Autism, masking, and building a more inclusive world | Letters

Readers respond to an article by John Harris on the rise in the number of people labelled autistic over the last 20 years

John Harris’s article addresses all the main issues that are being debated around autism (‘The term is becoming unrecognisable’: have the experts who believed in a single autism spectrum changed their minds?, 1 November). However, I feel it did not go far enough to broaden our understanding of the challenges experienced by autistic people who do not have a learning disability.

From a young age I sensed that I was experiencing the world differently to other people. I was bullied, and worked hard to fit in. I was fortunate as structurally I had a stable life that mitigated some of the more challenging aspects of my life. Things started to get less manageable when I entered adulthood and left home.