Temple GrandinWomen present differently than men.

https://embraceasd.com/why-are-autistic-females-rare/

One explanation/theory of autism is Extreme Male Brain. So then the idea follows that if an autistic male has Extreme Male Brain then an autistic female could have Male Brain. Since it isn't extreme it isn't noticed as much.

Look, individuals with autism all exhibit one common trait; they have difficulty with social situations and understanding social cues. They cannot pick up on physical and facial movements that express emotions nor can they understand sarcasm, irony, puns, jokes etc. Why? Nobody really knows. Maybe their brains were hard wired in a different way compared to neuro-typical individuals. Can they learn social cues and expressions? Sure, but it has to be taught in a step by step way and unfortunately that kind of static learning doesn't apply to dynamic situations which then bewilder kids with autism. And then our society is so unforgiving and cruel that kids with autism are often forced to stay home and keep away from social interaction and thus they have very little opportunity to learn or gain confidence to try to learn.

Academically, you'll see a lot of kids with autism who have marked ability in either math/numbers recognition, physical manipulation of objects, amazing artistic or music skills, and some even excel athletically. At the same time, individuals with autism will have pronounced difficulty in understanding or appreciating other subjects like reading comprehension, history, computer programming etc. Can they learn? Sure. But learning has to be done through their strengths. So if a kid is great in art but terrible in Reading Comprehension or Math, then he/she can be taught basic ELA and Math skills through art and so on. But our factory like schools don't allow for any kind of flexibility in learning styles and they run on such a tight schedule and time frame where either you keep up or drop out.

We live in a world that is sadly not equipped or patient to deal with kids with autism and their learning and social needs.

IMO same reason why there is so much Anxiety and Depression now. The brain is constantly overstimulated day in and day out. In the past people had the same old scenery to look at, the same old job (farming or whatever) ect. Now we see more in first 5 minutes of our day then people 100 years ago saw in a month (News, Cars, People, just information in General).

I think this all really messes with our brain.

a kid with real adhd will make your blood pressure soar. whooping their ass will make them autistic cowards for days. its a real disorder but definitely not as common as diagnosed.

didn't they invent fuking meth for adhd?

More people don't have the disease, it's a common biostatistical topic taught to beginning students in medical school. As technology advances and screening becomes better, more people get diagnosed with a disease gives the illusion that more people have the disease when in reality those exact same people have had the disease all along, just didn't get screening properly due to poorer older screening methodologies.

As a physician, I do agree with others saying Autism research is primitive at best. It's a clinical characterization at best but we have no clue as scientists what actually causes it. Just cause x,y,z chemical in the brain is lower or greater doesn't mean we have a 100% understanding as to why some people are "Autistic". And it being a spectrum makes it a complicated diagnosis. I will say when I have personally "diagnosed" it or have seen it being diagnosed, it was obvious something was wrong with the child. You just know that this kids deficits are so severe something is up. Tracking milestones at multiple pediatric visits is the tip off really. It's not like we just make extra $$$$ by diagnosing someone with Autism or some some secret agency is paying us off lol. There is zero incentive in diagnosing someone with Autism for the clinician.