[Image is of white text on a dark gray background resembling a chalkboard that reads: “Autism through the years: 1975—1 in 5000; 1985—1 in 2500; 1995—1 in 500; 2001—1 in 250; 2004—1 in 166; 2007—1 in 150; 2009—1 in 110; 2012—1 in 88; 2013—1 in 50.”]
Go us! We’re getting better at diagnosing autism!
Oh, right, this was supposed to be fear mongering bullshit. My bad.
My mom was wailing to me about this and calling it an “autism epidemic” and telling me there’s no way it’s because of improved diagnostic techniques…it’s like she un-saw the results of my neuropsych.
It was previously thought that only white boys could be Autistic. Only white boys. Now even though there’s still wicked underdiagnosis of women of color, it’s becoming more widely known that autism is not a white disability and it’s not Baron-Cohen’s extreme male brain BULLSHIT. So when you go from “this is a condition only found in white boys” to “anybody of any gender or race can be Autistic”…y’know…that might lead to increased diagnosis.This.
Also? They’ve done studies - one from like 2009/2010 in some Scandinavian country (I’m not up to looking it up right now, but I will) where the same percentage of adults had autism symptoms as the percentage of children under 5 currently being diagnosed. So it’s not an “epidemic”. It’s not a higher percentage now than it used to be. It’s just better identification, better understanding (though we still have far to go on that end).
Also also? how is “1 in [increasingly small number] people are autistic” an effective scare tactic? because for me that speaks of hope, community, and understanding, not isolation or desperation
1 in 50 people are like me
1 in 50 people know what it’s like
1 in 50 people think and act like me
I am not alone
if one out of every fifty people is autistic, rather than one out of five thousand, then I’m FAR more likely to find an autistic person I can be friends with. someone who I have more in common with than just being autistic. someone I can be friends with and have common interests with (just like all my other friends) AND ALSO who is like me on this fundamental level
I have friends and family members who are sometimes-to-often “understanding” of me being autistic…until they’re not. Until they don’t really get it. until I make a comment about “well because I’m autistic…xyz” and they go “no that has nothing to do with it it’s actually abc and everyone does it” when no. that’s not at all right and I know myself and my mind more than you ever could. or until they ask me to stop stimming because it’s bothering them, or make an offhand remark about vaccines. but 1 in 50 people get it.
it’d be nice to be entirely surrounded by people who don’t compare me to Sheldon from BBT. it’d be nice to not have to explain why I don’t like it. it’d be nice if I could just hiss angrily at a puzzle piece and not have to instantly recite an annotated bibliography on why they suck. if I am the only person out of FIVE THOUSAND who have to deal with that, that sucks. it’d be very hard to find someone to complain about it with, even with the internet. yet even with autistic people having JUST AS WIDE A RANGE OF OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES AS ALLISTIC PEOPLE it’s still LOADS easier to find people to gripe with when we’re a hundred times as common.
1 in 50 says despair to the people who want us gone
1 in 50 says hope, community, and understanding to me
(Source: headtotoekids)
