The National Autistic Society has struck back after Professor Dame Uta Frith questioned whether many people now labelled autistic truly belong on the autism spectrum.

The 85-year-old UCL Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development, whose work helped shape the field from the 1960s, says the category has become a catch-all. The charity calls that claim outdated and harmful. The row is no longer a seminar dispute. It is a public fight over who gets to define autism.

A Pioneer Challenges the Autism Spectrum

Frith first aired her doubts in a Tes interview on 4 March 2026, saying the spectrum had become so accommodating it had come to its collapse. She later set the argument out in Psychological Medicine, published online on 4 August 2026.

In the 1960s about four in 10,000 children in the UK were diagnosed; she cites a figure of about one in 57 schoolchildren today. She wrote that anyone of any age or intelligence level can now meet the criteria. 'The time has come to examine whether the autism spectrum has become too broad,' she said.

On 14 August she posted that she hoped to start an overdue discussion and wanted more precise diagnosis, not to belittle people she thinks sit outside the original medical concept of autism.

Charity Hits Back Over Who Belongs

The National Autistic Society answered in unusually sharp language. After the March interview it published a blog accusing Frith of false narratives, outdated ideas, misinformation and false claims.

Frith said that dismissal was just wrong. Mel Merritt, the charity's head of policy and influencing, said research on subtypes remains theoretical and has no clinical value, diagnostic relevance or practical application.

Dr Sue Smith, its head of clinical services, said: 'We've got a group of people with a genuine need. We're having this weird debate about what they should be called.'

The society says every diagnosis is made against strict criteria and that evidence still points to underdiagnosis among women and older people.

It warns that carving the spectrum into smaller groups could revive stigma and put support at risk. Frith says parents of children with high care needs feel unrepresented by charities.

Numbers Rise While Official Prevalence Holds

Recorded diagnoses and demand have climbed even as survey estimates of adult prevalence have stayed close to one in 100.

A government interim review, updated on 10 June 2026, found self-identification and health and education diagnoses up sharply, with autism-related identified need at about 3.1 per cent of school-age children in the SEND system by 2025.

NHS England Digital recorded 270,701 patients with an open suspected autism referral in March 2026, and 89.7 per cent of those waits had already passed 13 weeks.

Growth has been fastest among females and young people without a learning disability. Frith wants clearer subgroups and priority for those with the greatest difficulties.

Cambridge autism researcher Sir Simon Baron-Cohen has previously proposed distinguishing between two broad autism types, including one involving intellectual or learning disability and another without.

The argument has moved from journals into clinics, classrooms and comment threads across England. Both sides say they are protecting the people most easily left behind on the autism spectrum. Assessments continue while the definition fight shows no sign of closing.

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