“Autism spectrum disorder spiked 175% among people in the U.S. from 2.3 per 1,000 in 2011 to 6.3 per 1,000 in 2022, researchers found. Diagnosis rates climbed at a faster rate among adults in their mid-20s to mid-30s in that period, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.”
Another case of Left Handed liberation.
Edit: It seems my half-jest comment wasn’t well-received, haha. To clarify further, the percentage of left-handed individuals worldwide has remained relatively stable at around 12% for decades. However, it wasn’t always this way, and it wasn’t that long ago either, if you examine graphs showing the population of left-handed people over time. This isn’t because the frequency of left-handedness has increased; rather, it’s because our data collection and reporting on this aspect has improved significantly. As culturally left-handed individuals have stopped being persecuted for various archaic reasons, primarily religious ones, our understanding of left-handedness has also improved. Consequently, it’s not surprising that the number of individuals with autism (or any other condition) is “increasing” as we continue to refine and better understand the characteristics associated with autism. There’s lots more factors here, similar to the spike and subsequent decrease of lead-related afflictions as the world successfully moved away from leaded gasoline.