Autism (or autism spectrum disorder, ASD) is a lifelong developmental condition that affects the way a person experiences the world around them. At least one in every 100 people in the UK is on the autistic spectrum. This means if you are not autistic yourself, you will most likely know someone who is. (See Box 1 for a discussion about preferred terms.)
If you are reading this, you may already know that ASD is a very complex diagnosis. There’s a saying that goes, ‘if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism’. It’s different for everyone. ASD is diagnosed when someone has certain core features. These include difficulties with social communication (for example, finding it difficult to understand non-verbal communication like body language or facial expressions), rigid or repetitive patterns of behaviour (for example, insisting on the same routine each day) and unusual reactions to sensory inputs (for example, being very sensitive to loud sounds or bright lights).
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