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I can say from personal experience that being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder can feel very isolating. Increasingly, however, it’s not unusual.

In the U.S., 1 in 31 children are diagnosed with autism each year by age 8, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number, released in April 2025, is up from 1 in 36 in 2023.

These statistics have been widely characterized as concerning. But I would like to offer a different perspective.

I am a researcher studying how young people with autism transition to adulthood. I also work on the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which was established by the CDC two decades ago to determine the prevalence of autism in the U.S. and which produced the 2025 report.

Additionally, this topic is deeply personal to me, since I am diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, now known as autism spectrum disorder.

While autism does present challenges, my professional and personal experiences have taught me that creating space for autistic people’s perspectives affords opportunities for making the world