks to the 1% if the population statistic but it seems so far off given how many people I know outside of work with ASD but no learning disabilities.

What I do know is that a lot of women with mild to moderate learning disabilities were diagnosed as having borderline personality disorders and schizophrenia in their teens back in the 1970s and 80s, when these women in their 50s+ fit the diagnostic criteria for ASD + learning disabilities better... Non verbal individuals used to just be diagnosed as being severely mentally (cognitively) impaired without any further investigation if co-morbid differences.

I am apparently autistic. Autism means different things for everyone. You can’t say someone has or doesn’t have autism because of they do or don’t do something. The diagnostic criteria is very simple and the interpretations of the symptoms are very broad. A person identifying or diagnosed as autistic may have been diagnosed under a different process to another autistic, by clinicians that have different interpretations of symptoms. If your child is quiet and reserved, autism. If they are loud and move around a lot, autism. No person is the same and there are no specific identifying features because you could have someone with communication difficulties or another without them that flaps. I feel like the criteria has broadened so much that the diagnosis has lost meaning. It’s not like Down’s syndrome where you can physically asses for it either

I can too. I can see it in several parents of DC's classmates (with either DC who have been diagnosed and/or are also showing traits) and also school friends of DH.

My DD8 has recently been diagnosed and I can pretty much say for certain that I am too. Haven't yet pursued a diagnosis...

And, although the realisation has only come to me fairly recently (I think perhaps it's harder to tell when it's closer to home?), my father is too. Growing up, he was an alcoholic, extremely controlling and had big anger issues. (I am nos LC with him). He was so rigid about things; absolutely no flexibility and he would get so angry when things weren't done his way. Also has intense interests (medals, war and scrap collecting) that monopolises his time and he monologues on. He likes people and he would say he had good social skills, and he may ask the odd question, but he doesn't listen nor respond, just waits for his turn and continues his monologues.

I think, as PP say, only the more 'severe' cases used to be diagnosed, plus the greater expectations of a NT world.

How do you know where I am?

From your own source "although recent research based on under-diagnosis has estimated there could be more than 1.2 million autistic people in England alone.". That's 2%.

I went with the US source because the numbers were more detailed (didn't require me to find out what England's population was!) plus it's a country that is generally considered to be advanced in diagnostic terms so the diagnosed numbers are more likely to be closer the the actual numbers. That's subjective on my part though - I don't have any data to support the idea that US has a more accurate diagnosis rate.

I have it and so does DH but we have only realised that since having our non verbal ASD DS who is severe to the point of needing specialist school.

DH and I have both had successful professional careers, especially DH who is very successful in a highly respected field. We ‘passed’ but were different all through school. I think that was very common and only children like our DS were actually picked up 20+ years ago. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

I'll try and find the research - I think it's more to do with sperm quality declining with age. Men over 40 are basically significantly more likely to have autistic children

I haven't read the entire thread so apologies if this has already been said.

I think the percentage of ND is probably the same, but (a) we are more aware of it now and (b) current lifestyles trigger it more, whereas it might have gone under the radar more easily.

My reasons for saying this are:-

My son is ND, he was far better as a small child on "down days" i.e. playing at home with his toys rather than being out at soft play etc. too many days out were definitely an issue.
So my typical childhood day was good for him. He definitely struggled with expectation that kids are constantly taken out rather than allowed to stay home and just play with toys.

At school, especially secondary, it is so geared to academic achievement. All the hands on practical stuff geared towards kids less academic has gone. When I was at school the less academic were often out and about on local farms etc., learning practical skills.

The job market is totally different, a lot of office work is based around computers, geared to inputting info correctly. Large companies has post rooms, messengers, tea ladies, filing clerks, a plethora of openings that would give someone an "in" to a company to allow them progress at their speed. That's all gone.

It was hard to find a job for my ND son. He has found his niche and, at the moment, is ticking by. It's not well paid, but it's a job.

There are other examples, but you get the jist. Life was less stressful and more manageable in years gone by, so a lot of ND kids and adults could find their niche, tick on by, and just went under the radar.

People used to be called odd, quiet, etc in the past

How Wicked of the doctor and nurse to make both these statements to a pregnant woman.

Prem babies receive steroids for a damn good reason.

C sections save lives sometimes.

Either ways the figures aren’t “excesssive.”

Ah but the US is much better funded research wise.

When I was having my c section at 38 weeks the Dr offered me the steroid injections to develop the child's lungs. He told me that the steroid injections have been linked to autism and behavioural problems and that I should take that into account. I refused since the baby was full term anyway.

https://www.bma.org.uk/what-we-do/population-health/improving-the-health-of-specific-groups/autism-spectrum-disorder

BMA say the same

It is estimated that around 700,000 people in the UK have a diagnosis of autism. One in 100 children in the UK have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. We have raised concerns about the time it takes for diagnosis, as well as specific issues with the support offered in England.

As do the NAS.

My mother was born in the early 1920’s and wanted me to disguise my son’s issues and say nothing about them. My dad constantly expressed a belief that he could outgrow the issues. I’m convinced that my middle brother has ASD, he did really badly in school and was so let down by it all.
He was severely bullied.
In contrast I worked like crazy with my son to make him as capable as can be with ASD. He will always be disabled but he’s a lot more capable. If my parents had been his parents he would have been hidden away or just left to fend, be bullied at school and fail .

We’re not in the US

www.beyondautism.org.uk/about-autism/understanding-autism/statistics/

www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders

More awareness exists among general population and not just within medical circles. In the 70’s until recently only the most obviously different people were taken for diagnosis. Now it’s more understood. I don’t think autism is that rare we just don’t adequately cater for autistic children in the system so their needs often go unmet leaving them to become distressed.