> In the 1970s it was still easy to just abandon the school system. Kids who didn't obviously thrive were usually treated as family burdens, and still mostly removed from society.
> They also usually died young.
> People with ADHD for example, are more prone to abusing drugs and alcohol. How many people died from alcoholism who were untreated ADHD cases?
Or suicide. Look at the suicide rate amongst those with autism even now. And when people take themselves out of society with drugs or alcohol we don't put much into figuring out why they chose that path. I recall a bit in a book by an ER doctor--one of the frequent fliers, brought in because they were found unconscious. When asked if he knew what brought him to the ER, responded alcohol. And one time he admitted why: he had been a sniper in the Serbian war and it was the only way he could keep from killing himself.
I believe that to a large degree the "drug" problem is a manifestation of other issues.
> This is objectively true, do you know why? We changed the name of really poorly functioning people in some cases from "Mentally retarded" to "Autistic".
> That's it.
> Look at a graph of generic "mental retardation" diagnosis and it's fall coincides with the "rise" of autism diagnosis. Those people were always actually autistic,
Exactly. There is no epidemic of autism, there is an "epidemic" of better diagnoses.
> They also usually died young.
> People with ADHD for example, are more prone to abusing drugs and alcohol. How many people died from alcoholism who were untreated ADHD cases?
Or suicide. Look at the suicide rate amongst those with autism even now. And when people take themselves out of society with drugs or alcohol we don't put much into figuring out why they chose that path. I recall a bit in a book by an ER doctor--one of the frequent fliers, brought in because they were found unconscious. When asked if he knew what brought him to the ER, responded alcohol. And one time he admitted why: he had been a sniper in the Serbian war and it was the only way he could keep from killing himself.
I believe that to a large degree the "drug" problem is a manifestation of other issues.
> This is objectively true, do you know why? We changed the name of really poorly functioning people in some cases from "Mentally retarded" to "Autistic".
> That's it.
> Look at a graph of generic "mental retardation" diagnosis and it's fall coincides with the "rise" of autism diagnosis. Those people were always actually autistic,
Exactly. There is no epidemic of autism, there is an "epidemic" of better diagnoses.