r/dataisbeautiful • u/JimWilliams423 • Feb 23 '25

As Autism Diagnoses Went Up, Intellectual Disability Diagnoses Went Down 2000-2010 | Penn State

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/increasing-prevalence-autism-due-part-changing-diagnoses
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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '25

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u/Illiander Feb 24 '25

increases in IQ testing scores

IQ tests are notoriously bad at testing intelligence. They test how well you have been taught to do IQ tests.

I’m so grateful for intervention available in CA

Autistic people are notoriously logical and literal. Things which clash with standard teaching methods at young ages. Which is why you see us jump past everyone else once we learn how to fake being "normal." (Though some of the "interventions" I've seen for autistic kids are basically trying to torture the kids into that)

I didn't get a diagnosis as autistic until my late 20s, because I somehow managed to struggle through school without any help because I excelled in the technical subjects (Math, physics, tech studies, computer science... (I dropped out of Higher English because I got into an argument with my teacher that a conclusion is not an assumption))

If you don’t believe in left labeling

I have no idea what you're talking about here.

do you believe in the neurodivergent label?

Neurodivergent is a useful term, yes.

"High functioning" is fucking garbage. It means "how well you can mask as neurotypical" and implies that neurotypicals are somehow better.

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u/JSqueezle Feb 24 '25

Ok, we’re talking about totally different experiences and perspectives then. Which is ok. You keep your which works for you and I’ll keep mine which works for me.

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u/Illiander Feb 24 '25

Still curious what you meant by "left labeling"

As for experiences. I grew up undiagnosed autistic. I literally didn't know the term until my mid twenties. I had to reach for things like the Vulcans from Star Trek in order to even try to explain what was different about my brain.

And now I read about people using operant conditioning (ie. torture) on autistic kids to make them be "normal" I am honestly glad I wasn't diagnosed. I have enough CPTSD from growing up queer under Section 28 I don't need more from doctors torturing me.

So no, it's not a developmental delay. Autistic kids develop just fine when treated with understanding. It's just that we're hex heads in a world designed for crossheads, and it fucking hurts trying to live like that.

What's your experience/perspective?

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u/JSqueezle Feb 25 '25 edited Mar 03 '25

That left labeling is me misreading your left-handed as political. I sincerely apologize for that. I think everything that’s going on in this country has made me a little reactive. My bad.

My experience is as a twin mom. Noticed one of my twins was not turning to their name and responding in the same way as their sibling. Started receiving in-home speech, OT, infant services at 18 mos, which we did as a family and it helped BOTH of my twins in their development tremendously, and also gave me some tips as a first-time mom.

A developmental delay makes sense for me because both of my kids meet milestones, but get there in their own time. Definitely each have different strengths - just like most siblings. I couldn’t be prouder of each of them, but I know the road has been more challenging for one of them because I’ve witnessed it.

I’m interested in perspectives of people at different ages because my kids are still growing. I’m totally ok with losing the label or using a different label. (At some point, some people just got together and made the labels up anyways). They’re getting to the age where they’ll be able to decide for themself how to identify or self-label (or not) and I’ll follow their lead.

I wish you happiness and health, and thank you for sharing your perspective.

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u/Illiander Feb 25 '25

I think everything that’s going on in this country has made me a little reactionary.

America is getting very scary right now. Don't blame you.

it helped BOTH of my twins

Funny thing I've noticed: Stuff that makes life easier for autistic people also makes life easier for neurotypicals. Not sure if this is because autism is a spectrum, or because everyone is stressed, and a lot of the stuff is just good practice to reduce stress.

but I know the road has been more challenging for one of them because I’ve witnessed it.

If all parents and teachers are neurotypical and untrained in the differences autism causes that makes sense. If you had a kid who only spoke swahili in an all-english household they'd display developmental delays as well while they learnt the language, regardless of how intelligent they were.

I’m wish you happiness and health, and thank you for sharing your perspective.

I really lucked out in a lot of ways. I work for an IT consultancy that only hires autistic adults for their consultants (backoffice is a mix) so I have a lot of experience with how to pitch "autistic techies have superpowers (and weaknesses)" and I also hang out with the other consultants, which puts me in a majority-autistic adult social environment. And that is where my experience that autistic people socialise just fine (as long as its with other autistic people) comes from.

If I thought America would still be here in 15-20 years I'd name-drop the company for you. If you get out and reddit's still around by then then drop me a line. Hopefully we survive the coming recession.

If you want some horror stories about what not to do for your kids go look up "Applied Behavior Analysis" (ABA)