Is ASD more prevalent in the UK?

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It seems like the majority on this site is from the UK. Also, almost every podcast and documentary I see features a UK ASD person. Has there been any research to this, and if so, what could be causing more autism in the UK? To add on, there never seems to be anything ever on Aspies from places like Africa or South America?

Could this be true, or am I just coincidentally pulling up only info/videos from the UK?

Hellllooooo?
Bueller??

Ummm...what time is it in the UK and the East Coast of the United States?

To answer your question, the UK has a dense population and has a health service that has more than a nodding relation to ASDs. The UK has a media that has a historical taste for "eccentric" stories. Combine those three elements and you have a reasonable explanation why you see many UK-based Aspies in the media, both traditional and online.

Oh crap, forgot about the time difference. Your reply make sense I guess though.

I also believe that autism as a diagnosis is a western phenomena. I'm not saying that there aren't autistics in Jordan or in my grandmother's native Ukraine (former Soviet Union), but the awareness isn't there. I was surprised a while back to find out there is an autism center in Dubai.

Autism awareness at this point would be best served in the eastern world.

There is certainly awareness in Japan and South Korea, though. Korea even has the highest prevalence of autism in the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/healt ... .html?_r=0

No, the prevalence is not any greater in the UK than US. I think instead what you might be seeing is that the UK is more progressive in thought regarding ASD and there is greater awareness. Still in the US, even amongst 'educated professionals' (I use that term lightly), there can be real misnomers regarding what ASD is and is not. Case in point: Even some US medical professionals still believe the outdated and disproven notion that ASD is caused by childhood vaccines! Lots of educators (yep, met them) actually believe that ASD individuals are mentally ret*d, entirely not understanding that many Aspies are, or can be, intellectually gifted. So schooling can be a factor too in how ASDs are regarded in the US vs. UK. I do not mean to imply that ASD are necessarily embraced or accepted in the UK, but there is a comparative difference in attitude.

And, yes, on the cultural level eccentricities are warmly regarded in the UK whereas in the US that behaviour can be considered weird. As Tony Attwood has written/said, Aspies are by nature just really British What I can say too is that Americans are just not so good with understanding neuro/psych or 'mental' differences in general.

As I understand, ASDs are least accepted in South America (e.g. Mexico) and there society is considerably more touchy-feely, emotive and sexualised (I mean no offense - just saying there are cultural differences).

I don't know where you got that impression from because I would say at least 70% of membership on WP is American. There is a stalwart bunch of us UK members but it's much smaller (going by postings) than the US contingent.

There is no more autism in the UK than there is elsewhere, otherwise it would have been researched and documented long before now.

I think the only difference is that we have an NHS and because of the Autism Act 2009 and the Autism Strategy 2010 there has been more publicity about it because of the legal responsibilities on the NHS nationwide and how the assessment process is variable depending on area.

I wear my bowler hat, most days. I wonder how much cultural differences affect ASDs is general? I can hear my mothers voice saying 'She doesn't like to be touched' as I write this. Cold shivers!

I think you're a bit high on your estimate. Yeah Americans are well represented here. But population wise I think UK members are more represented. I think there is a much higher awareness of ASD in Europe, then in North America.

Visitors by Country for Wrongplanet.net
United States 43.8%
United Kingdom 14.3%
India 14.1%
Australia 4.4%
Philippines 3.4%
Canada 3.0%
Panama 1.0%
Spain 0.6%

Statistics Summary for wrongplanet.net

But as I said going on postings, do those figures represent people who have registered or people who are actively using WP?

Also, my maths is crap, but even I can see, that to the naked eye those stats do not add up to 100%. So perhaps the missing numbers are American members who are not currently posting if it the figures are based on active members?

Me too, as we speak I am adjusting the carnation in the lapel of my pinstripe suit, putting an apple in my briefcase and hooking my long black umbrella over my arm.

I have a copy of the Guardian under my other arm and am looking forward to a pot of tea (made only with loose tea leaves of course and replete with a knitted tea cosy) using my best china, drinking delicately (little finger daintily crooked of course) with my stiff upper lip.

On my casual days I don a trilby, and if I'm feeling bold my plus fours get an airing, unless of course I'm off clay pidgeon shooting, when I will wear my expensive wax jacket with my jodhpurs (just in case I fancy a spot of polo afterwards you understand, followed by a cream tea in a yuppie village somewhere).

Later on, I shall retire with my pipe and carpet slippers, smoking jacket too naturally, to watch a spot of Miss Marple whilst my poached eggs gently boil.

Is that still the image people have of us Brits?!

Last edited by whirlingmind on 18 Jun 2013, 7:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

The numbers add up to 85.1%. I believe the missing numbers represent the other 200 plus countries in the world. The numbers represent all of the visitors to this site.

Here is another way to gauge the popularity of the site. The traffic ranking. Wrongplanet.net ranks #9,185 for website traffic in the UK. It ranks #26,976 in the US. That means that it is quite a bit more popular in the UK. Which I believe is consistent with what I said, that there is far greater awareness of autism in Europe, then North America.

Wrongplanet.net’s Regional Traffic Ranks
Panama 3,523
United Kingdom 9,185
Philippines 15,212
United States 26,976
Australia 33,726
Canada 44,596
India 57,327
Spain 172,603

to use those stats as a representation of ASD woud require all users to be on the spectrum somewhere,a great number of WPers are in the self diagnosed/not sure if they have it or not groups.

Oh yes, that's true. There are registered members who are NT according to their profiles and also members with other conditions such as ADHD or schizophrenia or bipolar. So unless you can say those stats have been done purely on the ASC contingent, they are incorrect.

People generally register here because they are exposed to autism in some way though. Neurotypical members generally have a child or partner (or both) who is autistic. In any case, I doubt there is any reason for NTs to overwhelmingly register from one nation, so the member makeup is a probably good approximation of the autistic member makeup.