2025: the year of plural autisms, folate chemistry and when curiosity about autism returned

Spectrum 2025: Year in review https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/spectrum-2025-year-in-review/

A 'what happened in 2025' feature that covers the main elements of autism in 2025 including: (1) we're heading back to asking the questions of 'how and why?' about autism rather than falling back on some pseudo-religious neurobabble, (2) US policy on autism has been driving lots of focus particularly on folate chemistry - cerebral folate deficiency (CFD), folate receptor autoantibodies (FRAAs) and leucovorin (folinic acid) - and some autisms, and (3) the year that the plural autisms finally emerged into the mainstream. That last one is particularly close to my research heart: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/abs/from-autism-to-the-plural-autisms-evidence-from-differing-aetiologies-developmental-trajectories-and-symptom-intensity-combinations/4D9B0B35DCF03FDBA4E001F7DC9B02D6

2025 has been a pivotal year for autism as the 'lack of curiosity' of the past few years (in some quarters) has given way to more people asking important questions. It's no longer about whether 'identity first language' trumps 'person first language' (indeed, whole swaithes of identity related stuff has been shown for what it really is) or whether other such meaningless word policing is important to many people's lives, but what can actually help people with autism and their parents/carers, particularly those with severe and/or profound autism. Indeed, mention of those words 'severe' or 'profound autism' is only going to accelerate as the old 'autism is autism' mantra dwindled further in 2025 and as 'people' or 'person' become primary, rather than their diagnostic label.

There's lots of hope for 2026 that things will continue at a similar pace.