France has the lowest prevalence of Autism in the world. Qatar has the highest. France: What is your secret? How come you have the lowest Autism rates? (Link title: Autism Rates by Country 2021)

4 comments

  2. I suspect France’s low rate of autism is because they don’t diagnose it.

    The only time I’ve ever seen autism mentioned in France was for pretty obvious cases (think nonverbal and the like). Mild cases (high functioning autistic people) fly under the radar.

  4. Under diagnosis is the secret ingredient. Only severe cases are diagnosed. If you can function in public, you’re good for service, thanks and goodbye. That can sound stupid, but maybe it isn’t.

    To give a personal anecdote : I was diagnosed on the lower end of the spectrum (we would call it Asperger’s nowadays) when I was 6 and a second time when I was 14.

    Both times, my parents where told to change nothing about me, the school changed nothing, no special treatment, no report on some files, etc. I was never told directly either : “you’re fine, nothing wrong with you”. I learned about it years later when I had my suspicion and asked my parents.

    First diagnosis, everything went on a usual. Second time, I had weekly visits with a psy to address some side consequences (social anxieties, feeling of not fitting). In a sense, it was a good choice, to avoid feeling either blessed or cursed. However, it would have been an answer to so many questions I had. I grew up fine, just with a bug bag of thorny questions, but who hasn’t ?

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