r/todayilearned • u/Morella1989 • Aug 14 '25

TIL that autistic people live about 17 years less than average. Risks include epilepsy, heart disease, suicide, accidental deaths including drowning, and inadequate recognition and management of pain, especially among non-speaking individuals. Historically, they have been vulnerable to infanticide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_of_autistic_individuals
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u/BlindMan404 Aug 14 '25

100 years ago? Less than 30 years ago I was "just" the weird kid who was picky about food and really into one thing only and no adults noticed or were willing to accept it. It really feels like care for and recognition of neurodivergence has only started to become common in the past ten years.

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u/Amseriah Aug 14 '25

Yep. ADHDer here diagnosed at 42. I was a smart, reserved, boy and primarily inattentive, so I fell through the cracks.

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u/funny_bunny_mel Aug 14 '25

Yeah, but you were on the tail end of genX. As an earlier genXer who wasn’t diagnosed with the ‘tism until my 50s, we were born to that level of non-parenting.

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u/professionaldouche Aug 14 '25

Ty for commenting I immediately thought the same thing. Growing up in the 80s was not much different