Autism is a slowly changing condition.exist 2021, a study The study found that the number of diagnoses in the UK increased by 787% between 1998 and 2018.

An increase in the number of diagnoses has been a feature of autism since it was recognized: 80 years agoautism is thought to affect one in 2,500 people children.has gradually increased and now 1 in 36 children Considered to have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Part of this exponential growth is due to increased awareness and better understanding of the disease, as well as an increase in the number of clinicians able to make a diagnosis. This has led to what one expert calls “widening and widening boundaries for assessment—borders that are still moving outward.”

These boundaries encompass many people, especially women and girls, who would never be considered for a possible diagnosis of autism. The resulting awareness has led to large numbers of adults seeking medical referrals to explain the differences they had been aware of since childhood.

But there are other factors behind the growth There is still controversy, among which Neurodiversity The campaign and experts are yet to decide whether the increase is also due to overdiagnosis or whether more children are suffering from the disease.

The authors of the 2021 study say the spectrum of diagnoses may expand further. Professor Ginny Russell of the University of Exeter said: “I do think this is going to continue until maybe everyone is classed as neurodiverse.”

Russell said that while it could be argued that the proportion of children with autistic traits with lower support needs was slightly higher than before, there was “no reasonable evidence” reasons” to support the argument that autism cases have increased dramatically.

“What’s happening is that the number of diagnoses has increased because of the expanding boundaries of assessment, which are still moving outward,” she said. “Some even believe that people diagnosed with autism today are united simply by not fitting in with their social environment.

“For example, it might soon cover someone like me. I haven’t changed, but have some borderline autistic traits, and I might soon be assimilated to autism – because it’s changing itself.”

Russell isn’t the only one to notice a huge rise in diagnoses. “When I started getting involved in this field in the 1980s, autism was considered quite rare,” said Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Center for Autism Research. “But there has been a huge shift over the past few decades, with the number of diagnoses increasing exponentially.”

National Autism Society describes autism as “a range of conditions encompassing a wide range of disabilities.”and there is already one 50% increase Number of public referrals for suspected autism in the UK in the past 12 months.

But others say even this increase is inaccurate: Others Research Research shows there are more than 1.2 million people with autism in England and Wales, almost double the government’s UK-wide figure of 700,000. This would be the case if diagnosis rates matched those for adolescents under 19 across all ages, the study said.

Elizabeth O’Nions, the study’s lead researcher, said autism in adults remains under-recognized, with more than 90 per cent of people with autism aged over 50 in the UK likely to go undiagnosed.

But Dr Peter Carpenter, chair of the Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry Special Interest Group, questioned this, noting that adult diagnostic services do not necessarily have the expertise required to review the adult population against modern standards. “We may not have a realistic idea of ​​what a ‘typical 50-year-old with autism’ looks like,” he said.

The understanding of autism in people with learning disabilities has also changed: in the 1980s, it was thought that only one in four people with learning disabilities had autism.Now NHS recognized Maybe as high as three-quarters. “It’s been an incredibly steep rise,” Baron Cohen said.

Another increase in autism is due to the removal of the Asperger syndrome diagnosis. Created in 1994, the label was officially “retired” in 2013, with the disorder being lumped under the umbrella term autism.

Another important transformative moment was the neurodiversity movement of the late 1990s, which promoted dramatic changes in identity, fighting stigma, and redefining autism as an identity rather than a disease. All this leads to what Russell calls a “circle.”

She said: “An increase in the number of diagnoses leads to increased awareness, which affects how people identify themselves, leading to calls for more assessment centres, leading to a significant increase in the number of diagnoses.”

“As awareness and diagnosis increases, those with less severe symptoms tell their own stories about how autism affects them. Diagnostic criteria are broadened to include these accounts, which in turn leads to another increase in diagnoses .”

In short, there is no clear answer to what autism is and is not. Some say there will never be.

William Mundy, professor of neurodevelopmental diseases at University College London, believes the ambiguous nature of autism is a defining feature of the disorder.

He said: “What characteristics do we need to have before we label someone autistic?” It’s a difficult question and I think we should have a numerical cutoff – maybe we should say 2% population with autism. “

One thing more important than the profound problems of an autism diagnosis is the sad fact that people with autism tend to live happy lives.Compared to non-autistic people, they have approx. 70-0% More likely to have poor physical and mental health, lower educational attainment, unemployment and underemploymentvictimized, social isolation and premature death.

The NHS is doing its best, but the number of children waiting to be assessed for autism has increased by 350% since the height of the coronavirus pandemic, with waiting times exceeding two years.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) are at a breaking point: in some parts of the UK, 80% of child mental health referrals are related to autism. Some NHS commissioners have introduced new referral criteria in an attempt to trim lists, a move parents say puts children at risk of harm including suicide.

This has led some to ask whether the main goal of autism research should be refocused on understanding how to help people with autism live happier lives.

“We’re currently very focused on making a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ distinction in terms of diagnosis,” Mandy said. “But why not say, ‘Someone has these characteristics. How does this impact their life and how can we help?’ “