Autism

Question 1

What is the medical model of disability?

Answer 1

• Impairment first
• Impairment is the cause of being unable to access goods/services or participate in society
• Focuses on fixes or services specific for their ‘problems’

Question 2

what is the social model of disability?

Answer 2

• Do not ‘have’ a disability but a disability is experienced
• Seeks to remove barriers to allow disabled people to participate in society

Question 3

how prevalent is autism?

Answer 3

1%

Question 4

What are the 3 main symptoms of autism?

Answer 4

Persistent difficulties in social communication and interaction
Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities
Sensory hyper- or hypo-sensitivities

Question 5

What are the brain differences of autistic to non-autistic people?

Answer 5

Smaller subcortical volumes of the pallidum, putamen, amygdala and nucleus accumbens

Increased cortical thickness in the frontal cortex and decreased thickness in the temporal cortex

Question 6

what are the comorbidity rates of ADHD, anxiety & depression in people with autism

Answer 6

• ADHD (28%)
• Anxiety (20%)
• Depression (11%)

Question 7

What is the ratio of autistic men:women

Answer 7

3:1

Question 8

If someone is autistic what is the likelihood of their twin being autistic?

Answer 8

MZ rates: 60%,
DZ rates: 5%

Question 9

What are suggested reasons for the underdiagnosis of women with autism?

Answer 9

Genetic differences and susceptibility
People not recognising it in women (stereotypes/ information)
‘Female autism phenotype’
Camouflaging

Question 10

What areas of the brain cause differences in emotion processing for autistic vs non-autistic people

Answer 10

amygdala and posterior fusiform gyrus (fusiform face area)

Question 11

What is the difference in activation of the amygdala/fusiform face area in autistic vs non-autistic people when recognising emotions?

Answer 11

no difference - Autistic people who performed worse activated the right amygdala and the fusiform face area
less than autistic people who performed well

Question 12

what proportion of autistic people struggle to identify facial expressions?

Answer 12

30%

Question 13

What is the prevalence of alexithymia in autistic vs non-autistic people?

Answer 13

– Prevalence in autistic people: 49.93%
– Prevalence in non-autistic people: 4.89%

Question 14

What was difficulties in describing one’s feeling associated with?

Answer 14

self-reported difficulties in social communication

Question 15

What was difficulties in identifying one’s feeling associated with?

Answer 15

anxiety symptom severity

Question 16

d: mindblindness

Answer 16

The inability to attribute mental states such as thoughts, desires, knowledge, and intentions to self and others, and to make sense of and predict another person’s behaviour

Question 17

d: mentalising

Answer 17

he ability to think about thinking