Autism: The Different World Pandemic
By Anne Dachel
Long live the big lie
A few years ago I started writing about what I call The Really Big Lie on Autism.
Here is my original 2006 article about “The really big lie.”
In the years that followed, I added to the Really Big Lie story because it’s the lie that can never die.
So what is “The Really Big Lie”?
This is the rule set in stone that the number of children with autism will not and will not really increase – no matter what the rate.
In my original post from 2006, I talked about my experience when my son, who is now 35 years old, was first diagnosed in the 1990s. Back then, autism was that rare, mysterious disorder.
It is important to note that in 2006 the US autism rate, as announced in 2004, was one in 166 children. This was of course the result of a “better diagnosis / no real increase”.
One in 166 is nothing compared to the statistics we’ve gotten used to over the years.
2007: one of 150, 2009: one of 110, 2012: one of 88, 2014: one of 68, 2018: one of 59, (also 2018: one of 40 according to a separate study in JAMA), 2020: one of 54 .
STILL, any increase was the same, not an increase in the actual number of children with autism.
I have to point out that there were small additions to these inexplicable numbers that were neatly and quickly swept away with no further post-processing.
I’m talking about news reports of research showing that autism numbers are skyrocketing in many places. For example, North Carolina: one in 39, South Korea: one in 38, New Jersey: one in 32, Hong Kong: one in 27, Northern Ireland: one in 22 and most recently Toms River, NJ: one in 14 students, one in eight boys.
There are many differences here. Shouldn’t someone try to understand the relentless surge and figure out why individual places have such terrible numbers? Is there no end in sight? When do things get bad enough for health officials to wake up and know what is happening?
None of this will ever happen.
Every single increase in autism has been cleared away by some CDC celebrities, often wearing US public health uniforms, and advised us that officials did not know if THIS increase was a real increase in the number of children with autism shows. (Actually, this cryptic statement means THE LAST BIG STEP OF THE AUTISM RATE, but the press dutifully reports it as NOT a REAL INCREASE.)
Undoubtedly, the medical community and U.S. health officials have done nothing in the past 20 years to fight the autism epidemic other than watch the number of disabled children skyrocket while telling us this is not real.
It is clear that three things are inevitable because events are now beyond our control:
- Autism statistics are not balanced; they only get worse because we don’t do anything to stop them.
- Health officials will continue to accept all the numbers with no alarm or even real concern. (No one at the CDC has ever used the word “crisis” to refer to autism.)
- The CDC will keep repeating “The Really Big Lie” no matter how bad things get.
I added this third point because it is far too late for anyone at the CDC to say, “Oops, there are really more children with autism. It is no better to diagnose / greater awareness / expanded definition. We screwed up this big time. We’re sorry.”
This brings me to the latest official autism fantasy from the UK.
Just take a look at my website Loss of brain confidence Understand that the UK is using borrowed time to deal with autism.
On the loss of brain confidence, I am reporting on news of the decline in education due to the massive numbers of disabled students, and I show that the UK is now inundated with special education costs, mainly because of the rise in autism.
The words “increased demand” and “expected growth” are chiming endlessly with no explanation. Across the UK, they are spending millions on new special / autism schools locally. The same thing happens in Ireland.
The national government in each country is investing billions in schools to care for the disabled, but educators still show no real concern. The adjectives “excited” and “enthusiastic” are often the terms used by officials when it comes to adding autism classes, units, and even building entire schools for autistic students. Don’t worry, everything is fine. We are happy to do so.
Projections
We were also told it won’t stop. Many places in the UK expect exponential growth to continue. District councils provide school funding and routinely forecast MORE AUTISTIC STUDENTS in the years to come.
How long can this catastrophe last before everything collapses financially?
There are some people who ask questions. I’ve seen stories, but anyone who even suggests we should look at the special education numbers will be immediately cursed as an attack on the disabled.
Amid this impossible situation is the latest research from Exeter University in the UK. Only the completely unsuspecting will take this seriously, but it attracts media attention. It’s the latest update of the REALLY BIG LIE ABOUT AUTISM, a kind of reinterpretation of the old lie.
A 787 percent increase in autism in the UK over the past 20 years is due to the “increasing recognition” of the disorder among girls and adults. Case closed.
Here’s the twist:
Irish times:
The number of people diagnosed with autism in England has increased more than twenty-fold in two decades, with a larger increase in women and adults, new research has found.
University of Exeter researchers say the 787 percent increase from 1998 to 2018, identified from the primary care records of more than nine million patients, is likely due to increased recognition and understanding of autism.
The British times:
A diagnosis of autism has become meaningless, one scientist claimed after the number of new cases rose by 787 percent in two decades.
In England, the number of autism diagnoses has exploded, largely due to increased recognition. The increase between 1998 and 2018 was larger for women than for men and the highest increase recorded in adult diagnoses.
Uta Frith, a neuroscientist and professor emeritus of cognitive development at University College London, said the numbers showed that urgent changes are needed in diagnosing the condition. “It strongly suggests that the diagnosis of autism has been stretched to the point and outgrown its purpose,” she said.
Medical express:
The number of people diagnosed with autism has increased by 787 percent in the past two decades, a new study shows, likely an effect of its increased recognition. The exponential increase – between 1998 and 2018 – was larger for women than for men, with the largest increases in adults.
iNews:
Adult diagnoses were a distinctive feature of the increase, and the University of Exeter researchers who conducted the study believe the huge increase in cases is primarily due to better identification.
Daily Mail:
Autism diagnoses in England have increased nearly eight-fold over the past two decades, a study shows.
British researchers said the “explosive” surge was likely due to increased awareness and screening for the disease. …
The study’s lead author, Ginny Russel, said this growth was driven by more cases in girls and adults, suggesting better identification of autism as a cause.
(Some of these stories admit that a real spike “may have contributed to the increase in prevalence,” but that caveat is deep in the story and certainly not in the headline.)
The lie lives on.
So an autism rate based on studies of eight-year-olds is growing because we are finally diagnosing it in two neglected groups, women, along with adults in general. How exactly does it work? Nobody asks.
In 2011, a study from the UK showed that the rate of autism in adults was comparable to that in children as a result of a telephone survey. Case closed.
That was wrong, of course, but there has been a lot of coverage in the press. Nobody bothered to ask why the autism we see in children makes them non-verbal, self-abusive, chronically ill, and learning disabled. This group would hardly be able to answer questions over the phone.
The latest “science” claiming that more women and adults are being diagnosed with autism explains why they are building entire schools for autism in the UK is a real fantasy.
Studies like the one from 2011 and the most recent one from the UK obviously need funding. They are the red distractions that allow everyone to sleep at night.
similar posts
- Student with autism charged with crime
- Part 5: Mark Blaxill on the autism tsunami
- Part 4: Mark Blaxill talks about the autism tsunami
