we should not all jump to conclusions that this is proof, not until this is repeated, elsewhere, with a different methodology.

In general, that’s correct, but I see this is as a confirmatory study with better methodology than prior ones. It’s not really the first one on the question of how prevalent autism might be in adults, even though it’s the first actual prevalence study of autistic adults.

It’s unlikely that in other parts of the world they will find autism to be rare in adults given all that is known. I’m sure other studies will follow.

Only when several studies come in showing consistent figures will it begin to approach validity, after all we should not drop our standards just because a study confirms what we want people to think, that is what the enemy do.

So I think I am entitled to a certain scepticism. I would probably have done this differently, something less biased, more foolproof, but I will have to look at this properly first, at the moment I can’t even download the full version without registering first, and I don’t want to do that, the NHS has got enough of my data without me giving them any more :)

I think the Sociologists need to take this study apart. As for Brugha, I have little to say in his commendation, another arrogant academic who refuses to look sideways at anything.

Our society can never admit that it disadvantages people so it gives them a diagnosis instead.

Autism is in essence a socially created disability, whose disability is increased at the margins with the occurence of multiple disadvantage.

I doubt if this survey is objectively measuring neurological difference at all, once again it is using a behavioral measure, and observational schedule of effect not any real objective measure, therefore it is impossible to determine the direction of causation here autism = poor education or poor education = autism.

I suspect a complex interelationship.

Above all this is NOT a valid survey of neurological difference, it is the prime example of the social construction of disability and the disabling of those it decides to lable.

I once wrote basically verbatim that this was the common demographic in my AS support group (unemployed, poor, homeless, no college education and marginalized). It was suggested by one person, he knows who he is, that I was trying to blame autism for these things and then another said that my group was not necessarily a representative group, or something to that effect. Both persons I’m referring to are self diagnosed.

Shakes head.

“Since the 2005 expansion of aggressive public relations and political lobbying efforts by SafeMinds and other organizations promoting vaccine-injury claimants’ agenda, the phrase “hidden horde hypothesis” and variants on the question, “where is the hidden horde of autistic adults?” have been invoked by a number of media campaigners, consultants, and parents persuaded to believe that their children were made autistic by vaccine poisoning.”

http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/?c=History

You just have to keep your eyes open.

It’s very interesting that autism was found to be more common (as measured by diagnoses) in the less educated. This is the inverse of what has long been thought, and one could further infer that autism is more common among the poor and otherwise isolated or marginalized. This will go a long way toward debunking any correlation between autism and vaccination, but might point toward correlations of autism with poor nutrition and/or various forms of pollution.

They didn’t say their families were less educated or poorer, right?

So one could also infer that being autistic causes one to have less educational and economic opportunities.