Has there been an epidemic of autism in America over the last ten years?

Answer 1

ANSWER=

As someone who has worked with children who have autism [I dislike "autistic kids"], my personal opinion is: not so many years ago, doctors, experts and parents had no notion of autism. The more we all began to recognize it, the more children became "diagnosed" with autism. I put it in quotation marks because there really is no diagnosis, as in other maladies. There is no blood test, there is no genetic test, there is no DNA test. What there is is a long list of criteria-- certain behaviors and actions and feelings on the part of the child [or adult]. If the child or adult is evaluated, and they meet a large portion of the criteria, we acknowledge with a great bit of certainty that they have autism. Again, there is no definitive test. Having said that, a more direct answer to your question would be : At one time we did not recognize autism...... fast forward to 2009.... we now recognize autism in children at a very young age. I believe that is why it seems like an epidemic; because it is being recognized earlier, it's being dealt with earlier, and people aren't afraid to talk about it. I realize that every parent wants an answer: Why does my child have autism? With all due respect, personally, I do not think it is caused by: vaccines.. high voltage lines.. tooth fillings.. whats in the water.. red dye #?, bad things mom did while pregnant.. preservatives in our foods.

Answer 2

No, there has not been an epidemic of Autism.

Firstly, consider the word 'Epidemic' - it refers to a spread of an infectious disease: Autistic people are not a disease and autism cannot be contracted - to suggest that autism or Autistic people are like a disease is not only incorrect but incredibly offensive. This term is often used by the likes of Autism Speaks to play on people's fear of autism in order to increase their profits, when people fear autism they are more willing to pay organisations like Autism Speaks to eradicate Autism (and thus us).

Autism diagnosis has increased, but that's all - DIAGNOSIS. Remember that Autism didn't even exist as a diagnosis until the 1980's and wasn't often diagnosed until later in the 1980's, it wasn't until 1994 that Asperger Syndrome was added so opening up Autism diagnosis to far more people. Autism diagnosis in the US is at 1 in 68, but chances are this may be incorrect as in many groups (e.g. females and African-Americans) Autism is actually under-diagnosed.

Changes in diagnosis, easier access to diagnosis, and increased awareness of autism has seen an increase in diagnosis - this does not mean that there are now more Autistic people, we have always been here and there's no evidence there's more of us now than ten years ago.