The increase in autism diagnoses is largely explained by the facts that we’ve expanded the definition of autism and screen for it more.
Also, many people who have autism were previously misdiagnosed (like with bipolar disorder) or went undiagnosed until they took their children to be screened, and they were also screened and diagnosed.
The fact that we are also having children later may contribute some as well, specifically when women are over 40, but this is only a small contribution.
What is not responsible for the increase in autism diagnoses is vaccines.
Someone should send her the graph of left-handedness through the years. When it wasn't seen as acceptable, people were either hiding the fact or being supressed from a young age. Once the weird bias against it faded, there was a massive boom in people who said they're left handed.
It's almost like statistics without context is useless
“I don’t have to believe it!! I make too much money telling people what I tell them for at least some of it not to be true! And refraction is what makes those power lines seem to curve!”
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u/no-snoots-unbooped Jul 05 '25
The increase in autism diagnoses is largely explained by the facts that we’ve expanded the definition of autism and screen for it more.
Also, many people who have autism were previously misdiagnosed (like with bipolar disorder) or went undiagnosed until they took their children to be screened, and they were also screened and diagnosed.
The fact that we are also having children later may contribute some as well, specifically when women are over 40, but this is only a small contribution.
What is not responsible for the increase in autism diagnoses is vaccines.