“The difference between people diagnosed with autism and the rest of the population is shrinking. ”

Original Prankster said:

trying to diagnose adults with the same toolset they use for children i.e. 'flying frogs' book or the 'make a story using random objects' exercise

Oh my, do they really actually do this for adults too? 

I was diagnosed as a young child so I guess I'm lucky 

If people really want to get the pitchforks out, how about taking aim at the fact that the NHS etc. are trying to diagnose adults with the same toolset they use for children i.e. 'flying frogs' book or the 'make a story using random objects' exercise, or seeing how they play with toys.

Don't treat this guy like some kind of autistic Uncle Tom or Quisling...

Honestly? I feel like everyone is unnecessarily 'losing it' about this article.

I read it as saying:

1. It's becoming too easy for people who probably aren't autistic to get a diagnosis due to poor application of diagnostic criteria

2. This leads to a dilution of the understanding of the impact autism has on genuine autistics and

3. As a spectrum condition, those with low support needs are held up as 'it's not so bad, really' examples while those with high support needs are ignored/marginalised

How can you object to an article which ends:

"Contemporary autism discourse and research are both skewed in favour of the verbally able autistic population at the expense of the most vulnerable and, with the growing popularity of the neurodiversity concept, this gap is sure to increase.

It’s high time that changed and that the lower end of the autism was treated with the seriousness it deserves. The wellbeing of some of society’s most vulnerable people depends on it."

I feel we should be pushing this message from that article, along with:

"It has become apparent, not just to scientists but to many in the community, that autism needs dividing into separate conditions, starting with the reintroduction of Asperger syndrome, as an important differentiator between mild and severe variants."

By removing the concept of mild/severe and/or high/low functioning we appear to have shot ourselves in the foot by making it difficult to easily identify those who need the most support.

Take deafness as an example - you have nice, clear-cut severity definitions which would allow identification of the required support:

• mild (21–40 dB)
• moderate (41–70 dB)
• severe (71–95 dB)
• profound (95 dB)

Yeah, I know - it's hard to do that with autism, but "It's too hard...!" is not an excuse for not doing things right.

This article is everywhere atm! As already mentioned, it's been doing the rounds on facebook. The writer of this article is an 'Autistic self advocate'. Autism is a spectrum condition, different people suffer from different amounts of different symptoms, everyone presents differently and yes there are those of us that can hold down jobs, have families and be active participants in the local community BUT we all have in common the presence to some degree or another of social communication disorder and restricted and repetitive behaviours. Therefore, our apparent ability to 'function well' comes at a cost. When I am at work, I have to mask all day and deal with a variety of unpredictable situations. By the end of the day I am mentally exhausted and just need to be on my own for at least a couple of hours. I love my 3 daughters but my middle daughter is the one who is definitely not autistic and she is so overly tactile, I can deal with cuddling my children but I can not deal with her stroking me, fiddling with the ends of my hair or kissing my arms and I move away very sharply when she does so. I feel so much maternal guilt about this as I know she is just a child being affectionate towards her mummy, but I can't handle 'light' touch, neither can I handle her shouting at a certain volume and pitch as it goes right through my head! I get a lot of meaning and a feeling of being involved in the local community from being a Beaver Scout Leader but, you try being autistic and stuck in a room with a group of noisy, screaming children for an hour, my brain is so fried by the end I have to be on my own for at least a couple of hours to recover. Is this vague and invalid? Do non autistic people get exhausted from social masking at work; feel guilt because they can't handle their child touching them; have to spend hours on their own to recover from noisy children? Why has an autistic individual even written such an article?

Unfortunately, that article was written by an autistic person!

I don't think that we very often blend 'imperceptibly' into the wider population (some of us, yes) - the fact that it's so common for us to have been bullied at school (or college or work) and to have had trouble making/keeping friends and relationships (again, not all of us, and not all of those things for those of us who do experience them) shows that the blending in really isn't 'imperceptible'.

I've also read quite a few accounts of people with working lives/professions where they just 'blend in' within that field, as it's an area which tends to attract people quite similar to them (whether that's autistic or overly technically/logically-minded or 'eccentric' or very reserved people). So in those cases, I'd argue that those autistic people have found a place where they can 'blend in' (to whatever degree) within that setting but not necessarily within the wider population.

Don't you just love the NT view of auties.     They clearly have NO CLUE.

yeah, there's quite a lot of comment about it on FB.

Esp paragraphs like "Mildly autistic people, on the other hand, though far more prone to depression and suicide, can go on to lead productive and fulfilling lives, often blending imperceptibly into the wider population despite their idiosyncrasies and social difficulties".

Yeah, that probably would describe me, but it still don't mean I find it easy "blending in". The inconsistency with acknowledging higher rates of depression yet instantly dismissing it coz we can blend in, innit....