When I see stats regarding life expectancy and suicide rates I find it all rather alarming whilst at the same time wondering how reliable these figures can possibly be. Given the lower diagnosis rates in older generations plus probably a significant proportion of autistics who are misdiagnosed, such figures must surely have a large margin of error.
I'm worried nonetheless. When I was diagnosed last October I specifically asked the Autism Team why they only looked at individuals (especially if, like me, a person was prompted to seek diagnosis for wider family issues) and why, given that their website referred to autism being largely genetic, one diagnosis didn't trigger an offer of screening and support for the rest of the family. Fair enough, people ARE individuals and entitled to their confidentiality and their autonomy to refuse such an offer if they wish. But why can't the offer be at least made? And why does each individual within the same family then have to go back to the end of an (often extremely lengthy) queue if, following on from one diagnosis, they are prompted to consider their own possible diagnosis?
I suspect it's down to funding and, predictably enough, I got an explanation regarding the importance of each case being treated individually plus some downplaying of the info about genetics. "Why did I think this was so important?" they asked. My answer was that if the other information on their website about the suicide rate being 9 times higher is correct, identification and support should be a top priority. I got a rather weak and watery, "I'm sorry. We don't do that" in reply. :(
www.psychologytoday.com/.../early-death-in-those-autism-spectrum-disorder
