Keyman wrote:
Does the high concentration of people with aspergers in Silicon Valley affect how the society at large works or how political policy is outlined?
Searching the web produced some articles that claims half of the population is affected. But the quick search failed to provide any hard numbers.
The education level of individuals in silicon valley and financial resources provide the potential that more cases of Autism will be diagnosed in silicon valley as is the case in other areas of the US where education and financial resources are at high levels.
The lowest levels of autism are reflected in the poorest counties of the US in Alabama, that have low health and educational resources. The overall rate of autism there is 1 in 210. 1 in 909 for females. It is a matter of awareness, detection, and diagnosis.
The highest rates are in New Jersey and Utah where awareness, education, and detection are at high levels. 1 in 29 males in New Jersey are now detected with autism in the school system in programs for individuals with developmental disabilities.
There is actually no evidence that there is an actual higher concentration of individuals diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome in Silicon Valley; the only significant statistics measured have been with individuals with "level 1 autism" in the school system for the developmentally disabled.
There really are no good statistics for aspergers, anywhere in the US, because of the statistical methodology used, that measures children in school programs for the developmentally disabled in DDS databases.
There is the assumption that the parents have traits of autism because they work in the high tech field, but no real evidence that they would actually be diagnosed with autism or aspergers. Many function in life with no significant impairments in an important area of life functioning; a requirement for an actual diagnosis of Aspergers.
There are many that suggest that Bill Gates could have Aspegers, however there is no evidence that he has any significant impairments in a major area of life functioning, per his life achievements.
It is much more likely that he could be somewhere on the broader autism phenotype as well as many individuals that are working in Silicon Valley, that is suggested to extend out anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the population, analagous with similiar estimates for introverted personality types, some of which suggest that introverted personality types extend out to up to 50 percent of the population.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.htmlQuote:
In the last 20 years, significant advances have been made in developing methods of behavioral training that help autistic children find ways to communicate. These techniques, however, require prodigious amounts of persistence, time, money, and love. Though more than half a century has passed since Kanner and Asperger first gave a name to autism, there is still no known cause, no miracle drug, and no cure.
And now, something dark and unsettling is happening in Silicon Valley.
In the past decade, there has been a significant surge in the number of kids diagnosed with autism throughout California. In August 1993, there were 4,911 cases of so-called level-one autism logged in the state's Department of Developmental Services client-management system. This figure doesn't include kids with Asperger's syndrome, like Nick, but only those who have received a diagnosis of classic autism. In the mid-'90s, this caseload started spiraling up. In 1999, the number of clients was more than double what it had been six years earlier. Then the curve started spiking. By July 2001, there were 15,441 clients in the DDS database. Now there are more than seven new cases of level-one autism - 85 percent of them children - entering the system every day.
Through the '90s, cases tripled in California. "Anyone who says this is due to better diagnostics has his head in the sand."
The author of this piece in "Wired magazine", may not have been aware that the DSMIV had an editorial mistake in it from 1994 to 2000, that allowed an individual to be diagnosed with PDD NOS with only one criteria impairment specific to the social, communication, and Restricted Repetitive Behavior impairments associated with autism.
What this means is that children with no social/communication difficulties were potentially diagnosed with PDD NOS in this period from 1994 to the year 2000, until the DSMIV TR revision corrected the editorial mistake in the year 2000. Research suggests that it is possible that a significant number of individuals were misdiagnosed during this period of time with PDD NOS. Currently, close to 70 percent of ASD's are statistically measured as having PDD NOS.
The only actual identified measurable impact in Silicon valley, at this point in time, as far as how society works in association with Autism is that there are a large number of individuals receiving developmental disability services in the school system, in an area where autism awareness, educational, and financial resources are higher than many other areas of the country.
09 Apr 2012, 6:48 pm
