To think autism gets worse with each generation

[eastereggg]

Genuine question.

Why does it seem that autism gets worse with each generation?

Example: a mother is a late diagnosed autistic but her child is very clearly autistic and displays much more severe characteristics than she did. The grandmother would probably be diagnosed autistic today as well.

There seems to be a recurring pattern that I'm seeing where autism is getting more severe with each generation. Is there an explanation for this?

As someone who works with children with ASD, I meet the parents and can see the traits though they were never diagnosed themselves, I believe it's talked about more, recognised and diagnosed easily (sometimes too easily) hard to draw the line as what is ASD what is personality? Some people believe we are all on the spectrum to varying degrees. More people are alao paying privately which wasn't an option with the last generation.

I’m often surprised that the posters on these ND threads that display a multitude of rigid, black and white, my way or the highway thinking never pause to consider that they might be wrong and that the very neuro diversity that they have means that they don’t handle disagreement very well. (I’m well aware that I’ll now be rained on with the SCIENCE even though the SCIENCE doesn’t have perfect knowledge)

At least one of those things is easy to answer - there is no line between ASD and personality. It's baked into the brain's structure and a fundamental part of that person. You can't separate the person from the autism...despite what all the "let's cure autism!" folk will tell you.

I’ll add another Some people believe we are all on the spectrum to varying degrees. I think what the “some people” you are talking about are trying to express is that we are all human not all autistic. Being autistic is not a personality trait and there are as many different personalities in the autistic population as there are in the general population. If you work with autistic people you really should know this.

I don't believe everyone is a bit autistic. I can't help but think that some people have quite a few traits but not enough to be classed as autistic.

When people use the analogy of you can't be a bit pregnant so you can't be a bit autistic, you either are or you're not....that makes it seem like there is one thing that causes autism but I have never read that. The way it is diagnosed is through behaviour which is so subjective and it changes.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong. Is autism caused by one thing?.

Does something have to be caused by one thing to describe a group? I’m not sure that’s true. Does it even have to be caused by the same thing?

eg the deaf blind community. To be part of it you must be both deaf and blind (though there are members of the wider population who share the “trait” of blindness or deafness) it doesn’t matter if you are born deaf blind, injured to become deaf blind or experience a degenerative process and develop deaf blindness.

You may of course see “traits” of autism in the parents of autistic children but those traits are actually human behaviours as all autistic traits are. The idea that autism diagnosis is not rigorous but more of a feeling or impression is a bit offensive.

Well since it's not caused by the same thing I think it's entirely possible for some people to be a bit autistic I don't think it's as black and white as having it or not.

Seriously?

The ‘cause’ of autism is unknown if there is actually one. However autism is a social communication disorder and the main criteria for diagnosis are based on struggles with this particular thing. However there are also other ND ‘traits’ which can class over with other ND conditions such as ADHD.

This is a good link to read about the diagnostic criteria (not cause).

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/assessment-and-diagnosis/criteria-and-tools-used-in-an-autism-assessment

You can have more autistic traits than another person to more of a severity. It is partly an impairment of social functioning and also affects the nervous system. Not everyone has the same number of deficits that are associated with autism and you don’t need to meet all of those deficits to be diagnosed which allows some Lee-way. I do believe that someone can be “more” autistic than another person

a high functioning autistic person can also have meltdowns and self harm, go mute at times or shut down.
will say though that unless in very obvious cases where you’re looking at a person who is visibly autistic/uncontrollable and can’t mask their symptoms. - Then you can’t say if someone is more autistic than someone else unless you know both of their deficits/issues with their sensory issues/any intervention they’ve had
I hope that makes sense

I don’t think how “visible” it is is really an indication of how severely you are impacted by your ASD

I don’t think so. Children need boundaries to grow into happy and well-adjusted adults. If those boundaries are not put in place, children do not become familiar with the behavioural framework that underpins adult life. Their expectations of life are unrealistic, and they often lack the patience and resilience to cope with the unfairness and normal disappointments of human life. It is too simplistic to attach a label to the behaviour of those whose upbringing has failed to prepare them for life, or who are simply going through that well known adolescent turmoil. Labels are stuck on for life, and can become stigmatising or an excuse for bad behaviour. This is a huge failure of ‘the ‘ autistic spectrum’, and the ever expanding human classifications that professionals assign to us, rather than simply accepting that some of us need more support and guidance than others.

not in all cases, but it can be. you can look at people and tell that they are autistic because it is so severe. Usually if they can’t mask it and/or have severe behavioural issues and it is very outward. They may even make inappropriate clothing choices or have an “off” tone of voice. It can’t always be masked.
I also think it can be obvious when that person has an inability to make or keep friends due to the misunderstandings their deficits create and the fall outs

I didn’t say that you couldn’t observe autistic traits or behaviours, I said how obvious they were wasn’t an indication of how impacted a person was by their ASD. Most of the people posting on this thread have direct experience of autism.

if a persons autism is visible that’s a pretty good indication that their autism is severe and I don’t see how that might not be the case ?

Well you might have an individual who stims continuously but manages other difficulties without too much effort or someone who appears to be calmer but can’t make a meal, wash or go to the toilet alone. You might see someone fairly calm in public who implodes in private. How could you know?

I'm talking about autistic people who have behavioural issues, self injurious behaviour, who can’t delay their meltdowns/shutdowns, can’t make conversation (due to their deficits so for example lacking reciprocity, wanting to dictate everything, not being consciously aware of what is and what isn’t acceptable to say or do, haven’t learned to change their tone of voice from sounding “flat”, and ultimately can’t pretend to come across as non-autistic.
if an autistic person can’t make a meal, wash or go to the toilet alone then they’re unlikely to make good decisions and that will come out in their behaviour too.
there are autistic people with severe autism who can’t mask it

As I said earlier I dont think you need to explain what autism is like and how it can present to most of the posters on this thread. I’m actually not sure what you are trying to impart. If you judge “severity” by how well a person can pass as neurotypical then I would suggest you rethink that as it seems a rather fluffy way of thinking about it. Severity surely must be a measure of the impact of the disability on the individual’s health, happiness, and independence?

in some cases you can tell that someone is autistic and it can’t be hidden. Not every autistic person is aware enough of themselves or cares to do that. Usually if someone can mask their autism, they have other areas of functioning, atleast some of the time. I also think that people can be more autistic than others because they have more symptoms, more deficits, or more severe symptoms. If a person is visibly autistic in the ways that I described on another comment, with behavioural issues, it indicates that they have issues in other areas. there will still be a number of other areas of functioning that are impacted because the area that controls their behavioural issues also controls other things.

There are autistic people who have little no control over their behaviour or the way that they come across or function. They have little to no self awareness. They also can’t delay their shutdowns/meltdowns/self injurious behaviour. They are more autistic than people who can mask and come across as normal.

Hilarious.

It's not caused by one thing. I've got a condition where the genes are very similar to Autism. A friend's son has Autism because of his rare syndrome

There are autistic people who have little no control over their behaviour or the way that they come across or function.
As I said most of us have lived experience of autism. This is not unique to autism. How disabled by any condition you have is not measured by how well you can hide it.
They have little to no self awareness.
How do you know that? Not prioritising your experience of their disability doesn’t mean they don’t know themselves.
They also can’t delay their shutdowns/meltdowns/self injurious behaviour.
Again you have no way of knowing how reactionary they are, and not all autistics even have these responses to things.
They are more autistic than people who can mask and come across as normal.
Autistic people don’t sit on a scale of a little bit autistic to very autistic but rather experience the interaction of different deficits producing different presentations and challenges, this is exactly why the condition is described as a spectrum. Some interacting difficulties cause huge challenges and I think that is what impacts how severely an individual’s ASD impacts their life.

Very interesting. I'm fairly sure that my DH and his father are on the spectrum but the only one diagnosed is DD1.
I must admit after having been ill the past few days with very little sleep caused by her I have just about had enough of autism at the moment.