EGENIS seminar: Book Launch: 'The Rise of Autism: Risk and Resistance in the Age of Diagnosis' Dr Ginny Russell (University of Exeter)

The book is about how the use of diagnosis has increased over the last 30 years in the UK and is a key output from our Exploring Diagnosis project. An initial overview will describe how it was written as a counterpoint to work with the neurodiversity movement, and present some data from the latest surveys that demonstrate the dramatically increased diagnosis of autism in Europe and US since the 1990s. The book offers a critical understanding of autism statistics, and why there are competing interpretations of the same data. It provides both commentary on, and contribution to, the neurodiversity movement. After a talk to introduce the contents of the book, discussants will give their own unique take on the rising use of autism diagnosis and the phenomenon of diagnostic creep.