Autism is "over-diagnosed"?

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I'd be willing to bet it is overdiagnosed within certain demographics and underdiagnosed in others.

If you're a high functioning aspie who is African American, female, grows up in poverty, and lives in a small town in Appalachia, I'd bet you'd have to figure it out yourself.

If you're an aspie who is Caucasian, male, grows up upper middle class, and lives in L.A., I'd bet they found it very early in your development.

Diagnosis depends on the awareness of authority figures, including parents and educators, the ability of parents to physically arrive at testing centers, the ability of parents to afford testing, and perceptions of mental illness (as in...a community with heavy stigmas on mental illness might be hesitant to screen their children)

I once read in a book "Back To Normal" by Enrico Gnaulati that autism is diagnosed more in the US than it is in the UK. Culture also has something to do with it too. This therapist believes we pathologicalize behavior too much in the US. He believes that adults have too of high expectations on kids they get diagnosed. If I were seeing him in person, I would ask him this following questikn:

"So Dr. Gnaulati, what about the kids and adults out there who are you say "normal" but are a bit different, eccentric, have a different way of learning and processing things and different way of approaching people and socializing but it is affecting their education or employment and it is going to hold them back, but you can't force the world to work the way your brain operates, you can't just force people to just accept them and change how they do things to accommodate their brain wiring and how they function, so what do you suggest for these people?"

Overdiagnosed in some, underdiagnosed in others and, in some cases, misdiagnosed. I was erroneously diagnosed as hyperactive as a child, when Asperger's wasn't known about and the only cases of true autism were among people in institutions.

Changing the culture is a slow and complex process but it is possible. I think this was his point - that American culture should adapt to neurodiversity more instead of pathologicalizing it. He may bellieve the change to be possible as closely related UK culture seems better adapted to neurodiversity.

Then that would mean less people will be autistic because their differences will now be normal.

Gnaulati is one of those doctors who doesn't do labels and will not diagnose a child unless nothing works after the parents have adapted to the kid and the teacher has changed her environment for the kid and her approach and the problems do not resolve after trying everything. But the thing is, only way to do this is if the kid has a diagnoses. Schools can do a diagnoses but it wouldn't be a real one and they use it to give the kid a IEP so they can get their education. Gnaulati seemed to be against this. You can't get accommodations unless you have a label. Teachers and bosses are not required by law to accommodate you unless you have a diagnoses. If you can still get accommodated without having to disclose anything, great.

In my opinion, if someone needs acommodations, then they is not overdiagnosed.
Sometimes the accommodations (a certain place to sit, routine, earmuffs) can be cheaply provided without any official paper, just understanding.

Overdiagnose is:
Parent: Oh, dear, my 2yo child does little eye contact and doesn't talk yet!
Doc: Autistic! Do ABA!

This.

I am on the fence about getting a diagnosis. Growing up certain family members held my difficulties against me; I tried to assert myself, but it didn't stick. It continues in the business world in certain groups: exclusion, not understanding. That said, if I had a healthy self esteem, then perhaps I could "own" my style and stop most the nonsense. I'd more or less happily get by.

Where is the "disability" threshold? I think to myself: Am I under or over that? When I am in group that is friendly to neuro-diversity, I don't feel disabled. But now that I am in a group that is not, well... is it nature or nurture: ASD or that I am simply an anxious, oversensitive person who is socially awkward and subject to frequent shutdowns and meltdowns? Who can totally "get by" by the hair on her chinny chin chin, as long as she finds a "safe" place. (On the RDOS test I score ASD for talent and social, but balanced NT/ASD for perception and communication.)

Tell him/her that yes, it is the case that there are people who are misdiagnosed and in some areas it is even overdiagnosed but just because that happens does not mean that you were misdiagnosed. If you know that your diagnosis is legit, put your foot down. It does not matter if others were not diagnosed correctly. The only person who matters in your life with this is you and as long as you were diagnosed correctly, your well meaning friend can shut his mouth about it. He is not a diagnostician so it is not his right to judge your diagnosis. Many people are misdiagnosed with many things. Many Autistic females were first misdiagnosed and told they were bipolar. But just because that happened to them does not mean that someone who actually is bipolar is not.