These four misconceptions about autism are damaging and in desperate need of debunking, as Steve Silberman explores.

By Steve Silberman, 6 October 2015

from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015100…

Currently, the most high-profile person on the autistic spectrum in Britain is a garden designer with flamboyantly pink hair and muscly, tattooed arms.

More than 80% of people aged 16-25 with autism or Asperger's in Wirral have been victims of so-called mate crime, a report has found.

Wirral Autistic Society said the number young people who had suffered from mate crime was "staggeringly high".

Victims of this type of crime - by people who claim to be friends - suffer verbal and physical abuse and theft.

The survey, carried out earlier this year, collated 141 responses, which were all submitted anonymously.

A teenager with Asperger’s syndrome has given an important lesson to a gang of bullies who beat him up.

Rather than pressing charges, he recorded a 20-minute video about his condition for them to watch and learn about life from his point of view.

Gavin Joseph was tricked by a group of boys into thinking that they wanted to be friends with him, but they then violently attacked him because they felt his condition makes him ‘weird’ and ‘creepy’. 

People with autism and learning disabilities can die up to 20 years prematurely. So how can we help carers and health workers diagnose illness in non-verbal patients?

 An image from the Books Beyond Words series. Photograph: Lisa Kopper

By Jonathan Andrews

A survey released to 5 live Breakfast has found that more than three-quarters of disabled students and graduates are afraid to let potential employers know about their disability. It is a classic dilemma for people with disabilities - and it's one I've been facing myself.

The myth of the ‘extreme male brain’ means women with autism are struggling to get the help they need

Women with autism are often vulnerable to abuse. Photograph: Alamy

Rachel Williams Tuesday 6 January 2015

Anke van Eekelen

Treetops School in Essex is a state school that uses ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) to educate children with autism. ABA has generated controversy and BBC4’s film, Autism: Challenging Behaviour, follows three-year-old Jack and four-year-old Jeremiah in their first term at the school.

ABA isn’t actually an autism treatment, although it can be used to make a positive difference. It can be applied at any age and not just with children with more severe autism. It’s also used in other areas of education and in health, and among other things good parenting uses its principles. ABA has been used to improve safety, train elite athletes and to increase productivity at work.