In such integrative accounts of ASD, an autistic person’s difficulties are not seen as simply caused by individual deficits but rather are understood as arising from a poor fit between, on the one hand, the individual’s characteristics and, on the other hand, the demands placed on them by their environment ( Mandy, 2022). Although most people agree with this conceptualisation of neuro-biological aetiology, amongst a variety of stakeholders, the preference for a biopsychosocial model with more emphasis on how social factors affect functioning and wellbeing, is increasing ( Bolis et al., 2017 Greaves-Lord et al., 2022). As such, it endorses a medical model, conceptualising Autism Spectrum Disorder as a medical condition with an inborn, for a substantial part, genetically inherited nature, while acknowledging that gene-environment interactions also play a pivotal role in neurodevelopment (classifying this category in the over-arching category of Neurodevelopmental Disorders).
The ICD-11 is an international system for the Classification of Diseases. ASD is a “lifelong condition, of which the manifestations and impact are likely to vary according to age, intellectual and language abilities, co-occurring conditions and environmental context”. Consequently, the condition can present clinically at all ages. ICD-11 recognises that overt symptoms are sometimes only fully manifest later, in adolescence or even adulthood, when social demands exceed capacities. Yet, some individuals with ASD can function in many contexts through exceptional effort, such that their autistic characteristics are not apparent to others during childhood. Third, “symptoms should result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning” and, as in previous definitions, the onset should have been during early development. Atypical responses to sensory stimuli are now included in this domain, unlike ICD-10, where unusual sensory processing was not considered a core (diagnostic) feature. Second, by “a range of restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behaviour, interests or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive for the individual’s age and sociocultural context”. First, “persistent deficits in the ability to initiate and sustain reciprocal social interaction and social communication” ( World Health Organization, 2019a). Current ICD-11 Definition, Criteria and Conceptualisations of Autism Spectrum DisorderĪccording to the current International system for the Classification of Diseases 11 th Revision (ICD-11) diagnostic requirements, in order to receive a classification of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a person’s behaviour should be characterised by three essential features.