So what exactly is autism?

Autism was once considered to be an extremely rare ‘disorder’ that affected a tiny proportion of the population, however in recent decades the numbers of those diagnosed as being somewhere on the wider ‘autism spectrum’ has massively increased to an approximated figure of 1 in 100. Autism has been variously described as everything from an evil spirit that robs parents of their children, to a fundamental asset to human evolution as a person with a differing style of thinking. It is no wonder that the ‘enigma’ still evades simplistic description, as scientists and psychologists search in vain for the cause of ‘what it is’. This article attempts to help the reader navigate through the maze of explanations that have been suggested and some of the problems such explanatory models possess. Such a text can never be fully comprehensive however, and so the reader is encouraged to never think that they understand what ‘autism is’, but to strive to understand the ‘autistic people’ they work with as well as they can, and to see this as an ongoing process and mutually respectful interaction.