It common.

That’s right. Autism is one of the most common disorders.

In fact, autism seems to be getting more common every year. In 2007 (the year I graduated high school), The Center For Disease reported that only 1 in 150 children received a diagnosis. In 2021, the CDC reported that 1 in 44 children in the US were diagnosed.

This leads me to believe that the population of affected individuals are higher than reported because autism looks different within each affected individual. Also, boys are more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Due to autistic girls masking (hiding) their autistic traits, autism will be harder to detect. Lastly, children of color are less likely to be diagnosed than white children.

With this perplexing disorder becoming more and more common, I truly hope that early intervention becomes more available so that every community (black, white, Asian, Muslim, LGBT, etc) has the opportunity to receive it after diagnosis.