Autism is Now A Fad

[SnazzyB]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolEverything

And many truly high-functioning autistic people distance themselves from the diagnosis.

I don't know if I can blame them.

On one hand, we're all told that mental illness/disability is nothing to be ashamed of, but a lot of people in this thread have proven otherwise.

[ocnjgirl]

Originally Posted by thinkingandwondering

Have you noticed the fad of autism? It's particularly noticeable on FB - people are actually clamoring for a diagnosis.

In the old days, autism was a rare diagnosis and was indicated by someone extremely anti-social, non-verbal, with all kinds of other quirks and behavioral problems (many couldn't speak).

Now you can be extremely verbal/fluent/expressive, and have absolutely no outward appearance of being "different," yet you're given this diagnosis.

You can’t tell if they have those symptoms online. Most autistic people can express themselves well in written words, but still have a social disorder. There are all different ranges of autism, you can be extremely high functioning like Elon Musk but it doesn’t mean you don’t have the disorder. I don’t think it’s a trend, I think there are more and more people being diagnosed with it because it’s actually increasing. Furthermore, I think there are a lot of people who are on the spectrum but still did well in school and never were on the radar to get a diagnosis until recently. People who wondered what was wrong with them, and now they have an answer.

[ocnjgirl]

Originally Posted by SnazzyB

I don't know if I can blame them.

On one hand, we're all told that mental illness/disability is nothing to be ashamed of, but a lot of people in this thread have proven otherwise.

Autism is not a mental illness. But I understand what you mean.

[Seguinite]

I know quite a few people my age (60s) that I expect would be 'labeled' if they were children today.

[otterhere]

I've seen quite a few people trying to get on disability with that diagnosis when it appears they'd be quite capable of holding down a job so, yeah, it's become a bit of a trend lately.