What is autism?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stipulates that 1% of the world’s population has autism spectrum disorder (ASD); that’s over 75,000,000 people [1]. ASD is officially defined as a neurological and developmental disorder, where characteristics akin to ASD generally appear in the first 2 years of life [2]. Autistic people are usually described as ‘neurodivergent’, which means their brains work differently to a neurotypical person [3].
Who can be diagnosed with autism?
People of all genders, races, ethnicities and economic backgrounds can be diagnosed with ASD. ASD is a condition that some people are born with, and it’s part of who they are, no matter their upbringing [3].
When are people diagnosed with autism?
Most children are not diagnosed until after the age of 3 years old, even though some developmental markers for ASD can be seen before this [4]. These markers include:
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Issues with maintaining and initiating eye contact
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Issues with responding to own name
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Repetitive movements, such as rocking
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Not talking as much as older children
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Lack of mimicking (e.g., smiling)
Autistic experience in adults
There are some characteristics of autism that are present in most autistic people. These are defined by the National Health Service (NHS) [5] as:
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Finding it hard to understand what others are thinking and feeling
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getting very anxious about social situations
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finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own
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seeming blunt, rude or not interested in others without meaning to
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finding it hard to say how you feel
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taking things very literally – for example, you may not understand sarcasm or phrases like "break a leg"
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having the same routine every day and getting very anxious if it changes
References
[1] Therapeutic Pathways. (2021). How Many People are Diagnosed with Autism in the U.S. [online] Available at: https://www.tpathways.org/faqs/how-many-people-have-autism/#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20have%20autism%3F&text=According%20to%20the%20Centers%20for.
[2] National Institute of Mental Health (2024). Autism spectrum disorder. [online] National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Available at: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd#:~:text=Autism%20spectrum%20disorder%20(ASD)%20is.
[3] Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Neurodivergent: What It Is, Symptoms & Types. [online] Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23154-neurodivergent#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9Cneurodivergent%E2%80%9D%20describes%20people.
[4] https://www.nichd.nih.gov/. (n.d.). When do children usually show symptoms of autism? [online] Available at: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/autism/conditioninfo/symptoms-appear#:~:text=Most%20children%20with%20autism%20are.
[5] NHS (2022). Signs of Autism in Adults. [online] NHS. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/signs/adults/.
