Alarming Statistics
The statistics around autism and mental health are shocking.
For example, this BBC article “Young autistic people still dying despite coroner warnings over care” includes the following:
- Dozens of young autistic people have died after serious failings in their care despite repeated warnings from coroners.
- The BBC found 51 cases of death where the coroner issued a warning that care for autistic young people needed to improve.
Here’s a quote from that article, which I find striking. The figures seem to be backed by data, and I’ve seen them elsewhere.
Life expectancy for autistic people is – on average – 16 years less than for the general population. There is no clear reason for this – people do not die of autism…
It goes on to say that the biggest single effect on this is likely to be the massively increased risk of suicide – I’ve seen it cited elsewhere that autism increases suicide risk by 450%.
For example, one scientific paper concludes that
Adults with autism had significantly increased rates of all major psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and suicide attempts. Nearly all medical conditions were significantly more common in adults with autism…
Life expectancy for autistic people is – on average – 16 years less than for the general population. The suicide risk is 4.5x higher.
Further Reading
Fundamentally, this is what it is like to be autistic in this society.
16 years less life expectancy is an interesting stat. I’m from a pretty privileged background – both my parents went to university and they’re still married; I grew up in a pretty nice area and so on. All of that has an effect on my life expectancy, and it’s about 16 years better than it would be if I was born in extreme poverty.
In other words, autistic people from well-off backgrounds have about the same life expectancy as neurotypical people from severely deprived backgrounds.
Take, for example, the tragic case of 28 year old Zoraya ter Beek from the Netherlands. (Physically healthy woman will be euthanised next month.) She is physically healthy, has a good house, pets and a boyfriend. She is also autistic, and has depression (strongly correlated with autism), and she has concluded that her life is therefore not worth living. She says “I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore”, and a medical board agreed that her suffering was “unbearable with no prospect of improvement”, which means she qualifies for voluntary euthanasia under Dutch law.
That is what life is like for many autistic people without Jesus. That is partly why the church has to get better at reaching out to and including folk like Zoraya.
What is Autism?
This article is part of a series exploring some of the basics of autism.
The series is mostly written by John Allister, from his own perspective and experience.
“Autism” describes a wide range of experiences. For me, it is a minor disability that leads to a significant difference in cultural expression… 80% of the difficulties I experience from being autistic are because of the cultural differences rather than the disability itself.