re: #510 Taqiyyotomist

State psychs + social workers + community organizers + teachers + politicians + paid activists, with much overlap among them. Pure evil with the facade of good, hyper-benevolent intention.

Downding because, first, that “pure evil” is painting with a broad and insulting brush; and second, because you naively overlooked what may be the most important “special interest group” contributing to the over-diagnosis of autism:

PARENTS.

Because in trying to adjust to the reality of a child who’s learning much more slowly than other kids, most parents would rather hear “your child is autistic” — which at least offers the small hope that the kid will grow up to be a high-functioning prodigy like Temple Grandin — than hear “your child is re-tar-ded.”

The autism diagnosis encourages parents to believe that although their child apparently has a significantly below-average IQ, there’s actually a potential genius locked inside, if only they can find the key to let him out.

In other words, all those other groups you mentioned are primarily motivated by a desire to give anxious parents a comparatively optimistic prognosis.