In recent years, the public image of autism has changed dramatically. Media coverage, social media advocacy, and popular culture increasingly portray autistic people as articulate, independent, academically successful, or socially unconventional in appealing ways. Autism is often framed primarily as a natural human variation – a different way to think and experience the world. For some autistic people, this representation is undoubtedly valid. But it is far from the whole pic

This post is in response to a discussion on Facebook, 05.05.2026 Having trouble shopping with an autistic youngster? I understand this problem only too well: from the time my son was a toddler, it was impossible to take him shopping with me. Anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) could trigger his meltdown. Sometimes I could identify the cause of it (even if it took days after the event) – constantly playing the ‘video’ of the latest ‘catastrophe’ in my head until I found a more o

A Mother Before a Pioneer Dr Lorna Wing did not set out to revolutionise autism research. Like many transformative figures in science, her journey began not in theory, but in lived experience. When her daughter Susie was born in 1956 and later diagnosed with severe autism at the age of three, the landscape was desolate—clinically, socially, and emotionally. Despite years of medical training, Lorna and her husband John, both psychiatrists, knew almost nothing about autism when

Pressure on Diagnostic Services In recent years, adult autism diagnostic services have come under exceptional pressure. Referral rates have surged, far outpacing clinical capacity, and exposing systemic limitations in provision. The consequences are stark. An NHS-funded diagnostic service in Oxfordshire, for example, recently closed its waiting list after estimating that it could take until 2043 to process its backlog of over 2,000 patients. For individuals referred before 20

In recent years, increasing attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of autism diagnosis in adolescence and adulthood . Waiting lists for assessment have grown rapidly. In England, for example, the average waiting time for an autism diagnosis reached 300 days , substantially exceeding the 91-day target recommended by NICE (Fagg & Woodhead 2023). The rising demand for assessment reflects a broader shift in public awareness and clinical practice. Public discussion often pre

In recent decades, clinicians and researchers have become increasingly aware of a form of extreme social withdrawal lasting at least six months, known as hikikomori [ 1 ]. The term was coined in the late 1990s by Japanese psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki to describe individuals who withdraw almost entirely from social life, isolating themselves within their home – often in a single room – refusing school or work, and avoiding face-to-face relationships. While some remain connected t

Autism has long been described as a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder/condition. Core behavioural features, typically emerging in infancy or early childhood, have been assumed to persist throughout the lifespan. The research, however, suggests that within the vast heterogeneity of autism , not all individuals follow a single, fixed trajectory. Various reports have documented the presentation of " acquired autism " ( regression ) following a period of typical development.

This post continues a critical analysis of a list of memes titled What Not to Say to an Autistic Person . The first “not to” – “You don’t look autistic” – was examined in the previous post . Here, we turn to two further entries on that list: “ We’re all on the spectrum ” and “ Everyone is a bit autisti c .” Both statements are routinely dismissed as ignorant and/or offensive. Yet their persistence suggests that something more than simple misunderstanding is at work. These p

How Research on “Frank” Autism Undermines a Persistent and Harmful Meme With a few friends, I have started working on a project that may be seen as controversial but feels deeply important to those of us who live with the consequences of how autism is constantly redefined, reframed, and repackaged online[ 1 ]. We decided to start small—by analysing the memes that circulate endlessly across social media—and then follow the discussion wherever it leads us. When I looked at a li