![\"Uta](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01075856\/SEI_294191243.jpg\")
<\/div>Uta Frith seems remarkably\u00a0cheerful and content for someone who\u2019s spent\u00a0six decades trying and\u00a0failing to get\u00a0to grips with\u00a0her life\u2019s obsession.\u00a0\u201cVery little has stood the test of time,\u201d she tells me as we sit down\u00a0in\u00a0her\u00a0living room\u00a0in a leafy estate in Harrow-on-the-Hill, London.<\/p>\n
Around us, high-ceilinged walls papered in a luxurious red print are barely visible between rammed bookshelves, several model brains and a collection of abstract art. Frith has been searching for the mechanisms that underpin the enigmatic condition of autism ever since she first met profoundly autistic children in the late 1960s. \u201cWe could identify them intuitively, but not really scientifically \u2013 and I have to say that this is, unfortunately, still the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Frith\u2019s influence on our ever-shifting understanding of autism has been monumental. She developed two landmark theories about how autistic minds might develop differently to neurotypical minds \u2013 and was among the first to test ideas like these using newly available brain scanners in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Since then, the number of autism diagnoses has sharply risen, especially among women and girls \u2013 largely because of a softening and broadening of how we define the condition. But Frith thinks that many people at the milder end of the spectrum have little in common with those who are profoundly autistic. \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no overlap,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is the sign that the spectrum isn\u2019t holding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over tea and homemade macaroons, we discussed how the evolution of the condition reflects on our present situation. Could the emerging idea that there are a few distinct kinds of autism help us to find a way through the confusion?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n I\u2019m no stranger to autism\u2019s recent trajectory. Several years ago, my brother, who had long hidden his struggles, reached out for help, and I supported him through his autism diagnosis. Today, many friends have been diagnosed with autism, ADHD or both, and I have been asking questions about my own possible neurodivergence. So, I was keen to better understand where Frith, with her deep knowledge of the condition, was coming from \u2013 even if I might not agree.<\/p>\n Frith never intended to be an experimental psychologist. Instead, she set out to study art history in the early 1960s. \u201cLike so many things in life, it was a complete accident. I just drifted into the psychology department at Saarland University in Germany,\u201d she says. In the university hospital, psychologists gave lectures alongside patients who hallucinated or who spoke in abnormal ways. \u201cI found that absolutely mind-blowing. How would you explain that?\u201d she reflects. \u201cIt was really an exciting time for clinical psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n For decades, psychology had been in the grip of psychoanalysis, which saw distress arising from the expression of conflicts in the unconscious mind, often involving repressed memories, desires and fears. Autism, through this lens, was blamed on cold, unloving mothers who made their child withdraw. \u201cThe \u2018refrigerator mother\u2019 was a dangerous concept,\u201d says Frith. Instead, clinical psychology sought objective explanations based on the cognitive mechanisms that drove behaviours, such as habits and goals. \u201cI was really thirsting to find some facts that we could work with and say, \u2018Oh, that really tells us something about our minds,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI really go for what is the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n This took Frith to London, where, for the first time, she met autistic children and tried to interact with them. \u201cI was completely baffled and absolutely fascinated by them. How could they have a mind that allowed them to be so oblivious of me?\u201d The same children who struggled so much socially would then complete an extraordinarily complex jigsaw puzzle by themselves, upside down, without being asked. Frith\u2019s affection for and interest in these children led her to dedicate most of her career to trying to figure out the difference between autistic and neurotypical minds.<\/p>\n In 1985, she\u00a0published\u00a0a\u00a0landmark paper with psychologists Simon Baron-Cohen and Alan Leslie that asked: \u201cDoes the autistic child have a theory of mind?\u201d They proposed that autistic people can\u2019t understand the knowledge, intentions and emotions of other people, and often struggle to empathise. The idea that autism relates to a lack of empathy is disputed, as studies show that autistic people can communicate effectively with each other, suggesting there is a mutual misunderstanding between autistic and non-autistic people.<\/p>\n Autistic children often have differences in their social interactions<\/p>\n xavierarnau\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n Frith emphasises that the lack of a theory of mind can explain only one facet of autism, relating to social behaviour. Another trait Frith uncovered in the 1980s is the impressive ability of autistic people to to find hidden figures that are embedded within complex patterns. \u201cThere\u2019s an over-focus on the detailed components of a big picture, and perhaps this neglect of the big picture \u2013 you\u2019re not seeing the wood for the trees,\u201d she says. This also seems to explain the behaviour of autistic savants who have narrow interests along with exceptional skills such as memory, musical or mathematical talents.<\/p>\n Yet to try to demonstrate that these are objective causes of autism, Frith couldn\u2019t rely on cognitive theories and behaviours alone. \u201cYou also have the level of the brain where you believe the source for these cognitive mechanisms lies, and underneath that you have the level of evolution and genetics that drives what is actually happening in the brain,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Fortunately, as Frith developed these theories in the 1980s and 90s, brain-scanning technologies such as MRI and fMRI matured, which allowed her to look for the brain circuitry that might underlie autistic traits. \u201cI have to really credit my husband here, because he was right there at the beginning developing the techniques you need to analyse the images you get out of these scans,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Brain imaging studies like this were only possible because the criteria used in autism diagnosis had recently expanded. To give consent, participants had to understand what the experiments implied, so the studies ended up including many individuals with Asperger\u2019s syndrome \u2013 a \u201chigh-functioning\u201d form of autism that became formally recognised in the early 90s. The terminology high- or low-functioning is no longer used today, nor is Asperger\u2019s a diagnosable condition.<\/p>\n Initially, Frith welcomed expanding the criteria for autism to include milder cases \u2013 she even\u00a0introduced the idea of Asperger\u2019s syndrome to the English-speaking world in a 1991 book. But she now questions whether this line of thinking has, inadvertently, led us astray. \u201cIt was almost essential in order to do more research. But now I think perhaps that was a step too far, and certainly what happened afterwards is not what anybody could have foreseen,\u201d she says. In the UK, for instance, between 1998 and 2017, there was an eightfold increase\u00a0in autism\u00a0diagnoses. \u201cIt ran away beyond Asperger\u2019s,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The\u00a0introduction of\u00a0Asperger\u2019s syndrome\u00a0generated\u00a0cultural depictions of\u00a0autism,\u00a0such as\u202fRaymond Babbitt\u00a0in\u00a0Rain Main<\/em>. Babbitt is an autistic savant who relies on strict routines and finds social interactions challenging. Many of these popular archetypes have attractive personalities, says Frith, such as Astrid Nielsen, the autistic archivist who helps solve criminal cases in the current Franco-Belgian detective series\u202fAstrid et Rapha\u00eblle<\/em>. \u201cPeople were presented as very logically minded who, at the same time, seemed completely clueless in social relations,\u201d says Frith. \u201cThere was this idea that you could easily classify your friends and say, \u2018Well, he\u2019s on the spectrum, isn\u2019t he?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Many autistic people and autism researchers welcome how inclusive the condition has become. Broadly speaking, autistic people tend to have\u202fdifficulties with communicating and socialising, as well as sensory issues and restricted behaviours and interests. But precisely how these facets manifest varies hugely from one autistic individual to another \u2013 and the broadening and softening of diagnostic criteria embraces this variation.<\/p>\n Yet Frith is concerned that the traits of a large proportion of autistic people diagnosed since the 90s might be better understood as part of normal personality variation. \u201cWe are all individually different,\u201d she says. Autism has become an identity rather than a pathology, she says. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like if you find it difficult to make friends, or you have a special interest hobby, or you aren\u2019t always sure what people are thinking, it\u2019s enough to think, \u2018Wow, I could be autistic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Those who regard autism as a form of neurodivergence say the condition isn\u2019t just a pathology that causes disability. Autistic traits can also be an immense source of pride and strength. My brother\u2019s knowledge of who scored in every single football match Manchester United has ever played certainly helps him out in the right situations \u2013 and I constantly lean on him to jog my childhood memory. While he has his share of troubles, his autism diagnosis helps him to value his unique skills, foster self-understanding and be kinder to himself.<\/p>\n Frith and the author, Thomas Lewton, at Frith\u2019s home in London<\/p>\n David Stock<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n At the same time, it isn\u2019t clear what, if anything, still unites mild autism with profound autism, where people often face severe intellectual disabilities and can\u2019t live independently. Cases of profound autism have increased since the 90s, but not nearly as much as milder forms, which are often identified later in childhood or in adulthood. Frith thinks that these newer groups have no overlap with the autistic children that she first met in the 60s, and that often these conditions are unlikely to be neurodevelopmental, which is a defining feature of autism. \u201cIt could be a category which has not yet got a label,\u201d she says. Or it might not be a diagnosable condition at all. \u201cI think a wrong turn was made pathologising what I think are probably extremely useful personality variants that I would call \u2018autistic-like\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Frith points out that the rate of autism diagnoses has increased most rapidly among women, who are now often diagnosed as teenagers. \u201cThey are still labelled autistic, but I wonder whether they would be much better treated and understood if one looked at what their problems actually were,\u201d she says. This trend has brought the historical ratio of male-to-female autism diagnoses down from around 4:1 to an almost equal ratio by the age of 20. But Frith says that including milder forms of autism diagnosed later in life distorts this ratio.<\/p>\n Other researchers,\u00a0such as psychologist Gina Rippon, say there are\u00a0good reasons why autistic women and girls are diagnosed later in life \u2013 and that\u00a0rather than omitting\u00a0these \u201clost girls\u201d of autism,\u00a0they should be\u00a0welcomed into the fold.\u00a0In this view,\u00a0social pressures placed on women\u00a0and\u00a0girls\u00a0can lead them\u00a0to camouflage natural\u00a0behaviours. Indeed,\u00a0imaging studies find that\u00a0brain areas associated with social reward are more active in\u00a0autistic\u00a0girls than boys and\u00a0that they have\u00a0greater\u00a0connectivity\u00a0between\u00a0social brain networks,\u00a0which may\u00a0suggest\u00a0they are more motivated\u00a0to adjust their behaviour\u00a0to fit in.<\/p>\n Masking in this way\u00a0is linked with\u00a0high levels\u00a0of anxiety, depression and\u00a0even suicidal ideation in autistic girls and women. I put these ideas to Frith, but she sticks to her guns. \u201cIt creates an extraordinary paradox,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can diagnose autism showing symptoms, and you can diagnose autism not showing symptoms, with the assumption that masking is going on. So, how can you ever falsify the diagnosis?\u201d Masking isn\u2019t a scientifically testable idea, says Frith. \u201cWe have lots of reasons to doubt subjective experience. As a tool for vigorous science, it\u2019s very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \u201c<\/span> I wonder if Frith is biased by her own background. In the 60s, she saw the harm of psychoanalytic approaches entirely rooted in experience, leading to her desire for clear-cut cognitive mechanisms. Even so, isn\u2019t the end goal of autism research to improve the subjective lives of autistic people? \u201cThat is questionable; that\u2019s an application of the science,\u201d she responds.<\/p>\n On that front, there seems to be hope. In recent years, a wave of studies has suggested that autism isn\u2019t a single condition, but rather an\u202fumbrella term\u00a0containing\u00a0multiple distinct subtypes. The grand ambition of this approach is to join the dots all the way from genes through brain circuitry and cognition to behaviours and experiences, something that could then improve support for autistic people. I ask Frith whether subtyping can create order out of the confusion.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is feasible to think that this will be achieved eventually, but not very soon,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Frith reflects on her own excitement when brain imaging tools were introduced in the 80s and 90s. \u201cIt was a huge step up, but we didn\u2019t get answers that we expected,\u201d she says. Although they observed differences in the connections between brain regions of autistic people compared with neurotypical people, they struggled to explain these findings.<\/p>\n A scan of the brain of a 4-year-old autistic child, with green colours showing lower activity on the front left and the rear of the image, regions involved with language and visual processing<\/p>\n SOVEREIGN, ISM\/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, recent subtyping studies often lean on big data to make advances, finding patterns in databases that include thousands of autistic people. Frith is sceptical of these largely bottom-up methods and says that we\u2019ve lost sight of theorising. \u201cI want an approach which goes both top-down and bottom-up,\u201d she says. So far, subtyping studies don\u2019t agree on what the characteristics of each subtype are \u2013 or even how many subtypes there are.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an almost desperate need to conserve the idea that it is autism that is being diagnosed, whereas it\u2019s\u00a0perfectly reasonable to say that it\u2019s not autism, it\u2019s something else that doesn\u2019t have a name,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m astonished that people want to cling to this label when it\u2019s outlived its purpose,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s time to break up this huge spectrum to make it more intelligible.\u201d<\/p>\n If these are distinct conditions, as Frith thinks, using the overarching idea of autism as a guiding light for research might prevent us from reaching the truth. Striving for absolute mechanisms is admirable, but Frith might be setting the bar too high. Relations between the physical brain and our mental worlds are elusive and incredibly complex \u2013 and many autistic people care less about mechanisms and more about accessing support that can improve their lives. Only with a diagnosis could my brother ask his workplace to make accommodations that have improved his life.<\/p>\n So, who gets to decide what autism is \u2013 autistic people or the scientists studying the condition? Increasingly, researchers are working closely with autistic people, involving them in the design of studies and affirming their experiences of the world. Frith acknowledges this approach is well-meaning, but wants to lay bare the risks that it may entail. \u201cWe should start again and invest more in research as opposed to instant treatments which we know very little about,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like a time of confusion and contradiction, and it has to be sorted out \u2013 not by me, but I\u2019m trying to give some pointers.\u201d<\/p>\n Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Uta Frith seems remarkably\u00a0cheerful and content for someone who\u2019s spent\u00a0six decades trying and\u00a0failing to get\u00a0to grips with\u00a0her life\u2019s obsession.\u00a0\u201cVery little has stood the test of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01075856\/SEI_294191243.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5282,5281],"class_list":["post-6898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rj","tag-autism","tag-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rising diagnoses<\/h2>\n
![\"Elementary](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01075904\/SEI_294191301.jpg\")
<\/div>Imaging the autistic brain<\/h2>\n
![\"Uta](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01075901\/SEI_294191061.jpg\")
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\n I\u2019m astonished that people want to cling to this label when it\u2019s outlived its purpose
\n \u201c<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n![\"PET](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01075917\/SEI_294191334.jpg\")
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