Well... I don't know. I guess I liken it, to some extent, to the seeming explosion of people who say they are transgender. As a person who has struggled with hidden gender identity issues for 70 years (& having spent most of my life not even ever having heard the word "transgender" or "transsexual" or even "gender identity" for that matter) to now see so many people coming out as trans is little short of astounding.

I do think that the internet perhaps has something to do with it. There's now so much information available on all sorts of mental health as well as medical conditions. And, perhaps, being able to say one has ASD or ADHD or that one is trans, etc. makes one feel in some way a bit "special" & gives one a way of explaining whatever day-to-day functioning problems one may have. There is something comforting about having a label one can apply to oneself. I still don't have a mental health diagnosis. And there are times I wish I did even though I know it wouldn't really make any difference in the whole scheme of things.

I certainly don't want to be in a position of denying individuals' rights to lay claim to their truth... not after having spent SO may decades hiding my own. But I would have to admit that I do sometimes wonder if the numbers of people who are coming out as trans has as much to do with the power of the internet as it does with whatever causes a person to develop gender identity issues to begin with. Perhaps it is the same with ASD?