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Autism Associated With Shorter Lifespan, According To UK Charity Study
Cognitive Dissident writes: It's only one study, but the results are disturbing. An article in The Guardian describes a study by the UK charity Autistica showing that all people on the autism spectrum, not just the profoundly autistic, seem to be dying much younger than the average. There is no single definable cause, though a higher rate of suicide is one problem, but the aggregate result is a much higher mortality rate than the general population. There is no single cause, but a higher rate of suicide is noted. "Autistic people with no learning disabilities are nine times more likely to die from suicide compared to the rest of the population, the report states." Looks like something that needs more attention and research, which the charity is trying to organize.
"There is no single definable cause, though a higher rate of suicide is one problem, but the aggregate result is a much higher mortality rate than the general population. There is no single cause, but a higher rate of suicide is noted."
I want to kill myself after reading the same sentence over and over, albeit worded slightly different.
With a suicide rate that much higher than average, is it possible that people on the autism spectrum choose to end their life because of the complications that come with being autistic versus the suicide rate being driven by autism as a mental illness?
Information repeated thrice. Redundancy is neurotypical behavior.
Captcha spastic. Chucking hell, /., and I thought I was insensitive.
... are made for suicide and for well-known highly-correlated conditions like epilepsy?
In other words, do an Apples-to-Apples comparison, and answer these questions:
* What is the decrease in age attributable to suicide among those without other correlated conditions, compared to those in the general, non-Autism-spectrum population without correlated conditions.
* For each correlated condition, is there an increase in suicide compared to those not on the Autism spectrum who have the same correlated condition? If so, how much does this decrease the overall lifespan for those on the Autism spectrum?
* For each correlated condition, is there a non-suicide-caused decrease in lifespan compared to non-autistic-spectrum-disorder people with the same correlated condition, and if so, how big is it?
* For those who have neither a correlated condition nor who take their own life, is there a decrease in lifespan compared to the general population, and if so, how big is it?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
in other news, feminist groups protested decease of autism for being sexist and affecting far more men than women.
more women needed to be encouraged to be autistic to reduce this imbalance they said.
they also wanted all research and statistics pointing out gender imbalance in victims of autism suppressed and researchers fired.
In fact we may feel more than the average N type
Yeah, well we spend most of our time alone and we get lonely too. We don't tend to take care ourselves as well, for a variety of reasons. Add to both of those the simple fact that we view the world differently than you N types and you can see why depression hits us differently and harder. I was fortunate in that one of my areas of interest is neuropharmacology/psychiatry and I have an exceedingly good forensic type psychiatrist who deals primarily with ptsd and refractory cases of mdd. My experimental treatment for mdd is keeping me from taking my own life, but I spent years barely living on the cusp. was not found on this server.
We're social creatures. Autistic people have a hard time forming and sustaining friendships, a process that 'normal' people find so easy and second nature they don't even consider others could have problems in that area. And without a strong social circle, suicide risk goes way up, and I imagine susceptibility to other diseases (from weakened immune response due to the stress of loneliness) and lack of anyone to 'make an effort' with regards to personal health and fitness increases risk from lifestyle-related illnesses.
Of course, You keep calling them autists, You fucking retards.
...for trying to understand this submission. Some days I wonder why I still come here.
Are they also less likely to marry? Because it turns out people die a lot quicker if there isn't someone there to realize they tripped, for example.
Apk hasn't shown up yet?
They seem to specifically be pushing the suicide part of the story, perhaps because it plays well in the media and elicits the most sympathy. But the article also says people on the autism spectrum are 20 to 40 times more likely to suffer from other brain disorders such as epilepsy - and people affected by that have a life expectancy of only 39 years.
#DeleteChrome
For years I have been diagnosed with this "autism" thing after getting prressured into psychological testing. I am in a state of perma exhaution and every time I fall asleep I wake up in pain. If doctors cannot help me then I guess that's how it is but I feel pretty wronged by them with these suggestions that I'm an autistic (that's a medical code word for hypochondriac). I keep wondering if I'm going to end up offing myself one day as it's certain that I'm never going to get any help from anyone or anything ever. Autism means next to nothing scientifically but a lot of people getting "diagnosed" with it these days.
I always knew it, those evil people at the suicide hotline are responsible for the raising incidence of Autism. Something should definitely be done about it!
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have succeeded in raising my boy, who suffers from a mild type of autism (Aspberger's syndrome), past his 18th year.
At age 6, this boy ran on the frail gutter of a roof, 15 meters from the ground. He escalated a radiator, opened the window and just took a walk on the gutter, and he foresaw absolutely no danger in doing it..
Ten years later, after having narrowly escaped a dozen of such 'accidents', he did it again.
He walked on the roof border from the bathroom window to the room where is computer was locked out.
And again, he did not feel any sense of danger. He told me he just wanted his computer.
There is a reason why autism, even in it's mildest forms, is still regarded as a disorder. It might help you wrap your mind with better intensity around some problems. But that comes at the cost of your awareness to... well, pretty much everything else.
And that doesn't help you to survive, that's for sure.
Communication is the cornerstone of medical diagnosis.
While "normal" only includes one way of looking at the world you are always going to have others who will be made to feel like outsiders, and if they feel like that it will be harder for them to reach out to others when they do need help.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This is why we have such a challenge getting over the hurdle of doing good science, getting it published, and the understanding of the condition and it's implications becoming well understood enough that we have any hope of doing anything about it to improve the lives of future generations.
The challenge I am speaking of is that of science results being judged as sexist or victim shaming or otherwise prejudicial when nature does not operate that way.
In order to understand complex developmental illnesses and conditions, evidence based approaches need to be implemented and used and yes the truth hurts.
Autism is a developmental disorder and it is not fair, but in order to do something about it we need to accept that those with the condition have certain stresses and unique miseries that need to be examined, addressed and understood in order to have any hope of creating a better life for future generations on this front. That is the truth as plainly as it can be laid out at this point.
This is why people on the spectrum, get so pissed off when normals show up and start throwing around the "oh you poor unique snowflake" shit. Those types are not compatible with progress and they would do well to shut their mouths and stop trying to victim shame, and rather learn to be better people.
Call me a SJW, but this article has been very enlightening on what needs to happen in terms of social change and scientific progress for the world that is coming where cures and treatments for this kind of thing can become real.
... they did not diagnose it back then.
He missed his hundreds birthday by a couple months.
A very prominent person on the spectrum Paul Dirac died at the ripe age of 82.
The wide spread diagnosis of Aspergers and Autism disorder only gained traction well into the second half of the 20th century. This makes the data basis inherently skewed.
Autistica are the British name for Autism Speaks. They are a 'charity' staffed almost entirely by NTs. (they currently have two token autistic board members (out of 40)) They hoover up all the donations from well meaning people but spend only 3% of the money they get on actually helping autistic people. Of the rest, over 40% goes on eugenics research intended to wipe us out and most of the rest on advertising and fat salaries ($400K+ in some cases) for their directors. They also make dehumanising videos about autism which completely misrepresent what it is (for example portraying meltdowns as the norm of autistic behaviour when in reality they're anything but) and are proponents of ABA, an abusive therapy which involves training children like dogs and results in depression, PTSD and worse. Do not believe a damn word they say and ffs, don't give them any money. Give it to ASAN if you're in America or Autistic UK if you're in Britain, both organisations actually run by autistic people.
I am a geek, and have been a geek ever since ... I dunno
Anyway, almost all my life I surround myself with other geeks (birds of a feather, I guess), and that now I've made quite a few rounds the block, I notice that geeks do die younger than the non-geeks
I do not have any information linking autism to geeks, I only have a hunch that some of us geeks do have a certain 'autistic tendency' within us, something that makes us stand apart from others - that allows us the concentration we need to sort out all the complexities and find the solution
No, he's been shunned by the community.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Chronic stress is known to shorten the life-span of humans. Living in a world that you find confusing, difficult and alien is very stressful, this I know from personal experience.
"Autistic people with no learning disabilities are nine times more likely to die from suicide compared to the rest of the population, the report states."
That's hardly surprising. Unlike 'normal' people, they concentrate all the attention to the job at hand, even if it's the job to killing yourself, so it's normal if they have higher 'success' rates.
Disturbed in knowing that while the aspergers you know have well paid jobs you have to flip burgers for a living? Poor snowflake ;-)
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
There is another interesting and potentially very important observation: People with ASD appear to have a gut flora that differs significantly from the average population.
Bingo!
This! A thousand times this!
Nutrition is the most overlooked factor in the wider ADHD / Autism spectrum. I'm a sugar addict and would subscribe a lot of my solopsistic behaviour that might be classified as sort-of "aspergerish" or adhd to diet. Whenever I make an effort to eat healthy the difference is very notable. I'm more awake, more aware, my mood is better and I'm way better at social interaction.
Excercise is another big factor, as is - for heterosexual men - interaction with women. It's a proven scientific fact that social interaction with women improves mens mental health across the board, autism or not. ... I'm basically addicted to Tango for that exact reason - one of the rare opportunities where interaction of the sexes is still formalised, similar to ye 'olde days. Testosterone goes up, cortisol and other stress-hormones go down. Again, that's scientifically proven. Mood and mental well-being improves measurably. If you're a nerd or geek like me and suffer from the usual social interaction problems, especially with the other gender, you should try it.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
You seem to have problems. Have you considered professional assistance?
I have friends who are autistic and most have food issues. Some only eat white food, some won't mix food colors on the plate, etc.
As they get diabetes, it's very hard for those who only eat carbs to manage it. And what they eat isn't really a choice for them. There may be some tricky way to educate them but short of that it's the only way they can eat.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
That's bad for the medical industry profits so it will remain illegal.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Not disagreeing, but here in the USA it's unfortunately common for charity CEOs to make very handsome salaries that would seem to partially contradict the charity's values. Charity Navigator posts the CEO compensation.
There are a lot of scams, but also a huge number of legit orgs. If you want to find where to use money effectively, find one or two public interest lawyers from pro-bono programs or from law schools with great public interest programs and ask them where to give. The other obvious place is low-income dental clinics. And never, ever give money to Red Cross--they do some good work, but they basically lie to their donors about where the money is going. (They leap on every disaster to raise money, and while they spend money on disasters, they generally use the money they raise on the back of each charity to add money to their general fund; I don't think I've ever heard a good thing about them from fundraising circles. And besides, there are a lot less public and more effective ways to leverage your money to help others.)
In a push comes to shove world, health care is getting harder to receive, not health insurance, but health care! Those on the autistic spectrum often find it difficult to receive adequate care, physical and mental!
LOLO, jealous that I managed to convince a large corporation to pay me $70k when I was still in school, never had to look for a job in my life and will probably retire while you're still making sure some hipster's cappuccino has the right amount of cinnamon sprinkled on it?
I hope you like licking balls, as you'll be doing a lot of that trying to climb the Starbucks kitchen ladder.
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APK
Assburgers offing themselves and removing their embarassing presence is only a good thing. Those pieces of shit should get a clue and throw themselves into a giant firepit. It's a shame active euthanasia is still forbidden in much of the world, otherwise we ought to cart them off to netherlands or wherever, shoot'em up with cyanide and bury them in a pile of mulch.
I'm in Netherlands and I have a diagnosis, but I didn't know that active euthanasia was okie-dokie here. Thanks AC, that IS good to know! Like the saying goes: live and learn.
"Autistic people with no learning disabilities are nine times more likely to die from suicide compared to the rest of the population"
It's because the main part of society doesn't understand us. They treat us like crap, walk all over us, they apply their motives to us and treat us as liars even when we're more honest. We're bullied from our childhood because "we're different".
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(Answer = you don't)
* Don't try make ME "the bad guy" - I'm clearly the good guy. I spent some time of mine to do a good thing that actually works on tons of levels making it as easy as it gets for all of the above - you haven't... you wish you were me.
APK
P.S.=> I don't see anyone saying the same for your work here... they do mine - accept it... apk
Because they are worn down by a society that refuses to make a place for them and allow them to earn a decent living and become productive members of society. And you get to a point where you're just tired of constantly being on the outside looking in, as the lives of everyone you know evolves and grows and you're stuck in the same place you've been for 25+ years, with absolutely no hope of things getting any better.
"I'm taking AP Math and Chemistry, I plan to graduate college at 20, med school by 23 and have my own practice at 25."
"That's nothing, I plan to be dead by 30."
In my definition of autism, from medical readings decades ago, autists concentrate in their own internal world to the point of exclusion of external stimulus from the senses. Thus, an autistic boy can be talked to and be physically moved and still will not react: he is lost in his inner world. Like a computer frozen in a long computation, mouse unreactive, cursor in hourglass, no screen repainting, etc. But here it seems you have a different definition! Autists cannot have friends, they do not recognize them even as objects. Autists do not learn, they cannot recognize books as an external object to pay attention to, etc. Autists cannot have jobs, just like Down syndromes cannot live unattended! Are you sure it is not a _schizophrenic_ group, _born_ into schizophrenia, who spend their whole life and time *hearing* voices from people who are not physically in the place, and _do_ pay attention to those voices, who are **defining** _normal_ people as autists? I ve heard that definition applied to ME by Africans in NYC. They claim/pretend/believe I am autistic because I am not paying attention to their delusional experiences they share with other Africans! I _am_ molested when I engage in a personal attentive activity like writing email or reading a book in public, because I should be paying attention to their chit chat (and criticisms) and not just ignoring them. On the other hand, it is very difficult for me to make them UNDERSTAND those voices are NOT THERE, NOT HERE, and that most of they time they not only do not make sense but simply DO NOT HEAR ME. I have several situations with cashiers to whom I have to SHOUT and YELL what I want from the counter because they **hear** me asking them to have sex and reply accordingly! But then they come out and start treating me as if I was an object and was not paying attention to them and start **discussing** me in the third person as an object. It is them who would call me autist, much more evident in Africans than in Humans, though the phenomenon is alike. I see it very simple: the BRAIN is a device with enough power to pick up radio signals, like EEG signals, even very weak signals from other brains, and translate them into some language meaning, BUT A HEALTHY BRAIN HAS EVEN MORE POWER TO INSULATE THOSE SIGNALS AND PAY ATTENTION ONLY TO INPUT FROM THE PHYSICAL SENSES. I am used to use a computer and listen to TV and watch TV at the same time while paying attention to my surroundings (cats) and give each input proper attention, which means I can completely ignore ads and boring TV programs while typing content on the TV, but JUMP the moment a cat wants to step on my snacks or threatens to persecute another cat where they can wreak havoc. Autists cannot do that, nor schizophrenics! Autists deny the outer world, schzophrenics live in an alternative world with input coming from far sources and **people** telling them what to do, what to say, how to react, what is happening in their reality independently of what the world of senses tells and objective observer. To schizophrenics, if you are NOT participating of their world of **intuitions**, **priviledged information**, **announces**, _orders_, **real thoughts**, etc., you are an anomaly or worse, a puppet deprived of autonomy! And they would call you autistic. The problem is that some of the extra-sensorial information schizophrenics get comes from THE PEOPLE THEY CONSIDER AUTISTICALLY ISOLATED. So if you happen to be identified as one of the voices in their head.... they act against YOU. I spend a lot of time and efforts shushing away Africans pending of my need to go to THE RESTROOM and complaining of smells that are not there but they try to identify my person as being the source. They go to the extreme of closing public restrooms when I approach them to PROVE THEIR POINT that it was I who was feeling the urge and... it becomes evident. Under such pressure it is OBVIOUS a NORMAL PERSON incorrectly tagged as AUTIST by SCHIZOPHRENICS who secretly or openly believe he/she is the source of the voices schizophrenics are *hearing* W
Given that autism is currently recognized much more often in boys than in girls (whether or not this reflects actual incidence is unclear), and that men are much more likely to succeed at committing suicide, I wonder how much of that "nine times more likely" is simply because it has more men and how much is genuine risk.
Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.