UK TIMES: "Is autism over-diagnosed?"

Sept 29, 2021,UK Times: Are doctors diagnosing autism too readily https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/are-doctors-diagnosing-autism-too-readily-60xgv2r78

No, says Jessie Hewitson, who has written a book on the subject and has an autistic son Is autism over-diagnosed? This is an all too familiar question, and one that I’m sure will rear its head again after a piece of research published this week showed a 787 per cent increase in autism diagnoses between 1998 and 2018. It marks a U-turn from 50 years ago, when so few people had autism diagnosed that academics studying the condition could barely get their work off the ground. Now, thanks to the criteria broadening, there is certainly no problem in that department — but has it gone too far? The question people are really asking, albeit couched in euphemistic language, is whether the diagnoses are real. Are some of them the product of pushy middle-class parents wanting unneeded support for their kids? …