I’m on the spectrum — and so are you! Definition of autism so broad that it’s meaningless

Researchers have documented that it's much easier to be diagnosed with autism today compared with 20 years ago: clinicians will make the diagnosis on the basis of many fewer symptoms. artit - stock.adobe.com In another 20 years, we’ll all be on the spectrum. That was my first thought after reading a recent report on the rise in people diagnosed with autism. European researchers have documented that over a 20-year period, from 2001 to 2020, the number of people who have some form of autism rose dramatically. Yet they found no rise in the number of people with severe autism: autism with intellectual disability. The number of autistic people with intellectual disability remained absolutely flat over those 20 years. But the number of people diagnosed with autism who did not have intellectual d