andsoitis4d ago

Demand for autism care is soaring

https://economist.com/united-states/2026/04/01/demand-for-autism-care-is-soaring-the-system-is-struggling-to-cope

Demand for autism care is soaring. The system is struggling to cope

Autism care has become a $4bn-$5bn business in America as diagnoses have quintupled over 20 years, straining state budgets and raising concerns about treatment quality.

The Economist
Show threadAncalagon4d ago
Are the soaring diagnosis because the frequency of autism in the general population is increasing? Or just increasing education and diagnosis
Show threadUqWBcuFx6NV4r
This is almost not even up for debate anymore. At this point there is myriad evidence of it being the latter. For example, autism in women was all but ignored until recently, and is still under-diagnosed. Remember Grandma and her lifelong fixation on china saucers or whatever?
Apr 5 at 12:13amWeb
Show threadtempaccount50504d ago
Yes, I do remember. That was a latent effect of the great depression mixed with grandma not having to work so that was her hobby. Pretty tired of having a hobby or specific domain knowledge being labeled as "lol autism".
Show thread1shooner3d ago
Autism as a contemporary identity and autism as a DSM-V diagnosis seem to have diverged in the past few years.