Premature deaths among autistic people are at “shocking levels” according to a charity report which found that certain groups with the condition die 30 years younger than the general population.

The striking figures amount to a “hidden crisis” in public health according to the charity, Autistica, which has called on the NHS to launch an immediate review into the scale and underlying causes of autism deaths in Britain.

The organisation’s report draws on published studies that reveal high rates of suicide among autistic people, with women at greatest risk of taking their own lives. Autistic people with no learning disabilities are nine times more likely to die from suicide compared to the rest of the population, the report states.

Some of the worst affected are those with secondary brain disorders, such as epilepsy, which is 20 to 40 times more common in people with autism. Those with such conditions on top of autism had an average life expectancy of only 39 years, according to research on 27,000 autistic people in Sweden that was published in November last year. Non-autistic people in the same study lived to an average age of 70.

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The disability community wants to see devices that deliver electric shocks eliminated from the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts.

Members of ADAPT, a disability rights collective, rolled through the streets of Washington, D.C., last weekend to make camp outside FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s house, where they remained as of Friday morning.

They say they’ll stay until he agrees to finalize a proposed rule that would ban the use of graduated electronic decelerator (GED) devices, which are used to deliver targeted electric shocks in an extreme form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a controversial form of therapy used with some autistic patients. But refraining from shocking autistic people in the name of therapy is, advocates claim, only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changing the way we treat autistic people.

ADAPT activists say GEDs are “barbaric,” equating their use to torture. Gottlieb, they say, has refused to meet with them, though they and groups like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network submitted commentsduring the rulemaking process. “The FDA is working to finalize the proposed ban on electroshock devices. We cannot speculate on the timing for finalizing the rule,” FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo told Rewire.News.

 

Mainstream theory presents autism as an “epidemic”, disease or deficit. But what about the strengths and abilities that can be found within the spectrum?

Autism may represent the last great prejudice we, as a society, must overcome. History is riddled with examples of intolerance directed at the atypical. We can sometime fear that which diverges from the “norm”, and sometimes that fear leads us to frame those who are different as being in some way lesser beings than ourselves.

Intolerances take generations to overcome. Racism is an obvious, ugly example. Other horrifying examples are easy to find: take, for instance the intolerance faced by the gay community. Countless gay people were diagnosed with “sociopathic personality disturbance” based upon their natural sexuality. Many were criminalised and forced into institutions, the “treatments” to which they were subject akin to torture. How many believed they were sociopathic and hated themselves, wishing to be free from the label they had been given? How many wished to be “cured” so that they could live their lives in peace? The greatest crime was the damage perpetuated by the image projected upon them by those claiming to be professionals.

Autism is framed as a disability, with mainstream theories presenting autism via deficit models. Popular theory is often passed off as fact with no mention of the morphic nature of research and scientific process. Most mainstream theory is silent regarding autistic strengths and atypical ability; indeed, what is in print often presents a damning image of autism as an “epidemic”. Hurtful words such as risk, disease, disorder, impairment, deficit, pedantic, obsession are frequently utilised.

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There has been quite a bit of discussion about how long it takes for a person to be diagnosed with autism. You can read the story of our son’s diagnosis here. It also gave the opportunity for others to share their stories. If you want to tell us about your autism diagnosis please share it here.
http://www.wedgies.com/question/how-long-did-it-take-you-or-a-loved-one-to-get-diagnosed-with-autism-f3vwsbwf4