Autism Rebuttal

Autism has been in the news recently, with the HHS Secretary repeatedly calling the neurologic condition a "preventable" disease and a growing "epidemic". He has promised a "massive testing and research effort" that will in just four short months pinpoint its cause, which he believes is an "environmental toxin".

His choice of language perpetuates harmful stereotypes and defies scientific consensus. While there is still much to learn about autism and its causes, there have been decades of solid global research that the Secretary is ignoring.

Autism is a lifelong neurological and developmental condition that affects how people communicate, learn and behave. Signs usually appear in the first few years of life, although some people are not diagnosed until much later. And there isn't just one autism, there are many autisms that present very differently across different people.

We do NOT consider autism a "disease", which implies that something has gone wrong to make someone autistic, and it is NOT an epidemic, which implies that autism is contagious. Instead, it is a disability present from an early age for which people need different levels of support throughout their lives.

And using the term "preventable" unfortunately suggests to parents that there was something they could have done to avert the condition.

We already understand that genetics plays a MAJOR role in autism. There are several specific genetic diseases that increase the risk of autism, and more than 250 genes that are associated with a higher risk. In fact, in identical twins when one has autism, the other has a 60 to 90% chance of sharing the diagnosis. And while there is a genetic basis that "loads the gun" for autism, there are already many KNOWN environmental factors that "pull the trigger".

However, three decades of global research has simply NOT found any link between childhood immunizations and autism. This accusation has been thoroughly disproved.

Finally, there is NOT an "epidemic" of autism. More children and adults are being diagnosed simply because the medical and mental health world has developed a more thorough understanding of autism and has become much better at making the diagnosis. Many people who previously would have been assigned other diagnoses are now being more correctly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a phenomenon known as "diagnostic transference".

Thanks for reading, we hope that this has helped increase understanding