It’s also recognized far more frequently than in the past. My ex-husband was “on the spectrum. “ I had no idea for the first 25 years or so we were married. When we met and married, only the severe cases were identified. (I just thought he was odd, but I am my own kind of odd, so….)
He was quite intelligent in some areas. No common sense. No social skills and definitely NO emotional intelligence.
I suspect that modern “child raising” (if you can call it that) may be contributing to the increased rate of diagnosis. Children aren’t taught nor expected to be polite, considerate, and well behaved. It could be difficult to distinguish the neurologically different from the savages (of every skin color and ethnicity!)
My wife calls that "being a man". LOL
My wife and her supporting therapists are trying to stick a label on me.
I don’t quite appreciate it. When I said this to these people, in not quite so many words, she has been warned to leave me.
Psychotherapy is a powerful tool that can be weaponized quite easily.
I am on the spectrum. They discovered it when they were evaluating my son at the university(they test the parents). It was much worse when I was a child, it got better as I got older until I hit 55 and it’s a steady decline.