Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Part of the reason is because there have been many undiscovered or "undiscovered" cases prior. Another reason is the broad definition of being on the spectrum and that there is now more support for varying degrees. It's still mostly supported for lower functioning, but there are a few programs or so for higher functioning people as well where with a mentor, they can thrive like "normal people" in the real world or even innovate in their own way in the workplace.
I thought I remember reading somewhere that the "mental retardation" (now no longer an actual medical condition, AFAIK) diagnoses had gone down sharply as autism diagnoses and a number of learning disabilities or social disabilities had increased. Certain behaviors were seen as a sort of "brain injury" or delay, which we now know may just literally be autistic behaviors, in an average-IQ individual. (FTR, there are no more genius-IQ individuals among the autistic population than in the general population. There is a much higher percentage of intellectual-delay IQ individuals among the autistic population but it's still lower than 40%, if I recall correctly.)
If I have time later I'll try to search for that report.
This is probably not the single answer - obviously, more people have diagnoses in general today than in generations past, when the family member who was "a little different" or "couldn't hold down a job" was simply cared for, at least in the best cases. And of course, sure, there could be an environmental component. But both of those things are harder to measure.
There is even the theory that after the NASA generation (late 60s) onward, especially as significantly stepped-up technology entered the home for everyday use, people who previously may never have married and had children because they seemed too nerdy, different, and so on, are today regarded much more frequently as potential mates. Nerdy is cool now, at least by comparison to more physical, less tech-y generations. We're more poinkable, and handing down our genes. (I'm sure that's a legitimately scientific way to put it!)
More people seem to having children at older ages now than before, could this possibly be a cause of it, out of sheer guessing?
Probably not when you consider the drastically steep increase of autism diagnoses v. the comparatively much much lesser increase of women over 40 giving birth even if the father's also over 40 (as some genetic issues are now being found to be connected to the father's age too).
But even so...there's just no comparison.
ETA: I was just reading the number of women over 40 giving birth is currently "the highest it's been since 1967" but we don't see huge numbers of 51-year-old autistic individuals comparable to autism diagnosis today, or even as a total percentage of births.
More people seem to having children at older ages now than before, could this possibly be a cause of it, out of sheer guessing?
There wasn’t any reliable birth control before the 60’s, so for most of history women had many children throughout their lives including when they were in their late 30s and 40’s.
People have bashed me mercilessly for having this opinion, but I truly believe the incidence of autism hasn't increased, the incidence of diagnosis has increased, along with helicopter parenting, in which any little social glitch in a child's behavior is viewed as evidence of a horrible abnormality. I'm not saying autism isn't real. It certainly is, but I believe it is overdiagnosed.
People have bashed me mercilessly for having this opinion, but I truly believe the incidence of autism hasn't increased, the incidence of diagnosis has increased, along with helicopter parenting, in which any little social glitch in a child's behavior is viewed as evidence of a horrible abnormality. I'm not saying autism isn't real. It certainly is, but I believe it is overdiagnosed.
I completely agree. I know of children whose parents say they have autism. They seemed like normal young rambunctious kids with a lot of energy to me. They took them to the doctor, they diagnosed autism, prescribed some drugs and now the kids are basically little weirdos sitting by themselves staring out he window. They are obviously drugged up. They drug them up so they don't have to deal with an active kid bouncing all over the place. It is pretty sad to see because they more or less miss out on their childhood. It is probably one of the reasons we have all these young people shooting places up all the time. They get a little older, get off the drugs and don't know how to cope with real life and people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
(I'm sure that's a legitimately scientific way to put it!)
