An interesting theory as to why we might be more visible now

I thi k there is simply a lot more awareness of it. There's a huge placard about autism I see on the way to work, and there have been others. More famous people are 'coming out' as autistic.

The endless appraisal inter iews and feedbsck forms are a pretty pernicious way of keeping everyone on their toes I think, you know, the stress about endlessly having to reach targets, the constant monitoring? You are only as good as your last gig....... 

Well I think there’s a certain amount of merit to what you said I would like to point out that there is a far simpler and more direct explanation as to why autistic people are more visible than they used to be.

mainstreaming of special educational needs in schools only really started in the 80s and only really took over in the 90s. And we’re still seeing this generation grow up and ramifications as they work their way through the system. Prior to mainstreaming there were lots of people who would’ve simply have been put away in a special needs school and never taught to have any aspirations which would’ve meant they probably never went on to any kind of significant mainstream employment.

also mainstreaming required schools to have better diagnostic protocols in order to pick up disabled people in schools which meant more people with Asperger’s and high functioning autism will have been identified in their school years.

so you have a whole generation of children who have been supported to achieve better results than they otherwise would have who now expects they will continue to receive that sort of support and special consideration in university and in employment. it’s led to a generation of people who say I am autistic and I expect to have a certain degree of flexibility considered to me because I am autistic. and of course that makes autistic people much more visible.

yes, very true. I feel at home on here more than almost anywhere else in the world, it is my safe place. But even on here there are things that are completely different from what I am and thats ok. Nowhere is exactly the same as you, thats why we are all unique

The beauty of this place is that we find some sort of common ground and a bit of a safe house from the crazy NT world out there even though we are not all the same. I think in many ways our brains are wired similarly, it is just that those wires lead us in different directions 

Thank you!

I agree with that. I've certainly been a lot happier since I moved out of the town to a very small village 

I know what you mean. I've sometimes started a thread with the admittedly self-centrered motivation of seeking reassurance that I'm not uniquely odd. Each response would console and discomfort in ratios that thankfully favoured the former, but in some cases not by much. Because the truth is, each if us is entirely unique. Overlaps will always be approximate, even on here. Precise coincidental alignment may come up now and then, and feel miraculous when it does. But overall, the internal conflict (or, more positively put, balance - ironically a balancing statement in itself) will always be there. In here, out there. Everywhere. Approximate commonalities is the best we can hope for most of the time. But thanks goodness for those!

I was gonna be coherent... but then I got high. Was gonna counterpoint Billy's theory... but then I got high. And now I'm typing complete nonsense, and I know why... because etc. etc. 

Shardovan said:

the people who once felt anomalous and kept quiet about it can now find their tribe and feel empowered to claim a valid identity as human subtype 'x' - no matter how diffusely spread that tribe's numbers might be, they are ultimately legion worldwide

This is true, but I've also felt very lonely over the years finding online communities I have some things in common with, but also feeling very different from them in some ways. Perhaps this is the internal conflict I mentioned above. But also, I'm trying to accept that I'm a multi-facted person who isn't going to find one group that shares all my interests and values.

Yea man!  I've been around pretty strong solvents today.....floaty is how I am feeling right now too! (Flickering light is also sending me a bit potty!)

I have this sense that while improved awareness/detection has undoubtedly increased the known numbers, there is also a genuinely and hypotheticaly objectively measureable growing number, generation by generation. The environmental/notionaly causative reasons are no doubt complex and myriad. But... underneath all surface complexity lies structural inevitability - a trajectory towards an evolved future in which diversity is so common it disappears.

The more technology enmeshes itself in our lives, the more fully we join the inevitable path to becoming something transcendent. Way, way in the future - when 'we' isn't us of course. I'm not sure I agree that social media etc. created "a world that expects a lot more conformity than it used to". Isn't the opposite more true? That the people who once felt anomalous and kept quiet about it can now find their tribe and feel empowered to claim a valid identity as human subtype 'x' - no matter how diffusely spread that tribe's numbers might be, they are ultimately legion worldwide. The catch I suppose is that such discovery and connection requires staying on-grid. Getting off-grid is valid, and I know that rationing exposure to technology feels vital to my wellbeing, but complete detachment from it would be a regressive move given how its pros outweigh its cons. 

I've now completely lost track of what I was on about! Feeling a bit floaty due to vertigo, I might come back and fix or delete this in a bit. I just wanted to out a counterpoint, but I also see the logic of the first post from Billy too. 

It's spot on.

If everyone is connected to the same thing being broadcast, there is an element of intaking similar values and meditating on them. Classically, this would've come from a priest or sage. But now, whether it's misleading psychology, bad ethics or Advertising, it all works on the foundation that a majority of individuals fall into the Psychology of NT wiring, which is designed to be more impressionable socially. The theory of a mass homogenisation of values was supported from early last century into the 80's  as a trajectory of probability from philosophers, sociologists and psychologists. The ones who could see 2 very distinct 'types' of individuals like Jung, suggested the Extroverted values or inclinations in contrast with Introverted began overtaking society during the Enlightenment.

I do often say most of us wouldn't have needed a Dx mid-last century but the problem is currently a sociological one not just with communication and expectations creating a double empathy problem, but also the NT ability to dull their senses to a grave amount of incredibly harmful sensory assault. These elements pushing what doesn't mix in to surface, like foam or oil/water. Another way to say this is we're being smoked out. 

I'd go with that.  

In times gone by with a slower pace of life, less business by phone in open plan offices and fewer crowd, I dare many of us could have ticked along quite nicely without social and sensory over stimulation, in environments where we'd have found outlets for solitary working or other expressions for our talents and just been the village eccentric, even that old "wise woman" who kept herself to herself and knew a lot about stuff.

And thinking about it, I was brought up in a little mining village where a lot of the classic sensory triggers for autistic kiddies today (big supermarkets etc) did not exist and the corner shop was dimly lit and no problem.  hence my mum didn't have any shopping meltdowns to contend with.

....another cracking thread from you Billy....you're on fire! (In the good way!)

There is ample evidence to suggest that "village" life in settlements of a few hundred is the optimum balance for holistic evolution, growth and happiness.  I subscribe to this evidence.

I agree about the world being more stimulating, but I think it's more accepting of non-conformity, not less. Fifty years ago, there was much less tolerance of LGBT, different races, different religions. Even things like tattoos and piercings are more accepted than they would have been. It's possible that the world is less accepting of our particular type of non-conformity, but I'm not sure that it was ever that much more accepting. It's true that the workplace is more regulated and bureaucratised, which might affect us, but I'm not convinced it's a significant factor in our struggles.

I think the world is just more aware of us due to advocacy, and increased diagnosis of relatively high-functioning autistics. But I don't think people were more tolerant of those undiagnosed autistics in the past, they just didn't have a label to put on them.

VLD said:

I was at primary school in the 1960s so most of the time we had an old style classroom where we sat in rows quietly facing the teacher. The year they pushed the desks together so that we were in groups facing each other was the year I went to peices.

I am sorry to hear you went through that. As a teacher I find it very interesting to know. I have often felt that the modern layout of the classroom doesn't suit the adolecent brain, whether NT or autistic, but especially us autists. There is too much chaos and scope for distraction. I think we could learn something from your experiences. Classrooms used to be much less stimulating. I wonder if the constant glare of smartboards and endless proliferation of laptops in modern classrooms might be having a negative effect too

Certainly more autistic children are being identified when they find busy, noisy classrooms too difficult to deal with. I was at primary school in the 1960s so most of the time we had an old style classroom where we sat in rows quietly facing the teacher. The year they pushed the desks together so that we were in groups facing each other was the year I went to peices. It was only the change in headmaster and the efforts of my parents that got me into grammar school where I was back to old style quiet classrooms. That got me to university and on to a successful career. If I'd had to deal with a modern classroom I may have never made it.

Also the spread of open plan offices has made life really difficult for autistic poeple. At one time I worked for a research organisation which moved from separate offices to open plan. It employed  a lot of autistic poeple whose strengths were the strength of the organisation. They have now lost all thier best staff and are in terminal decline. Those that are left sit with noise cancelling headphones.

If you go back further, to the many thousands of years when small agricultural communities lived in hamlets and villages, it is difficult to believe that autism would have been a problem, or even noticed. 

I have thought exactly everything you have said and amother family member has remarked on similar ideas too. I think also autism is more visible because of social media and there is more momentum now to be seen and celebrate difference. Everything is more conspicuous now. There might be the idea everything has to have an identity. People are no longer "just eccentric" they are autistic. Im not saying this is a good or bad thing, its merely an observation. It's interesting what you say about conforming to the norm. These days, everyone tries hard to stand apart from the person next to them, you have to shout louder to be heard above the noise....but in reality most are still conforming to what society expects. I have noticed a difference even in the past ten years if not since the pandemic. There was a point in the past decade that for me, places just seemed to be busier with people more so than before. This coincided with the time I had to actually grow up and be an adult.

I think even some neurotypical people find modern life hard. We remember time before the internet whereas many people today don't see it as a choice. It's part of life. I wonder also if it's that a lot of leisure and recreation activities are social now? Eg. People didn't always used to go out for things to eat or coffee like we do nowadays. So there's more expectation again. Just a thought.

The modern world gives us more information (ie words) which is more for our brain to process. Processing the beauty of nature doesn't require any effort.