Where Are All The Older Autistic People? Scotland, For Example

Edit Story

Sep 25, 2013,07:00pm EDT|

Where Are All The Older Autistic People? Scotland, For Example

Emily Willingham
Former Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Science

This article is more than 8 years old.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Folks who adhere to the “autism epidemic” as a new phenomenon confined only to our youngest generation are fond of asserting that no older autistic people exist. Typically, their evidence for the claim comes only from their personal experience, as they ask, “Where are all the older autistic people? I can’t find them!” Their comments conjure an image of their wandering the town square, tapping people on the shoulder, and asking them, “Are you autistic?” as a form of data gathering. But it must not be very good data gathering, as I personally know several people in these decades of life who are autistic. Perhaps I hang around in different town squares.

In spite of the inability of some to find autistic people in their 50s, 60s, and older, investigations performed in a more methodical manner have identified where the older autistic people are. These studies also underscore the fact that frequently, diagnoses of “mental retardation” in previous generations–labels that sometimes led [...]