Is Autism a lot more common nowadays or is it just discussed more?

04-09-2022 9:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119567802#Comment_119567802

Like you I have always felt overwhelmed in social settings, I find eye contact hard to maintain , I hang back rather than put myself foward and without a shadow of a doubt I have always felt on the periphery of things, on the outside looking in. But in no way would I consider myself autistic or even on the spectrum. I look on this as my personality and part who I am!!

I am from a family of 7 and we are all independent and like our own company a lot, we have all chosen to live in quiet areas but we are all married, have jobs and have kids! So while we discuss it and laugh about it we consider it to be part of our DNA, who we are, not a label or a sign of something wrong!

I hope your son is ok and I can only imagine the anxiety you must feel, especially for a 16 year old boy. Good luck with everything.

RainInSummer · 04-09-2022 9:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119565743#Comment_119565743

Good for you gate keeping what 'true autism' is. Maybe those kids who are a little bit different will be able to get a management plan or some positive outcome from their diagnosis. Just because they and their families don't experience the same difficulties you do doesn't invalidate their issues.

You genuinely managed to come across in one single post as someone who is bitter at others because they don't have things as bad as you.

paddyirish23 · 04-09-2022 9:40am

I think there's definitely been an increase in cases more than a now catching ppl who would've gone undiagnosed yrs ago. I've 2 kids on the spectrum and it's a tough life trying to manage them and keep them from lashing out every hr.

My big worry is with so many ppl and kids in particular being diagnosed with more severe autism, where will they go to be looked after when I'm too old or gone.

I think it's every parents worry atm and I don't trust this government to provide to them

Deeec · 04-09-2022 9:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568240#Comment_119568240

Completely agree. Not everyone is loud and is a social animal and there is nothing wrong with that. Nowadays it seems that society wants everyone behaving whats perceived as normal - if a child is quiet, or enjoys a particular subject, doesnt speak by x age or has a phobia to something they are on the spectrum. Its just wrong in my opinion. More should be done to allow society to accept differences instead of making these kids feel there is something wrong with them.

Jequ0n · 04-09-2022 10:19am

I am impressed how many people on this thread are going out of their way to misinterpret Gusser09’s post. Any reason to be offended it seems..

mohawk · 04-09-2022 11:47am

No one came across as being offended in any post I read. A couple posters did counter the claim regarding ‘true autism’ and rest of spectrum is a sham. its a discussion board and sometimes people disagree with each other.

06-09-2022 8:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119565813#Comment_119565813

I think the distinction between Asperger's and autism should have been kept. You can't compare the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with a non verbal autistic person.

06-09-2022 8:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119567802#Comment_119567802

The old Asperger's fits your son better. There are lots of kids out there like him, and most do fine. Many end up being labelled "incels" though sadly.

I work in IT - that's a profession packed with high functioning autistic people. Engineering is another one.

eggy81 · 06-09-2022 8:28am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119565865#Comment_119565865

So if someone has mild to moderate autism they shouldn’t admit it, talk about it or receive help? Just struggle on and fail miserably in their early years and have no future because they’re not bad enough to need round the clock 24hr care.

seems like a great idea 👍

Mr. CooL ICE · 06-09-2022 8:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058261744/is-autism-a-lot-more-common-nowadays-or-is-it-just-discussed-more

No, but you should go on Mastermind. Or is every Mastermind contestant autistic?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 06-09-2022 9:27am

Discussed more, definitely. Same as a lot of mental health issues, such as ADHD, OCD and the depression (especially depression).

It's also the fact that a huge number are slightly autisitic but not to the extent that it massively effects their daily lives. But identifying this and discussing it makes it a lot easier to navigate life on a day-to-day basis.

Ray Palmer · 06-09-2022 10:08am

Like many things it can be overused to excuse bad behavior. Not saying it isn't real but it is also not something that can't be dealt with and ways to overcome the difficulty rather than assume an impossibility. Had experience with a young man and his mother blamed everything on his ADHD. You would swear he was a jibbering fool from how she spoke but the reality was she gave him no discipline. She herself didn't get up till after noon and claimed he slept 14 hours a day and could never get up on time. After speaking to him he just stayed up really late at night playing computer games and slept less than 6 hours. He was basically tired all the time which didn't help him but she basically had let him skip school for 5th and 6th years. She has doomed this kid to a terrible life because she blamed everything on ADHD.

The idea is you get a diagnosis to figure out how to deal with the issues not an excuse.

Ubbquittious · 06-09-2022 10:42am

It's a system that works out for the schools. Get a few kids diagnosed in order to bring in more special teachers and assistants, makes life easier for the teachers already there. So you end up with a classroom of 20 kids and a bunch of them will be diagnosed with a condition that's supposed to have a 1-in-3000 or lower incidence rate. Any kid who is a bit out of the ordinary will be under the microscope until they can throw a diagnosis at him/her.

It's still a big improvement on the system they had long ago where the awkward kids would be bate silly till they did what was expected and if that didn't work the teacher would go home to bate his wife out of frustration

06-09-2022 10:56am

Huge proportion of people on the milder end of the spectrum were not diagnosed during childhood. In my case, I just struggled a lot since childhood. Found it really difficult to engage with my peers, felt more comfortable in isolation. Tended to do poorly in school but also excelled with stuff that I was interested in. Eg historical stuff and anything related to computers. Also never tended to rebel but did have massive arguments with family, which makes a lot more sense cause it wasn't remotely normal.

Did suspect I was on the spectrum when I was younger but parents fobbed me off on it. Then ended up going to a psychiatrist for general mental health issues. They concluded I was pretty high functioning and didn't really fit into standard criteria for mental health issues outside of generalised anxiety. They also concluded I showed all the signs of being on the spectrum. It wasn't surprising overall but hadn't really recognised the amount of masking I tend to do. Also tend to burnout from doing so.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568432#Comment_119568432

Since it's a spectrum, it manifests differently for many people. Some need more supports, others are largely self sufficient and struggle in less visible ways. "True autism" is that poster simply ignoring different lived experiences. They're being called out which is fair.

c.p.w.g.w · 06-09-2022 11:10am

Everyone seems to have a diagnosable condition these days...

A few years back a shy kid, was just shy...but now they have a few conditions and a label which doesn't really help

I'm pretty certain if I was child in this age, I'd probably have a list of conditions, due to be happy in my own company

Chips Lovell · 06-09-2022 11:25am

Our understanding of autism has expanded dramatically in recent decades. Autism is genetic and it's not a case of there being more autistic people now than before, more that we're getting better at spotting it and diagnosing it. People getting diagnosed today would never have been twenty or thirty years ago.

It's a gross simplification to see autism as spectrum ranging from "mild" to "profound". A better way of describing is that it's a whole array of signs and symptoms, with a spectrum for each individual one. It's trite, but probably true to say that if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.

And yes, you can say that some people are just different and we should just embrace that difference rather than stick a label on it. There's no end of autistic people who'd love to be seen as more than just a label, but if you're really going to embrace that difference, you should also endeavour to understand it, to realise that a world designed by people whose brain is wired a bit differently to yours may be difficult and overwhelming to navigate and that autistic people may, especially when young, need a bit of extra help.

Jequ0n · 06-09-2022 11:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578320#Comment_119578320

I believe the poster was referring to people who are self diagnosing because everyone is an expert now. It happens with so many things now, not just autism.

06-09-2022 11:54am

Just a theory- the average age of first time parenting is on the rise- those who leave having kids to their late 30s are apparently at greater risk of their child being born with certain conditions including autism.

I know 3 sets (actually no sorry, 4 sets) of parents who had kids when they were late 30s- all now have a child with a diagnosis of either autism or Asperger’s - I’m still trying to get my head around how this can be

06-09-2022 11:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578582#Comment_119578582

And in general self diagnosis tends to happen more so in adult life. It's incredibly expensive to get a diagnosis if you're older and beyond a certificate, there's zero benefit to doing so. Self diagnosis is largely accepted in the community for this reason.

On top of that, the poster followed up by rejecting diagnoses for children on the milder end. So yes, they're being a gatekeeper on "true autism".

Absolutely i am. I see the violent side to it every day and i have the bruises, bite marks and broken up house to show it. I'll stick by my original opinion. Its a sham of spectrum. Its an absolutely terrible disability. The fact that so many kids with mild issues are diagnosed has a detrimental impact on the kids who need more support and help. We are currently looking at care for my 16 yo.

elefant · 06-09-2022 12:25pm

If medical professionals are diagnosing children with autism, they're not doing it without careful evaluation and assessment. An early diagnosis can lead to appropriate interventions, classroom accommodations, specialist support, greater community awareness etc. That these supports aren't available is a shame, but this is what the diagnoses are for, and so they should ideally be affecting people in a very positive way. The more children that are medically diagnosed, the more that can (theoretically) get the support they may need to live full and happy lives.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 06-09-2022 12:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578403#Comment_119578403

Question is, WHY is he shy?

And if you had a condition back then, chances are you still have it now.

ELM327 · 06-09-2022 12:45pm

So, I have Asperger's. If I were born 20 years earlier, I'd probably have been put in a home, and if I were born 20 years later I'd have been given a diagnosis as a child (as opposed to as an adult) and given much better supports from a younger age. I'm in my mid 30's and finally properly medicated to a point where my many anxieties are, while not gone, certainly mitigated to the point that I have more good days than bad. A good day is one where I can actually leave the house and interact with people. I can go into a shop and be ok being the only customer. I can make a phone call. A bad day might result in the lights being left off, curtains being closed, all sensory distractions removed and allowing myself time and space to "self soothe".

I am what folks would refer to as high functioning. I have a well paid job, own my own home with my partner of 10 years. Some people may not even know from a brief interaction that I'm autistic. What they don't see is that 30 second interaction with a cashier can lead to hours of pacing the floors at home afterwards obsessing.

Whether you give it the name of autism, aspergers, or super happy fun disease, or simply label me as "that odd fellow down the road that struggles with his nerves" - which is what happened decades ago - I still have the same experience. I don't think it's any more or less common these days. I just think we as a society are getting better at dealing with mental health issues.

06-09-2022 1:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578802#Comment_119578802

I spotted the signs of autism in an 18 month old toddler- the parents took 2 years to admit the child required medical assessment - I didn’t say a word to them about what I observed as it’s their business but the signs were obvious to me. Sometimes parents are in denial and takes them time to get their heads around the implications

sasco · 06-09-2022 1:32pm

I don't think it is more common, but it is understood and diagnosed more. The benefits of early intervention services can really help. The spectrum is so broad though, especially as Aspergers is no longer a diagnosis that you will have some families seeking assistance and services and some turning away and not wanting their child labelled, but I think more people see the benefits of early diagnosis.

RossGeller · 06-09-2022 3:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578631#Comment_119578631

I've always had this theory myself. As you get older there's more wear and tear on the brain, so you're having kids who inherit this damage.

I think Alcohol is also a big factor. A lot of women don't realise they're pregnant until weeks after insemination. So they could be having drinks which could be causing issues down the line. Again this is just a theory.

06-09-2022 3:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119579801#Comment_119579801

Apparently some research I read online suggests older men in late 30s onwards are x times more likely to have a son or daughter with Autism than those in their 20s

There’s certainly a lot of data floating around that suggests older parents are more prone to experiencing this just like with other medical conditions

Wanderer78 · 06-09-2022 3:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058261744/is-autism-a-lot-more-common-nowadays-or-is-it-just-discussed-more

extreme level 3 here!

with more and more understanding of the disorder, more of us are now meeting the criteria as of decided by respected organisations, dsm etc, many of us that are level 1 are only being detected nowadays, and thankfully so, but a late diagnosis's can also be very damaging, as the world truly is designed for neurotypicals, but when you are not, the years prior to diagnosis, can be truly overwhelming and damaging