It is possible for two things to be simultaneously true: one, that autism-spectrum disorders are better (and possibly over-) diagnosed today, AND that something is happening to increase their frequency, ESPECIALLY within the last twenty years. I wonder what could have happened in these twenty years. Could it be we are reaping the bitter fruit of allowing children's developing minds to be taken wholly by tablets? I remember looking in horror at a Newsweek cover that had a description about 'tablet toddlers' or something back in 2008 or 2009. I imagine we'll see another spike in disorders as a result of the babies and toddlers who grew up in the wretched mandatory-mask years where they weren't even seeing people.
From what little knowledge I have on the subject, about the only thing I'm confident in saying is that the causes are probably many and complex. Part of me wonders if 'Autism' is just a way of classifying a series of attributes that are part of the wide range of human existence. The more we look at it the more we find that Humanity is a rather diverse beast - surprisingly so!
The genetic materials for Autism come together during development in the womb. There are many chemical markers that if turned on, will create various symptoms for any number of neurodiversities, not just autism. What flips the switches in utero that we know of so far are: genetics, maternal stress, pollution, health of the mother (smoking, drugs, diabetes), low birth weight, diet, and premature birth. There are life stressors in the child’s life that can flip on more switches. It’s similar to all the factors in a family’s history of developing breast cancer or Alzheimer’s. Just because you have some markers, it’s not an absolute guarantee that you will develop the disease, it’s just that your chances of developing it are much more likely. With Autism and other neurodiversities, there are so many markers at play, and so much brain development that ties into these conditions that Autism can look very different from one person to the next depending on which markers get flipped on and how many of them. This is why you can have level 3 autism, be non-verbal and rocking, while someone with autism level 1 who is good at masking will appear “normal” if you don’t interact with them on a daily basis to see their issues. All this said, in spite of an expanded criteria for diagnosis, more awareness of the symptoms, and better access to healthcare and early diagnosis, Autism levels are on a slight increase when all of the previous mentioned things are factored into the diagnoses numbers. I personally think pollution is one cause for the increase. Post-birth trauma call also cause switches to flip on.
I think what this post wants to tell us is that people just make a comparison with whatever they want to. No way would the discovery of something that existed before change anything.
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It is possible for two things to be simultaneously true: one, that autism-spectrum disorders are better (and possibly over-) diagnosed today, AND that something is happening to increase their frequency, ESPECIALLY within the last twenty years. I wonder what could have happened in these twenty years. Could it be we are reaping the bitter fruit of allowing children's developing minds to be taken wholly by tablets? I remember looking in horror at a Newsweek cover that had a description about 'tablet toddlers' or something back in 2008 or 2009. I imagine we'll see another spike in disorders as a result of the babies and toddlers who grew up in the wretched mandatory-mask years where they weren't even seeing people.
From what little knowledge I have on the subject, about the only thing I'm confident in saying is that the causes are probably many and complex. Part of me wonders if 'Autism' is just a way of classifying a series of attributes that are part of the wide range of human existence. The more we look at it the more we find that Humanity is a rather diverse beast - surprisingly so!
The genetic materials for Autism come together during development in the womb. There are many chemical markers that if turned on, will create various symptoms for any number of neurodiversities, not just autism. What flips the switches in utero that we know of so far are: genetics, maternal stress, pollution, health of the mother (smoking, drugs, diabetes), low birth weight, diet, and premature birth. There are life stressors in the child’s life that can flip on more switches. It’s similar to all the factors in a family’s history of developing breast cancer or Alzheimer’s. Just because you have some markers, it’s not an absolute guarantee that you will develop the disease, it’s just that your chances of developing it are much more likely. With Autism and other neurodiversities, there are so many markers at play, and so much brain development that ties into these conditions that Autism can look very different from one person to the next depending on which markers get flipped on and how many of them. This is why you can have level 3 autism, be non-verbal and rocking, while someone with autism level 1 who is good at masking will appear “normal” if you don’t interact with them on a daily basis to see their issues. All this said, in spite of an expanded criteria for diagnosis, more awareness of the symptoms, and better access to healthcare and early diagnosis, Autism levels are on a slight increase when all of the previous mentioned things are factored into the diagnoses numbers. I personally think pollution is one cause for the increase. Post-birth trauma call also cause switches to flip on.
Maybe we're slowly adapting to the world we've created for ourselves?
I think what this post wants to tell us is that people just make a comparison with whatever they want to. No way would the discovery of something that existed before change anything.
Indeed. Just because two things happen - or are discovered - at around the same time doesn't mean that one *causes* the other.
Exactly.
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