Autism Diagnoses Are Rising… So Now’s The Time To Prioritise Inclusivity

Dec 18, 2025

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As a business, regardless of industry or sector, it’s beneficial to prioritise inclusivity and diversity to ensure that you expand your talent pool, support innovation and creativity, improve staff engagement and retention, and improve your brand reputation… ultimately making yourself significantly more competitive as a result.

One of the hot topics of the moment is, of course, autism and much has been made of the supposed ‘crisis’ by politicians and commentators, responding to a perceived increase in autism rates in the UK, and globally.

Are autism rates increasing in the UK?

Recent academic studies show that the real prevalence of the difference in the population is between two and three per cent, which while higher than estimates made 20 years ago, still only represents a very small proportion of the overall population.

Meanwhile, a University of Cambridge study shows that approximately one in 57 children in the UK (1.76 per cent) are on the autistic spectrum. Boys demonstrated a prevalence of 2.8 per cent, compared to that of 0.65 per cent in girls.

Previous estimates suggested that one in 64 children were autistic (1.57 per cent)... and researchers put this increase down to better recognition by parents and schools in recent years.

While there has been a noticeably significant rise in diagnoses of this type of neurodivergence in the UK, this appears to be down to increased awareness of the difference and changes in diagnostic criteria, rather than an actual increase in ‘susceptibility’.

It is certainly true to say that autism has always existed as a natural variation among humans and that its emergence is predominantly down to genetics, rather than social or cultural factors.

For autistic people themselves, significant stigma does still exist thanks to cultural stereotyping, limited societal experience and medical models of language.

This can make forging a career particularly difficult, with official figures from Autism Alliance showing that just three in ten autistic adults are in paid employment, which is one of the lowest employment rates among all disability groups.

How can businesses be more inclusive?

Developing your understanding of autism will ensure that your business will be able to fully support autistic colleagues, making reasonable adjustments as and when appropriate to account for the potential difficulties that employees may experience in the workplace.

Common challenges that autistic members of staff might encounter include:

Time management difficulties
Sensory hypersensitivity
Different communication styles
Anxiety or stress in response to unexpected changes or tasks
Difficulty building interpersonal relationships with colleagues

How to develop autism-inclusive workplaces

Step 1

Review job application processes, providing opportunities for autism disclosure and helping to reduce anxiety by sending interview questions in advance, holding interviews in quiet rooms and offering the chance for someone to accompany the interviewee on the day.

Step 2

Be specific and concise when providing work instructions. Providing managers with clear training on this matter will help ensure that this is easily achieved.

Step 3

Make workplace adjustments to help manage workloads, reduce workplace stress and prevent sensory overload. This could include the use of noise-cancelling headphones, remote working opportunities or choosing work locations away from busy areas.

Step 4

Develop neurodiversity supportive work policies that set out your standards and expectations, written in a way that’s fully inclusive for all members of staff.