Madam, - I wish to formally register my objection to "autism" being the answer to a clue in last Saturday's Simplex crossword: "Mental illness that isolates from the real world".
Autism is not a mental illness; it is a developmental disorder, along with dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. However, autistic and mentally ill people in Ireland today do have something in common: a shared neglect and lack of appropriate intervention by the State.
It may seem trivial to pick on a crossword clue but, as anyone living or involved with people with this developmental disorder would know, the devil is in the detail. - Yours, etc,
JOY REDMOND, Greenmount, Tara Hill, Co Wexford.