(UK) NI: 'There is no [autism] epidemic'; 'We are not broken' just 'different'

May 15, 2025, News Letter: Northern Ireland autism: Department of Health figures show rates have increased almost fivefold in 16 years

According to the latest Department of Health figures, the rates of autism in school children have risen almost fivefold in the past 16 years.

The latest figures are published in ‘The Prevalence of Autism (including Asperger's Syndrome) in School age Children in Northern Ireland Annual report 2025’.

They were taken extracted from the Northern Ireland School Census provided by the Department of Education.

The report says that the estimated prevalence of autism within the school aged population in Northern Ireland was 5.9% in 2024/25.

BBC presenter Chris Packham says autistic people are not broken and do not need to be fixed.

Its 2013/14 report said that the rate of autism in the school population was only 1.2% in 2008/9.

This equates to the autism rate rising almost fivefold in 16 years. . . .

In 2024/25, 18% of children diagnosed with autism did not have any special educational needs, and 63% had a Special Educational Needs statement, meaning they were formally entitled to special needs education.

However experts say the definition of autism has not been static over time.

Francesca Happé, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at King's College London says the first studies to describe autism appeared in the 1930s and 1940s.  . .

"Some don't talk at all. And the focus really was on children, of course, and largely on males."

But she says the definition was broadened when in the 1990s Asperger's syndrome was added to diagnostic manuals. Such people have social difficulties and repetitive behaviour, but have fluent language and good intelligence, she says.

Another subset of autism later added to the manuals was a "safety net diagnosis" called "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified" (PDD-NOS) and that increased diagnosis numbers too.

TV presenter Chris Packham – who has autism – recently said that autism does not need a “cure” adding that “we are not broken” just “different”.

His comments followed a pledge made by the US Health Secretary, RFK Jr, to find the cause of “the autism epidemic” by September this year.

The presenter responded: “Firstly, there’s no epidemic. What we have done is we’ve created a wider awareness of this condition (autism) and therefore more people are able, hopefully, to access help. And that has to be seen as a very, very positive thing."

He spoke about his autism diagnosis in BBC Two series, Inside Our Autistic Minds, which aims to show how neurodivergent people think.

The series follows Packham as he pairs a group of autistic people with creative experts, including filmmakers, graphic designers, animators and musicians, to help them create a short film expressing their personal experiences and how they feel.

He added: “We don’t want a cure. We are not broken. We are merely different, and those differences are sometimes presenting us with enormous disabling problems or difficulties.

“Without people who think differently, some of the world’s problems simply would not have been and will not be solved. We are here to play a very valuable part in society. So we don’t want to be cured."