I can say from personal experience that being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder can feel very isolating. Increasingly, however, it’s not unusual.
In the U.S., 1 in 31 children are diagnosed with autism[1] each year by age 8, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number, released in April 2025, is up from 1 in 36 in 2023.
These statistics have been widely...