Kate Campbell

Jonathan Alexander and Rebecca Black

In one Harry Potter fan fiction story, Hermione Granger anxiously awaits the results from a recent test.

It isn’t her performance on an exam in a potions course that she’s concerned about. Instead, the higher-ups at Hogwarts had ordered she undergo some psychological tests. They had noticed how quickly she talked, along with her nervous tics.

Congratulations, Clem Bastow. Finally, at the age of 36, you received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (The Age, 12/12). You had spent your life wondering why you were the way you were and felt the way you did and, no doubt, were filled with frustrations and other negative feelings.

What I find concerning about autism diagnosis in cases such as yours – and which are currently being talked about so much – is that people in general seem to believe most autistic people are high functioning and can live productive lives.

There have been only a handful of times in my life where I felt truly “seen”: one was my first visit to San Diego Comic-Con, and the other was my diagnosis, at 36, of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

After a lifetime of feeling distinctly different, I was so thrilled to finally have answers that I half hoped the consulting psychologist delivering my results might tack a “congratulations” on to their assessment.

Clem Bastow knew she felt different, but it took until the age of 36 that she got a diagnosis.Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen

By Lauren Sams

Once considered a male condition, a growing number of women are being diagnosed.

Helen Hoang was 33 when her daughter's preschool teacher suggested the little girl might be on the autism spectrum.

Nicholette Zeliadt

The proportion of studies that include children with a severe form of autism has fallen over the past three decades. Researchers presented the unpublished results today at the 2018 International Society for Autism Research annual meeting in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Phil Hickey

An educator says she was left "disturbed" by a conversation she had with a school psychologist who is on trial accused of assaulting a young student with autism.

The boy was 12 when the alleged assault happened at the school.

Agni Angelkovska, 50, is on trial in the Perth Magistrates Court accused of slapping the male student and throwing a cup of water at him at Christ Church Grammar School in 2014.

People with disability with complex support needs are set to benefit from improved support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Minister for Families and Social Services Paul Fletcher today announced new pricing arrangements under the $22 billion scheme. 

“The pricing increase recognises that people with complex needs require higher levels of skilled supports in their NDIS plans,” Mr Fletcher said.

Lucy Townsend

Saga Noren from the Scandinavian TV crime drama The Bridge has become an unlikely hero. Widely diagnosed by viewers as being on the autistic spectrum, she is lauded not just because she is a leading character with the condition, but - more unusually - because she is a woman with it.

Gemma Bath

Zeke Harvey, 9, used to hate the beach. As a child with autism - the sounds, glare and movement were a sensory overload.

He spent most of last year’s nippers season distressed and upset next to a bin in the beach carpark.

If you saw him now, you wouldn’t think it was the same boy.