Why are we still treating autism like an epidemic?

[Demeter]

1. When Kanner decided to hog and suppress Asperger's research

he created a void. People were not getting diagnosed, which meant the size of the population wasn't accurately represented, and research money wasn't forthcoming, nor medical treatment and therapy, for at least 40 years. And then there was that pious fraud, Bettelheim and his refrigerator mother fantasy...

Then suddenly, the truth escapes. Lorna Wing and Uta Frith let Asperger out of the dungeon, Bettelheim is exposed, and all the autistic spectrum kids can come out of the closet and be counted.

And under those circumstances, with all the toxic pollution scares and radiation leaks, it sure looked like a sudden epidemic. The fact that several generations had been uncounted, mis-diagnosed, and institutionalized or just ignored...well, that was then. This is now.