Autism advocate, neurodiversity champion, writer, actor, and filmmaker Alex Plank “had a harder time than most” growing up. “I was bullied a lot; I didn't know how to make friends, and I'd blame myself”, he says. There is nothing self-pitying in his tone; now in his mid-thirties, Plank is simply describing the way things were for an autistic young person growing up in Charlottesville, VA, USA, in the early 1990s. At the age of 9 years, Plank finally received a formal diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. He found out about it in a way typical of the proactive and investigative attitude that characterises his adult life. Plank has, he tells me, always been “a very curious person”. “I go through papers and read every little detail…I went through [his parents'] entire cabinet…and found the document outlining the diagnosis, which they were intending on telling me, but they were trying to just figure out the right way to say it.” Plank laughs, but it is clear that this was not an easy experience. He was at an age “when you see a diagnosis as being something wrong with you…unfortunately, that is a stigma that still exists, and it doesn't really help.” The Lancet Commission on the future of care and clinical research in autismAffecting about 78 million people worldwide, autism is a condition of global importance because of its prevalence and the degree to which it can affect individuals and families. Autism awareness has grown monumentally in the past 20 years, yet most striking is that much more could be done to improve life outcomes for the highly heterogeneous group of people with autism. Such change will depend on investments in science focused on practical clinical issues, and on social and service systems that acknowledge the potential for change and growth as well as the varied, complex needs of the autistic individuals and their families whose lives could be changed with such an effort. Full-Text PDF