Great News! No Epidemic of Autism! (NOT)
From the prestigious “Infectious Diseases in Children” magazine for pediatricians, here is a quote. You’ll love this!
“There is no argument that the number of ASD diagnoses has increased: however, recent data indicate that, these figures are a result of broadened diagnostic criteria, increased surveillance and improved public awareness.” And, “the rise in ASD number appears to be associated with increased parental awareness and improved early diagnosis by pediatricians.”
Whew. I am glad that solves that issue. You know, when I was in my medical training in the early 1980’s, I only saw one patient with Autism. Except, if you believe this article, actually, there were probably a lot more children with autism, but WE were too lame to make the diagnosis, and parents were too ill-informed to identify problems like not being able to talk and crippling obsessive compulsive disorders. In addition, the whole school system, teachers included, continued to teach and move these children along, successfully, since THEY didn’t recognize autism or these symptoms either!
Of course, this Jedi mind-trick doesn’t work on us, we know better. It reminds me of a similar diatribe written in the past, that “the increase number of autism reported clearly reflects the parents desire for a diagnosis so they can get freebie therapies.” When my wife Donna read that back in 2001, she said, “so if we don’t desire the freebies, does that mean we don’t have a child with Autism?” I wish.
Also included in this article was the obligatory “we are still living in the shadow of the famously debunked 1998 research of Andrew Wakefield linking autism to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccines.” I am still trying to reconcile statements like this with the fact that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine proved to the wrecking ball for our son Joshua’s little body!
We are moving at a snail’s pace (some would argue more like an amoeba’s pace) in coming to grips that the number of children with autism is ALARMINGLY high and they will have to come to grips with the cause. I am hopeful things will change. It will be interesting to see if we can NOW get a true dialogue about vaccine safety as well as insuring scientific integrity along with true discussion that includes both how to best take care of children with Autism and honestly discuss how to prevent susceptible individuals from becoming autistic in the first place!