“Autism” has a code in the DSM. People get paid for “treating” people who can be shoehorned into a code. Broadening definitions in a “code” means more money.
You can also increase the income of “mental health” providers by creating new codes in the DSM - like “Oppositional Defiance Disorder” or the now well-established, highly profitable and destructive “ADD/HD”.
Government schools also get a lot more money when they have to educate the “disabled”.
Has a lot to do with money lost to aborted Down’s kids.
Special Ed teachers had no purpose any more.
They get the money, but the don't deliver an effective product. My oldest and youngest are classic ADD cases. The oldest also had heart problems that required 4 open heart surgeries to fix. He was so hyper that he was kicked out of kindergarten the first day...after they located him 3 blocks from the school campus. His IEP meetings produced "plans" that resulted in slightly better than "general population" efforts. There was always the pressure to "mainstream" even though the "mainstream" teachers weren't ready to handle it. The youngest was doing just "OK" in San Diego schools. We moved to Idaho and the wheels came off. The teachers were completely unprepared. I have an 8th grade dropout on my hands.
I mention the classic ADD diagnosis because they are both bright. The oldest has pursued a degree in geology and is better read than most literature grad students. He has a mind like a steel trap, but his "executive functioning" just isn't up to the level required to make good progress through his college curriculum. The youngest cut his first CD with a band as the drummer at age 15. Three weeks of time in the studio. He plays electric and acoustic guitar proficiently. He has been in the top 5 world wide in "guitar hero". When not playing or writing music, his amusements include writing new elements into first person graphical "shoot up" style games in Lua or Ruby. Very bright. I wish I could get him to settle down long enough to knock out his GED.