Is autism actually increasing?

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As someone who actually was diagnosed with Autism before it was even a commonly known thing I'm pretty cynical about the way that everybody I talk to claims to have a kid with autism because it echoes a time long ago when everybody seemed to have a kid with ADHD (I myself was misdiagnosed with ADHD as a kid before I got a proper diagnoses by a doctor who actually knew what she was doing and wasn't a quack).

I feel like autism is basically the new thing that people want to diagnose all problem children with just like ADHD was back in the day and what makes me really mad is how most people don't even bother to find out what autism is really about. Like when people say that autistic kids are all some kind of super-geniuses like the characters on TV which is complete B.S. because autism has nothing to do with how smart a person is (take it from me I really suck at math and my grammar isn't great either). It's a thing that impairs your social skills and effects the way you react to certain things like taste and touch. I also get very annoyed talking to people like my female neighbor who think that just because they are nerdy and have a social phobia that it automatically means they can label themselves as being autistic without even getting a diagnoses and then they try to tell me that they don't believe I'm autistic just because I don't fit the stereotype that the media has created (I have the same problem with being a gay man and everyone tries to convince me I must not be gay just because I don't fit that stereotype either).

Oh and don't even get me started on the way that society wants to focus all of their attention on Autistic "KIDS" because they think they're cute while completely ignoring the fact that adults can have autism too and that kids with autism will keep having it even as they grow up. I mean seriously as a kid I never realized how much harder it would be to grow up and still have autism because at that point it's like all these doctors and people quit giving a damn about your special needs because they would rather focus all their attention on the cute little kids with autism as if they think they can actually fix them at that age.

I saw discussion on psych profiling of job applicants, with an 'enneagram' test. There was no correct answer, because anyone one of nine personality profiles had it's strengths and it's weaknesses.

AS and NT behaviors also have their strong and weak points, as do skin tones, physical builds, the "doshas" of Ayurvedic medicine, or the philosophical elements of humoral medicine. Each type is suited to a different purpose.

It's like asking a question about range of motion or hair texture, imhblo.

Diet
Usually a better diet will result in you doing better.

Vaccines
There have numerous studies and none have shown an increase in Autism prevalence in people who have been vaccinated. This does not mean vaccines do not cause any autism at all. It is well established that vaccines harm some people. They are approved when the their benefits are thought to far outstrip their harm. I think all the emphasis on vaccines might be preventing us from finding another toxin that may cause autism.

Expanding Diagnostic criteria/Trendy diagnosis
I do think that the criteria changes are a big reason for the increase in the prevalence rate. I think the wannabe effect is overblown but these topics have been dealt with in thread after thread. The remainder of this post will deal will what I believe to other factors causing the increase in Autism prevalence.

Different Era, Different Values
Back in the 60's and '70's while it was acknowledged people had problems you were expected to figure out how to deal with them. Burdening others with your problems was looked down upon. Self analyzing was looked down upon as unmanly. If you needed to go to a "shrink" that meant you could not or barely function.

Schools were not required legally to educate you. Same standards and tests for everybody. If you did badly, you repeated the grade, if you flunked again or they could not handle you they kicked you out of school.

Normal parenting back then was parenting that will get you arrested for child abuse today. Be in the dining room for dinner and complete your homework was all that was required most days. Helicopter parenting, hovering over the child, planning a their whole day was not done. You had to figure out what to play. If it was a nice day and you were 6 years old you were allowed to walk a few blocks by yourself, when you were a tween you rode you bike for three or four miles and took public transportation by yourself or with friends. Even if your parents wanted to follow you around the technology did not exist for them to do so.

That environment was more conductive to helping you figure out who you are what worked and what did not. Some with milder autism and other conditions would be functional or significantly more functional then a similar person today. Others because of no understanding and no support who would function today failed then.

The work world was different. While you had recessions the economy was much better then today. Often you stayed in the same line of work and even with the same employer your whole life. Less change, less multitasking, better for autistics. Benefits and pensions were common. "Social Skills" were important but a lot less so for certain jobs. If you were an engineer or accountant it was expected you would be eccentric. You were not expected to like your boss and visa versa just be able to communicate about work related issues. This was your job not a social club.


Misdiagnosis and non diagnosis
"Severe" autistics were often misdiagnosed also. Leo Kanner bragged about not diagnosing 9 out the 10 patients who saw him. In the refrigerator mother era the last thing anybody would want was an autism diagnosis. If you were a mother did you want to be known as a person who hated your kid and treated him so coldly the kid reacted by losing all ability for emotion and empathy?. Did you want your kid to be thought of as at best partially human?

There was absolutely no concept of adult autism. There was a not so well known "residue autism" diagnoses.

As noted above unless your condition crippled you, you did not even see a clinicion never mind get a diagnosis.


Institutionalization and beyond
Being institutionalized was often not like what you saw in "Rain Man" . If you acted up or complained you got beaten or chained to the floor or given a massive dose of sedatives and maybe shocked (the gold standard treatment for depression then). In some institutions you were a Guinea pig for drug experiments. Another words if you were admitted you were not likely to leave never mind get better.

Lifetime Institutionalization was often too costly for a family. Sometimes the family locked the "black sheep" of the family in a room in the attic. Sometimes they were tossed out. This not only went for severe cases. Say an autistic was in his or her mid to late 20's bouncing from job to job because he or she melted down or just was too rude to the people writing his or her check. This scenario is not unusual today but at that time most people at that age were out of their parents house with a steady job and married or on their way to being married. The obvious diagnosis was character flaws and the cure was the tough love of being disowned and kicked out.


Conclusion
As seen above there were numerous reasons for people not being diagnosed back in the day. My strong view is that there is no autism epidemic and that there are the similar percentage of autistics today as there was when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's. But it was so different in so many ways there is no way to know for sure.

Maybe everyone here is right. Maybe there is no autism epidemic.

I do take issue though with people saying autism is "just a different way of being." Maybe so, but even something like aspergers is a significant handicap.

I have it and am high functioning, and I could barely do basic high school math never mind stay organized.

I have a really tough time believing people like Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton or Darwin had autism. Given how difficult life is for people with it today, and given how no one in that era (teachers,parents etc) really were that helpful or accepting of people who were different, and given how difficult it is for many on the spectrum to have a job or further education, I just find it hard to swallow, this whole diagnosing people who have been dead for centuries.

While we are at it, we may as well say all the t-rex's had aspergers syndrome!

By the way, I know many people today rightly point out how cruel teachers and other children can be to those on the spectrum. Yet in the pre 1990s era they were way worse.

When my parents were growing up (60s-70s) I know that it was pretty common for teachers to call kids "stupid" openly and make fun of them for not getting their work right. They certainly did not help them if they were "different."

I know bullying is a big problem now, but I have to believe it's way less than in my parents era. I think people thought nothing of boys fighting or beating up eachother thinking "Boys will be boys." They definitly had that attitude toward sexual harassment. And for sure there was no push to "accept differences or "be open and inclusive to others." It was just a way way rougher time for everybody.

With all those incredible odds those on the spectrum face now.... its tough to believe those famous geniuses were on the spectrum too!