Is the rise of autism diagnostics a sign our society is getting unsane?

Thank you Martin! I get it! My headphones to cope with the city and small retreats after overloads have nothing to do with the intensity you feel. That must be exhausting.

I am finding your views hard to grasp.

Are you actually saying that society 'discriminates people who are sensitive and rational' by diagnosing them autistic?

Does diagnosis =  discrimination in your opinion?

Does a society that gives a diagnosis to a health condition = an 'unsane society' in your view?

I do consider unsane a society that cannot accomodate all its members and discriminates people who are very sensitive and rational.  

For most of my life I thought that other people had similar problems to me, but they were much better at coping with them. It came as a surprise that the problems I faced on a day-to-day basis just did not exist at all for most other people. I realised that I was the tough one. I was coping with much more than they ever had to.

Martin said:

I do not see the increased suicide rates of autistic people being he result of being labelled, or self-identifying as, autistic, but the result of society being a hostile environment for them.

To be honest Martin, I could cope with the hostile environment - I had established reasonable "work-arounds" - it was hard bloody work, but I had coped for 50 years.  My problem was simply not understanding WHY society was such a hostile and alien place for me.  Naturally I thought it was just me - perhaps mad, perhaps sad or perhaps bad.......but actually, I'm just different in a definable and identifiable way.  Things now make so much more sense.  THANK GOD (and science - obviously!)

Thank you! I did not want to offend anyone. I just do not see neurotypicals the way you do. I would even say they are failed autists.. full of biaises that you might not have. 

Do you consider our society sane? And more people being diagnosed contributing to it becoming less sane?

You must understand that anything that smacks of either, "You don't look autistic", or, " My seven year old nephew is autistic, and you are nothing like him", raises the hackles of most autistic adults and your post was close to both. Hence the reaction.

I actively sought diagnosis after I realised that I was autistic. Rather than a label imposed from outside, many autistic adults seek an autistic identity. This is because it validates their traits and experiences. Rather than being individually, and inexplicably, 'strange' and 'peculiar' they are part of a community of similar people. They are not 'failed neurotypicals', but autistics in a society that does not allow them to flourish.

I do not see the increased suicide rates of autistic people being he result of being labelled, or self-identifying as, autistic, but the result of society being a hostile environment for them.

Everything is phone based isn’t it. It seems absurd you can’t use email for the doctors surgery, it would probably work out to a be a lot more time efficient too for things like repeat prescriptions. I also like email as you then have something to refer back to. 

Yes, I understand completely. I need to contact my GP to sort out my asthma repeat medication, but I know I will not do so until my inhalers are almost empty. This is because I will have to ring the surgery and I find using the 'phone distressing.

I am deeply concerned about the suicide rate and that's why I am asking whether the problem does not lie on the other side, ie society. My son was picked up due to language delay mainly but when kids were not forced to school he wouldn't have been noticed. Many scientits in history had non classical chidhood deveopments. My question was really an open one. What pushes society to label autistic people? 

This was my thoughts when I read the post as well, and I put off from responding as I didn’t want to appear to be defensive. 

I wish I just had small quirks. I doubt it would affect my life in such a way that I am completely unable to form any relationships, struggle with life every single day - even simple things such as an example booking in a service for my car (it’s now way overdue and another additional tick towards my daily anxiety). Getting a diagnosis wasn’t so I could just share it with other people, I wanted to try and understand what was wrong with me. 

Annie,

I can't quite grasp what you are trying to ask - or intimate - in your contribution above.

I am, however, pretty damn certain that no one here wishes to try and define borders between various outward manifestations of autism.  This is simply a friendly and supportive community where like-minded folk can converse and share their thoughts and experiences.

Many of us are not blessed with a "very open minded rational atmosphere" in our daily lives - or even if we do - we don't have people who understand our brains nor share the various challenges and struggles that we encounter during our days.  We might have outwardly "small quirks" only, but have you ever considered what is going on beneath our exteriors within our weird and wonderful brains?  Are you aware of the suicide rate known to exist for autistic folk - both great and small?

From what I can see, people here are generally just talking.  That's a good thing.  I hope that is OK with you.

Thanks for raising your words.

As an autistic scientist (clinically diagnosed), I would say that clinical diagnosis, and the traits that lead to clinical diagnosis, are the border between autistic-like behaviours and autism. What I glean from your post, is that your view regards people with less overt autistic traits than your son as being not autistic. Please correct me if I am wrong. If my appreciation of your post is correct then I have to say that it insults and invalidates the many autistic people that manage, with great difficulty and considerable distress, to function in a society that is hostile to them.

Working for 34 years in scientific research I would say that autistic and autistic-like people are more common in science than in the general population.