| Teeqoz said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_autism I figured the "definition" of autism would've changed, thus causing more people to be diagnosed with it. However it seems odd to me that It'd account for such a massive increase, but as I said, it has to be something. Or maybe I'm wrong, and that all of the increase is caused by changes in definition of autism. It may be some of the other thiousands of chemicals that have been taken into daily use in the past decades, but writing this all off as just a change in diagnostics is kinda reckless imo. |
It's not necessarily just that we've expanded the definition (well, spectrum), but that it's something better understood and actively searched for in kids now. Go back 30 - 40 years and barley anyone even knew what autism was, we just labeled kids that didn't fit in "weird" or "retarded" and didn't take the time to consider why they acted how they did, or if we could help. Heck, it's 2015 and many people still assume that anyone with autism must be inherently stupid...
There may very well be outside factors at play, but the wider definition, better understanding and active search for symptoms seem like more plausible explanations. Especially since the increase in autism diagnoses lines up with the decrease in mental retardation prevalence.
This looks scary:
This on the other hand suggests we simply better understand what we're diagnosing:
Correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation, but it's a logical conclusion that the two are related. The topic will no doubt continue to be researched to death for years to come though, so we'll see.
(Sorry if i come across as a bit blunt in this post, autism is a topic i can get a bit touchy about).
