There have been a lot of sensationalized articles stating that there is an epidemic of autism in the US and possibly around the world. If you believe the hype, you may blame diet, Tylenol, television screens, and any number of other things for this thirty percent increase in autism diagnoses over the past two decades, but the truth may be far less sinister.

So what is actually contributing to the increase?

It turns out that there are a number of possible factors, most of which suggest that the number of people with autism hasn’t increased in population percentage nearly as much as we have been led to believe.

The first thing you need to know is that the very definition of autism has changed over the years. Originally believed to be a form of childhood schizophrenia, autism was first defined in the DSM as a “profound emotional disturbance that did not have an effect on cognition at all.” It wasn’t until the 1980s that autism was listed as its own diagnosis and not a facet of schizophrenia, although the two diagnoses do have a higher than average comorbidity (autistics are three to four times more likely to also have schizophrenia).

However, even after that separation, the model that they had for autism was based largely on white, biologically male children, so anyone that did not meet the criteria of being white, biologically male, or a child was often overlooked.

Even further, it wasn’t until 2013 that the DSM acknowledged that Autism could also be comorbid with ADHD. Prior to that, many US doctors agreed that a child could not have both Autism and ADHD, so many doctors diagnosed children arbitrarily with one or the other despite the fact that the child may have met the criteria for both. Many children were given a diagnosis of ADHD because it was treatable with medication. This was especially true for biological females who, as I stated above, were already being overlooked for being born the “wrong” gender for autism.

In addition, the diagnostic criteria has become both more refined and inclusive to absorb other diagnoses such as the former diagnosis of Aspergers into the umbrella of social and emotional communication disorders known as Autism.

So it is true that more children than ever before are being diagnosed with autism, and that might seem alarming at face value, but digging deeper, we hope that it means that autism is being diagnosed more accurately and that fewer children are being overlooked for not fitting into a stereotype.

The other thing to remember is that many of the people that are receiving their diagnoses are the very adults that were overlooked by these earlier diagnostic models. One famous instance of this is Sir Anthony Hopkins who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 77. But there have been many, many other such instances of people well into their thirties, forties, and beyond who are now seeking diagnosis because they had no idea that the reason they felt so different as a youngster was due to the fact that they were actually different.

And one thing that makes autism even more prevalent is the addition of adults who self-identify as autistic (also called self-diagnosing). This has been somewhat of a snowball effect due to social media sites such as TikTok where diagnoses like Autism, ADHD, and many others may be overrepresented due to people with these diagnoses discussing them and reaching out for a connection with others who are experiencing similar traits.

I would like to take a further look into self-diagnosis tomorrow and discuss whether or not it should be as valid as the autistic community claims it is.