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[–] 14 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The Science Vs. podcast just did an episode on this.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eKgmLJZrEKTbVzCVYzp0u

Spoiler: It's exactly as the meme describes. Autism rates are rising not because more people are becoming autistic, but because we’ve expanded the definition and improved how we recognize and diagnose it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    improved how we recognize and diagnose it.

    Well, we at least have changed how we recognize and diagnose it, I'm not totally convinced it's 100% an "improvement". We've kind of jumbled up a whole bunch of people under a common umbrella and diluted the implications of the term, to the point where it tells you negligible practical information when someone is described as "autistic" or "on the spectrum".

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yeah, that's a totally fair concern and is one of the points the episode addresses. Researchers acknowledged that the definition has broadened, but they also emphasized that it reflects a better understanding of autism as a spectrum. It does make the label less specific, but it's also helped a lot of people. Especially women and people of color. It helped them get more accurate diagnoses instead of being misdiagnosed or ignored.

    Overall, it's a stat worth celebrating as it means more people are getting the support they needed all along.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I hope that's the net result, just afraid that so many others will be dismissive of someone asserting autism, particularly with certain folks seeming to think being autistic is a license to be inconsiderate while claiming it also means you are smart and so is worth declaring a self-diagnosis.

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