Why Do So Many People Have Autism Now?

Current data from the CDC states that autism prevalence is estimated to be about 1 in 36. Many people are wondering why there are so many people who have autism now. In this video, I'll address that question.
Happy World Autism Awareness/Acceptance Day!
#worldautismawarenessday #worldautismday #worldautismacceptanceday
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[@stevejames2566]

Misdiagnosis in the past make it seem as though there is a huge increase in cases but possibly they were there all along. I was finally, after 15 years of misdiagnosis, correctly assessed and I was 56 at the time.

[@Catlily5]

It makes sense that autism numbers jumped when they added PDD-NOS and Asperger's into what is considered autism.

[@BipolarCourage]

Psychiatrist who assessed me insisted PDD-NOS is not ASD but is below threshold for ASD yet still "on the autism spectrum". Kinda confusing.

[@BipolarCourage]

Psychiatrist who assessed me insisted PDD-NOS is not ASD but is below threshold for ASD yet still "on the autism spectrum". Kinda confusing.

[@Catlily5]

@@BipolarCourage I don't know about New Zealand or Australia but if you were diagnosed with PPD-NOS in the USA before you would now be considered to have autism. I know someone who is in this situation.

[@BipolarCourage]

@@Catlily5 whole thing is confusing as the psychiatrist said "you are definitely on the spectrum with autism spectrum features" yet also said under threshold for ASD diagnosis & insisted PDD-NOS is not merged into ASD. I guess it might be like how cyclothymia is part of a bipolar spectrum but is not a bipolar disorder.

[@Catlily5]

@@BipolarCourage I don't know. In the USA you would now have Autism Spectrum Disorder because PPD-NOS has been merged with autism. But I don't know about there.

[@GPKatai]

Not to mention sometimes other disorders hide it. Like ADHD can hide it

[@Catlily5]

I lived in a group home in 2000. Depending on the group home you could be out in the community a lot. I rode the bus most days of the week and went shopping for example. But in some group homes people don't get out much. So I would say that it varies on how visible disabled people were and are to the community.

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

100% this. Even with disabilities that aren't autism the experiences are individual on capabilities. Not every disability is visible and even in the case of blind individuals some can see a little bit like they can see shadow and light and a little bit of color but nothing distinctive and their everyday isn't in complete darkness

[@celinahuezo5518]

I think cause they realized girls have it too.

[@GPKatai]

Yup women and minorities were left out for a loooong time. Same with ADHD.

[@Star_Rattler]

from my personal observation, it seems to me that not only do girls/women get autism, but it seems to me that boys/men do not have autism more frequently. it used to be boys only, then boys had it mostly and girls rarely, now it's around a 1-4ish ratio, but honestly I think that women are autistic at the same prevelancy or more than men. I know about 3x as many autistic women than men. I know a single digit number of autistic men personally, and over 20 women personally. taking into account those I know superficially or by ear or online, the ratio is close to 2-1.2 or something women to men. but that's only my personal observations from my life.

[@LilChuunosuke]

And people of color. Both of these communities are still regularly excluded from diagnosis nowadays, though less frequently.

[@Jaichbinhier]

"It's because everyone is trying to be like Stephannie, because she's so cool." 😌 It's really interesting to learn how sometimes problems aren't new, They are just labeled and treated differently over time, so they don't seem like old issues. It's like if all forms of pizza were officially reclassified as "pie" marketed And suddenly all of the national pie consumption statistics skyrocketed; Or if the number of pizza toppings and its total size used to be significant for Labeling its health effects, and then one day the powers that be declared that no more To be accurate, that it's an all-or-nothing situation, so a "personal pan pizza" No longer got designated into a separate food category... yet it is practically a Different eating experience to have a small cheese pizza Compared to a six-topping family-size one, assuming you eat the Whole thing by yourself [which isn't always a fair assumption, Explaining why they might reclassify the statistics criteria in this hypothetical situation]. Thank you for doing your part to help clear up misunderstandings and spread to us Accurate awareness of the Autism spectrum and various related issues and such. 🙂 (I hope you and yours had a Happy Resurrection Day and a safe April Fool's! 🥳🥳🥳)

[@chrismaxwell1624]

Well judging by the amount of late diagnosis the we see. So this shows that many slipped through the cracks. Which matches the the changes from in the DSM from a very narrow definition of autism to a much wider spectrum and including diagnosis like Asperger's well. I should just listened you pointed it out. Another thing is Autism genetic. Increasing population means more cases. I expect there would be an increase. I'd be surprised to see it say flat or decrease.

[@j.b.4340]

Just found out. Always had it. (80’s baby.)

[@whitneymason406]

My son was diagnosed autistic first and then I got my diagnosis 3 years later! We did genetic testing and we found that both my son and I have a gene mutation of unknown significance.

[@amandamandamands]

I think about my autism being missed sometimes and then I look at what the knowledge level was at the time. I should have graduated high school in 1990 (dropped out in year 11) and Asperger's wasn't in the DSM until 1994. Add to that that when I was going through school people were only evaluated for anything if they thought they needed to go to special ed. This means that a whole range of people had their differences missed and were just told off in the classroom that they weren't trying hard enough, weren't paying attention etc.

[@JonBrase]

Good to see another video from you. I was first starting to seriously research autism around the time your posting frequency fell off, now have my formal diagnosis.

[@steffy23456]

I was born in the early-mid 2000s. My mom figured I was autistic when I was 2, but didn't want to get me assessed due to stigma. When I was in middle school, I heard the term autism for the first time. I asked my parents what was autism and when they described it as "being in your own world", I asked if I am in my own world, would I be considered autistic. I only got assessed and confirmed autistic recently, but I was still autistic at 2 or in middle school and for my whole life

[@kimberlyrodriguez8479]

Thanks for the informative video. As a Hispanic female I can personally vouch for the lack of awareness or understanding in our culture. I'd struggled all my life but didn't know I was Autistic until I did my own research. My family always brushed off my issue as me being "dramatic" or "childish" my whole life instead of realizing I was Autistic. Even to this day there's not nearly as much awareness or understanding of Autism as there should be...

[@MiroslavHundak]

I like how your videos are often very carefully researched and science based, which is difficult in an of itself because most research on autism is targeted towards early detection with intent on rehabilitation, or worse, prevention, even though it's been shown time and time again that autism is inheritable and stable lifelong condition/divergence.

[@gigahorse1475]

Your channel is underrated! It’s way more research-based and balanced than the majority of autism related channels, which tend to be experience-based or explaining common talking points without citing research (which is ok, but I prefer research)!

[@longline]

Also, people weren't gay in the 1940s, or in ancient Rome. It's new...

[@JonBrase]

"Or in ancient Rome", lol.

[@davidbolger2000AD]

Alan Turing : *AM I A JOKE TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

[@glaceRaven]

ngl every time I hear takes like the ones you quoted, it makes me want to rub my hands together with a sinister expression and say "Yeees, it's all part of our plan for world domination!" and do an evil laugh. The reason I don't is because I feel like the sarcasm might fly over their heads 😅

[@TricksterModeEngaged]

Thank you for doing this video. On the one hand, I understand not everyone has the same info/access to information, but on the other it is still a bit irritating to see this isn't better/more widely understood when the information IS out there and has been for some time. I mean just the fact that they revised the DSM categories in a way that combined what had been considered several different diagnoses into a single condition (ASD) is going to have an obvious impact on the numbers. Personally, I'm glad that we do better screening and are better able to identify autism in kids who are maybe at the less obvious end of the spectrum but still have some ASD-typical challenges. Even if someone has low support needs, there's a huge difference between being able to get by without support (while never understanding why things that come naturally to everyone else require so much effort from you) and having the supports/understanding you need to actually thrive. (signed, a very tired 34 year old who once failed out of a health care program in the final semester despite being an honors student until then. Turns out I have excellent technical skills, but the bedside manner of a department store mannequin. If I had known then what I knew now, I'd have saved myself several years of wasted time and stress)

[@gigahorse1475]

Schizophrenia is my special interest, but I didn’t realize that it was separated from autism in the 80s! That is astonishing! Anyway, autism and schizophrenia are highly comorbid (I have both… lucky me 😭) and they share symptoms. So it’s not surprising that they were ever conceived as the same disorder. Bipolar and schizophrenia used to be thought of as the same thing as well! And schizophrenia used to be thought of as a kind of dementia (dementia praecox). It’s cool to see how our understanding has improved.

[@diannalynnYT]

Because girls were not diagnosed years back. I'm 50. My mom was told I was a best and to do better. She tried to get me help from early on. Lots of misdiagnoses in 20's.

[@hcm9999]

We are equally autistic. It is just that some are more equal than others.

[@MartKart8]

Been a long time since seeing one of your videos.

[@Aphelia.]

Funny, today for my midterms I had to bring in an example research article from New England Journal of Medicine. I chose a paper called "Oxytocin for Autism Spectrum Disorder" and the exam went well. Now I see this video :)

[@wisico640]

Was it promoting it? Because it helps with a lot of things, with aweful repercutions

[@keithgeorge7338]

As a grandfather with 3 ASD grandchildren and other family members with traits, as well as myself, I asked this question myself and your video has answered that. Thank you.

[@socialglitch2663]

Thanks for the info!

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

Grew up in the 80's autism and ADD where considered something boys experience

[@themindseyecmh]

Hi Stephanie, first i wanted to say i discovered your videos about 2 years ago when i realized that i may be on the spectrum. Ive had many struggles and difficulties throughout my life but it wasnt until my son began showing signs of autism, that his doctors shared with us that i realized i might be autistic as well. I discovered youtube channels such as yours, researched what autism in adults may look like, took many of those online tests (all of which i scored pretty high on), talked to some autistic people i know in my community... however the frustration lies in pursuing a diagnosis. My doctor did give me a recommendation but there are very few places i know of that will diagnose adults, and at that, my insurance isn't accepted and its expensive. So i feel stuck in a way. I guess what im getting at is asking if you know of any other avenues to pursue a diagnosis that I'm not aware of?

[@ninjabgwriter]

Hello! I am not an expert by any means, and stuff will vary depending on where you live, but for me, I went to a psychiatrist who was a part of a college and they referred me to a psychological examiner who assessed me, even though I was an adult. You could also try looking into research on autism happening near you and may be able to be assessed at a reduced cost? Good luck, have a great day!

[@themindseyecmh]

@@ninjabgwriter thank you!

[@Dizzychick_MN]

I was also certified as an OTA! I chose not to pursue it due to emotional difficulty I had with long term functioning in clinical environment. Honestly loved the work but struggled with treating people's health like a business. Also constant anxiety over maintaining a strict professional face, which is quite different from my natural state. As someone in the field I am curious to your thoughts on ABA therapy and whether what they do would actually fall under the scope of occupational therapy. I personally believe this is the case and interested in what other medical professionals may think.

[@4everpee]

They know and I know that immune dysfonction is something important in autism. when I was a child I have way too many flu and infections. And I still have many immune trouble like psoriasis and may otherthing and still too many flu if I am not vaccinated. I mmune is a key in autism.

[@nostalgiamostalgia0319]

It's quite certain that so many people in the 19th century had it yet it predates the diagnosis itself, so for all that we know, the rates could be even higher overall therefore.

[@brianfoster4434]

Good to hear from you! I have a question or more like something to consider. More and more people are being identified later in life. I'm in my mid 50's and have just now received a clinical diagnosis. Obviously, being identified late in life indicates a high degree of masking and low support needs. Anyway.... is anyone keeping track of those numbers? Are medical providers feeding the information into any kind of database? If the numbers exist, I think it would be possible to make an attempt to normalize the data going all the way back to the late 1960's. If the data is good, it might even show that nothing has changed.

[@Desertphile]

Thank you. I do not have autism; I am autistic.

[@louiewitt9827]

I Am Louie and I Am Autistic Too and I Like Watching Your KZbin Videos We Can Understand All The Many Autistic People and I Have My KZbin Videos You Could See Also Enjoy The Day - Louie

[@tudormiller887]

Hi Stepanie. ❤ this video. Watching in 🇬🇧

[@SSJKamui]

Well. I know that the "better diagnostics" explaination is the favourite explaination of most autism groups. I would not completely rule out environment factors. I think the Computer technology connection some researchers Pointed out is valid as well. (It is known that silicon valley has rather high numbers of autism as well as countries like China, Japan and Korea.)But there is the question of how this connection actually works and which causes what here. (And to be honest. I think many aspects of east asian culture in General are rather autism friendly. Honking in Traffic is discouraged. You habe rules in store which prevent other customers to get too close. High number of explicit rules compared to more implicit rules in Western countries. )

[@ninjabgwriter]

I do also wonder if certain professions tend to attract autistic individuals, like the jobs available in silicon valley, and as they've had kids it's become more prevalent in those areas. Someone with a special interest in things like computers would be more likely to pursue a career in it than someone with a passing hobby in computers. I also think the available of computers, particularly the information you can access through them, as an impact on diagnosis. My brother was diagnosed as autistic as a toddler, and my parents thought I was as well, but because I'm a high-masking female, they diagnosed me as 'quirky' instead. As a little kid, my challenges were way more manageable because the demands on a child are so much lighter and routines are almost the whole day, but as I got older and older they became harder to cope with, so I looked 'more autistic' (my parents noticed symptoms of autism in me from the time I was a baby, but they really started to visibly impact my ability to function when I was in 2nd grade). I didn't know why I was struggling so much, I just assumed it was a moral failing of some kind. Years later my therapist suggested I get assessed for autism again, and I did research. Suddenly, I had names for my struggles I had always been experiencing. I wasn't just 'bad at saying how I feel', I was experiencing alexithymia and struggling to even tell what or that I was feeling emotions at all. I wasn't just 'a little jittery', I was stimming and fidgeting to cope with how overwhelming the world is to me. I wasn't just 'a lazy bad person', I was experiencing *severe* executive dyfunction. I did extensive research on autism, everything from anecdotal quotes to scientific papers. I suddenly understood why I couldn't ever fit in, why I struggled so much to take care of myself, why I couldn't 'just read' other people or social cues, why I would get so overwhelmed and exhausted by things that the people around me didn't even seem to notice, or even feel outright pain from things like water droplets hitting me in the shower. When I finally got assessed again in my 20s, I was diagnosed. The information I had access to through computers made me actually take my therapist's advice seriously to get diagnosed, and helps me make accommodations for myself now. All this to say, I do think environmental factors are having an effect, but more on which places will attract autistics to live and then end up starting families leading to more births of autistic people, and environmental factors making diagnosis much more common and accessible. Pretty much all reputable research on autism so far shows that autism is present from birth, and that's actually one of the diagnostic criterias. So stuff like computer usage and prevalence may have a correlation to an uptick in autism diagnosis, but not causality.

[@fluffymcdeath]

I blame the industrial revolution. Before that, autistic traits were less valued and children would be more likely to die from inappropriate attention in a dangerous world and more likely to meet with capital punishment.

[@WoodshedTheory]

Excellent video

[@user-dc3ek1pn1n]

They’ve expanded the criteria

[@ThroughTheLensOfAutism]

I should have come up with a video for autism awareness week.

[@blakeharvard5841]

😊 good facts

[@janeann3331]

Occupational assistant congrats girl!

[@IaconDawnshire]

80s baby and I have it due to being a preemie

[@lauraburystedmundsyoga8231]

💚

[@bruce5]

As always, you rise from the hysteria to provide a clear understanding about autism and why it's so prevalent. I just wish your absences weren't so long.

[@davinxi5926]

Agent Orange

[@Soldrakenn]

I agree to much of this, but I do think we are doing ourselfs and our children a disservice if we ignore all the literature that shows that humans are being effected in many ways by the heavy toxic load from millions of substances that disturb hormones and gut microbiota etc. It's just a fact that neurological development is connected to nutrient absoption and immune funtion. We should try to reduce the environmental toxins.

[@Moviefan2k4]

I was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome, in 2013. At the time, the reveling of this was a huge "light bulb" moment for me, because up to that point, both myself and many around me were thinking I'd either lost my mind, or was simply making stuff up to get attention.

[@prschuster]

I guarantee you that 50 years ago, high functioning autism (Aspergers) was not diagnosed. Some people were considered to be slow in picking up social skills without a diagnosis. In the past, a lot of people were passed off as being "weird", for unknown reasons. Of course, this discrepancy adds fuel to conspiracy theories.

[@cbh2409]

It's the microplastics and other chemicals in the water. It's highly disruptive and is related to both autism and gender related changes in our society.

[@a.cooper7865]

Is that even true? Do people really have autism these days?

[@jackstack2136]

Some good points here, but there's no denying that an overwhelming majority are attention seekers too. It should not be any surprise to find that, in a culture where everyone is perpetually in competition with each other trying to brand themselves like products to be "unique", autism is really just the new "black is the new pink, is the new orange, etc." and it'd be dope if tubers stopped co-opting it for views imo. "Being overly knowledgeable of mundane specifics and having some ticks!!" is less an entertaining schtick and more a negative depiction that could really be considered a slur at this point

[@BipolarCourage]

It's because it's being way overdiagnosed now. Many popular infleuncers admit occasionally that they had no clinically significant features in childhood & for decades. Evangelise to their followers to self-diagnose too. Medical conditions are now watered down into non-impairing traits & made into identities.

[@NickSBailey]

This really isn't the case, a tonne of people out there me included have struggled with impairments and no diagnosis, because I had empathy all the other symptoms were ignored I'm not even low support needs, not to mention all the girls that were undiagnosed.If you think about it makes sense that something like this would be under-diagnosed because it only gets picked up when there's a problem at school or people struggle to stay in work, if people find coping strategies it's ignored, the problem is you can't live like that indefinitely you are likely to hit a wall eventually and those strategies break down and you just can't do it any more

[@amandamandamands]

You do understand that when I was growing up no one was evaluated for anything unless they thought that you needed to go into special ed. This means that people with all sorts of learning difficulties, autism ADHD etc were missed. Also Asperger's wasn't even in a DSM until 1994 which is after I had graduated high school (and by the way the criteria as it is written in the DSM is how autism typically presents in a white boy). That means that there are a whole lot of autistic people out there that missed a diagnosis because no one knew to look for it in the first place. Add to that that where I live (don't know how it is in other countries) that it is only people who have a special interest in ASD/ADHD that even know what they are looking for so unless you suspect that is what is happening you aren't looking for one of those specialists. That means that you get diagnosed with what fits best in their knowledge base instead. You sound like you preferred it when the autistic people were just missed or misdiagnosed as it fits better within your narrative that people are just doing this for clout.

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

It's not being over diagnosed. I grew up in the 80's and it was assumed to be only boys are autistic even though Temple Grandin is an example that already existed at the time.

[@Sarah-with-an-H]

​@@amandamandamandsI'm 48 and in my state I can't even get assessed as an adult however quite a few of my experiences are similar in many ways to someone who was diagnosed with autism at 10.

[@BipolarCourage]

@@NickSBailey I have had half a dozen psychiatric diagnoses over the years. But everyone wants to jump to autism.