Anyone else noticing the uptick in open hostility towards people with ASD?

[FFSakeDrinkSake]

As the title says. It feels like it's open season recently. In the last few weeks alone I've seen many threads questioning the validity of Asd, the credentials of those diagnosing the condition, the 'explosion' of diagnosis', the 'fact' that you qualify for extra benefits if you are autistic and/or have ADHD, the apparent drain on resources kids with ASD have on the educational sector depriving others and most recently the idea that someone (self diagnosed) can 'outgrow' autism. Most of which contain the worst misinformation about what we're trying to deal with on a daily basis and making it sound like we're just trying to .. i dont even know tbh.. scam our way through life?

Disclaimer NATAAT.

My sons had loads of exclusions after he was disgnosed while he was still in mainstream, he was only 7 so detentions not a thing but not sure why it doesn’t apply to older kids. We used it as evidence for tribunal after the la turned down ehcp assessment saying the school hadn’t done enough. He’s now in specialist

Of course. More research needed I expect on this. However, it doesn't change the facts. More disabled spaces are needed according to the poster who struggles to get her disabled mum in a disabled parking space!..

Being very simplistic here:

Why do people have an issue with more people receiving autism diagnoses, but not have a problem with more people receiving Long Covid diagnoses. Maybe not the best comparison but neither is an exact science which is why nice have guidelines for diagnosis. Which are followed......

There is no treatment for asd, nhs diagnoses are diagnose and discharge, there is no sort of aftercare from the nhs for asd.

I see the increase in autism diagnosis is recognising it is a spectrum, and that being autistic does not mean you are at the lower end with non-verbal stuff, being in nappies forever etc. It is spikey.
In the 80s/90s, unless you were non-verbal etc, then you just struggled your way through school and beyond. That is why so many people are being diagnosed later in life... and especially for girls.

Nowadays, we can pick people up when they are small children, get them support in school. They have the hope to enter adulthood with the coping mechanisms to help them.

@XenoBitch that is not true. In the eighties children were diagnosed with autism who were verbal. It is true that they tended to have greater difficulties with life than many people being diagnosed now.

What's your answer?

My DP is very autistic. Was diagnosed when he applied for assessments as an adult... in his 40s.

He is a 70s/80s kid. Unless you were you really struggling, you were not noticed.

@XenoBitch I am not questioning that. But I know children who were verbal and diagnosed with autism in the eighties.

Yes that odd thread! The thread where people without a medical background. who don't have a diagnosis of autism, and currently don't think they are autistic and have zero idea of the assessment process for autism, somehow feel confident enough to retrospectively self-diagnose themselves as autistic in the past at a time when autism wasn't recognised as widely, particularly in females, but it's all ok now because they know they have grown out of it now and are no longer autistic, and aren't most diagnosis wrong/crap and just an excuse for odd/poor behaviour...

That was a weird thread.

Disappointing to see some of the comments from teachers on here. I'm a teacher and also the parent of a child with autism. Before my own DC had her diagnosis, I admit I woefully misunderstood autism and had a very narrow view of it. It's taken my own experiences and research to understand better. Unfortunately I can see that autism and ADHD are still widely misunderstood by those in education. We do not have sufficient training and certainly should not be making judgements about whether or not we think children warrant a diagnosis. Being a teacher does not give you that knowledge.

Yes it takes a bit more time and effort to support those children woth additional needs to achieve their best outcome but thay is not a reason to doubt their diagnosis. What would be welcome is far better funding and support at a government level.

Tbh it doesn't surprise me. Some of the worst shit we had to deal with came from our kids' teachers. It was made abundantly clear many times our children were not wanted in the classes. Thankfully they both had full time 1:1 (2:1 with my younger son at times) so the teachers basically left everything to the LSAs. Well, when they weren't trying to use them as classroom assistants despite it being very clear in their statements they were exclusively for my children and to stick to them like glue!

I think MN( staff and posters) are very anti autism. I’m staggered at what is deemed ok as regards autism but isn’t other with other disabilities. Now posters are saying diagnoses are fake. It’s just dreadful.would that be allowed with other disabilities? No it would not.

There's also a self selecting factor with assessments. By the time you get to the point where you are paying for an assessment, you're pretty damn sure something is going on. And it's expensive; so again you're not doing it on the offchance.

The waiting list for assessment on the NHS in our area is 4 years. Of course people are going to pay for assessment. You shouldn't need it for an EHCP but it helps, it helps with reluctant schools, it helps the child to have an explanation.

You can't rule out there being crappy providers of course but it's a hell of a leap to go straight to 'all these parents are faking it'.

There will be crappy providers with more viable disabilities but do MN let other disabilities be pulled apart like this with this? Do posters think it’s ok to trash other disabilities?Nope.

Uptick is not a word with any meaning. I tick mark goes 'upwards' anyway.
There may be an upward tend, but not a tick.

I think it’s a massive generalisation to associate ASD children with poor behaviour.

My DD (Autistic and ADD) is a teenager now but as a younger child she was impeccably behaved. Never ‘ran riot’ or had a meltdown. She was and is socially very awkward and finds social interactions difficult, but she has never been badly behaved.

I think we need to separate behaviour from the diagnosis. Children with autism are not all badly behaved.

A child can be badly behaved and not be autistic and be perfectly behaved and be autistic. The autism itself doesn’t make them badly behaved.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/uptick

The idea that you were only diagnosed with autism if you were nonverbal in pre 2010 is inaccurate. To have a diagnosis of autism you needed to have a communication deficit, this was delayed or disordered verbal communication. In those days a child with disordered verbal communication and autism without LD was described as a High Functioning Autistic. A child who didn’t display deficits in verbal communication but did display autistic like behaviours and no LD was described as Aspergic. These two different subsets of the autistic population can be fairly indistinguishable as adults.though HFA are far more likely to have had a diagnosis from childhood.
Disability including ASD and other neurological disabilities do change over time. At a bare minimum adults have a greater ability to overcome difficulties than children. Nobody would be surprised by that in any other disability and I don’t see it’s unreasonable that a person who now copes with their deficit to the point it is no longer disabling feels “cured”.

Surely they pay for the assessment, not the diagnosis. No doctor is going to diagnose autism etc unless they believe they have it. Yes misdiagnoses happen but rarely on purpose.

Ditto @Wantitalltogoaway DD's behaviour is brilliant, she's constantly being referred to as 'an example to the class'. It really pisses me off when people assume kids with ASD have 'behaviour problems' (and if they do they're a symptom of overwhelm anyway).

Never fear, she's not taking any precious classroom management time from your special little ones.

It's often the ones who struggle to regulate behaviour at school that get referred for assessment though.

We have a difficulty at the moment that child 2 is undiagnosed, some teachers have suggested ND but the school have firmly said that without difficult behaviour/bad attendance/lowered grades they won't refer as they won't then see evidence of it in their setting. This is a story I've heard repeatedly elsewhere and why we're saving for private.

I suspect the proportion of girls with Autism is far higher than they think as so far it's mainly boys that have demonstrated unease in the classroom and girls tend to mask more and their distress becomes internal. (And yes many boys will be like this too and many girls will get diagnosed due to behaviour in the classroom but overall there is enough of a difference that I think it suggests more boys get diagnosed but that doesn't nec mean more boys are autistic...)

A number? No. A few in London? Yes. It really is the minority though. It is unusual. Pretending it doesn’t ever happen isn’t helpful. Equally, suggesting these inadequate and unethical providers are handing out “many” diagnoses is incorrect.

I certainly think referrals from school are based on how much it impacts the rest of the class, rather than the impact on the pupil itself because a school is focused on the wellbeing of a whole cohort.

72% of ehcps (which obviously aren't just for autism) go to boys. There are some other genetic conditions that are boy heavy, but autism is the most frequently sited reason for an ehcp.

It's 62% of people on SEN support are boys.

As an aside for those parents struggling with waiting lists for dx who don't have an ehcp:-

Apply for an ehcp needs assessment directly with the la. The threshold is very low and if you are on a waiting list or school suspect nd it is likely you'll have evidence already to meet the legal threshold for assessment. The threshold is very low. You may end up having to appeal at tribunal but if dx waiting list is x years long, it'll likely be quicker even if you go to tribunal.

As part of the ehcpna tell thr LA that it is reasonable for you to request the assessment to see if dc is nd as how can they assess for all educational needs if this assessment is outstanding. It has to be done within the ehcpna timeframes even if they have to buy in extra to the commissioned services.

It maybe that the child doesn't require an ehcp but the dx assessment will have been completed.

If you are in this position give ipsea or sossen a call.