The elephant in the room

Let’s address the elephant in the room – the causes of autism.  At this point in time (February 2021), there is not known to be any single defining factor that causes the brains of some people to wire in a way that absolutely will create the behaviours and experiences encompassed by the term ‘autism’. 

Unlike low folic acid increasing the chances of neural tube defects in the unborn, what a woman eats or does not eat in the months leading up to pregnancy or birth does not seem to have any bearing on the chances of a child being autistic.  However, it is thought that there is a genetic link – autism does seem to run in families, much like motor-neurone disease.  And like motor-neurone disease, it also appears ‘spontaneously’.

Fortunately, unlike motor-neurone disease, it is not fatal.  Nobody dies ‘from’, or is potentially permanently harmed or disfigured by, autism itself (although many suffer from the way others treat them due to their being autistic, or from self-harming behaviours used to cope with a difficult world).

The same cannot be said of measles, polio, whooping cough, rubella, smallpox, tetanus, or any number of other diseases that have been eradicated from most regions of the world.  The prevalence of these diseases has decreased to the point where many people cannot remember, or have not met, one of those negatively affected by these diseases.

How did we get to a world where these diseases are uncommon?

Vaccinations.

Many vaccinations are given to young children at ages when certain developmental milestones may normally be observed.  These milestone ages may include the points at which children typically start speaking, walking, and learning to interact with other people outside their family.

When autistic children do not display achievement of these milestones at the typical age, or in the typical manner, blame is often apportioned to the most recent unusual event in that child’s life, which is often a relatively recent vaccination.  However, this confuses concurrent events (those happening around the same time) with causal events (those causing something else).

I was born in the mid-1970s.  For various reasons, I did not receive vaccinations against some diseases (note: my parents were not anti-vaccination) and so I ended up having the ‘real deal’ when it came to chicken pox and measles.

I am, and always was, autistic despite a lack of vaccination against these diseases.  So obviously, one does not need a vaccine to cause autism, nor does one need to get one of these diseases to be autistic.

But even if vaccines did cause autism and the 'real deal' didn't, why would you prefer your child to potentially die, be disfigured, or become permanently disabled, rather than possibly turning out to be someone like I am – an articulate, married, gainfully-employed engineer?

Note that I am not saying that those who are disfigured or disabled are inferior or invaluable, just that most people wouldn't actively wish that outcome of disease on anyone.  I'm also not saying that the non-verbal, single, or unemployed have diminished intrinsic value.  However, I am aware that some people hear the word 'autistic' applied to a child and immediately envisage that the child will be non-verbal, never have a romantic partner, and be permanently unemployed, hence why I started this blog in the first place.

“What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool? You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.” – Dr Temple Grandin