Autism, full Spectrum has been at 7/1,000 for more than a few years now. Out of 3,500,000 live births each year, that means roughly 24,500 new autistic kids each year added to the estimated 450,000 autistic Americans already here. We do not yet know if autism has peaked or not in terms of prevalance.
ADD/ADHD is NOT 10% yet, although there are isolated pockets where 10% or more of the kids are being medicated for ADD/ADHD. There is a difference between true prevalance and being labeled as such. The true incidence for ADD/ADHD is around 3-5%.
The question is not really what kind of society is being made, they are already here, in our sciety. You can say that these kids are being overdiagnosed, and there is a little truth to that. However there are still a number of people who are not being diagnosed, so that sort of balances out.
The real question is how does society better integrate these people into society more fully, and how do we help them to live more fulfilling lives.
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