I remember a few years back reading how cellphone signals will cause mental disturbances. I'm not claiming it has, though sometimes I do think the world is going kind of bonkers. Just that eventually we will definitely stumble into something like this. Just like the Romans were oblivious drinking from lead pipes was causing their mental problems. If there's a mass psychosis event, would the people under going it even…
1) Increased diagnosis due to
A) Increased awareness of the issue for both parents and medical staff. I think that one is clearly true.
B) Rational response to educational incentives around relaxed testing for those diagnosed with syndromes. Extra testing time is big. During the Varsity Blues scandal it came out that you could buy paperwork for accommodations for around $5000. Or parents might see a legitimate issue and testing and in-school accommodations convince them that it’s worth getting their child diagnosed.
C) Merging of Aspergers into autism.
2) Increased assortative mating for those with autism or those with autism risk. Some evidence here https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.28.358895v1
As to why it might be increasing?
A) Collapse of traditional paths to marriage. If you’re less likely to meet mates by meeting them at church or other community events with a more wide spread selection of people, are you more likely to meet someone else on the spectrum?
B) Increased career rewards for those with autistic tendencies, so less need to find a non-autistic spouse.