The slogan “Nothing about us without us” has become one of the defining principles of modern disability advocacy. At its core, it expresses an important moral idea: disabled people should not be excluded from decisions that affect their lives. In many contexts, this principle is both reasonable and necessary. But autism raises difficult questions that the slogan alone cannot answer. Who exactly is the “us” without whom nothing can be decided? Does it refer primarily to autist

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

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

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

Over the past two decades, research on autism has expanded at an extraordinary pace. Studies on prevalence, lived experience, and...

Autism has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent decades. Once thought of as a rare and narrowly defined childhood condition,...

Why motor problems are a sign of ASD and how identifying them at a young age can lead to better results for the child.