wobbegong wrote:
What if I can say that I know enough about my family history to say that they were aspies before there were vaccines or hospitals with thimerosal.
What about the possibilty that aspies are drawn to the medical profession because of their aspieness? There are distinct advantages to being aspie in the medical and emergency professions, and traits like eccentricity, (perceived) arrogance, single mindedness, and expertise in narrow fields were accepted and even valued. Doctors with bad bedside manner are not generally sacked from their jobs. Patients will accept the bad bedside manner in return for an expert diagnosis and effective treatment.
What about the possibilty that there is an increase in diagnosis of aspieness and autism because there has been research, papers published, and health professionals educated.
We were there before WWII - but the labels were not.
What do we do with parents who are trying to "cure" their children for reflecting the parent's own family dark side? Shame on the child for showing up the parent's weaknesses? Are these parents here to propogate their own genes or eliminate them?
One of the theories HOWEVER is not that there is no genetic component - although there are definetely some who insist that this is all purely environmental (vaccines, ect.) but that because autism is neurological that certain families could have a pre-disposed weakness. So not all the those raising questions about the safety of thimerisol or mercury in the environment deny a genetic connection - some feel the genes make them more susceptible. That is why they explain that vaccines don't "cause" autism in the general population but only to a certain segment that for whatever reason is vunerable. My problem with that theory (like thimerisol in the vaccines) is that many are perfectly willing to take the vaccines after the mercury is removed but the other garbage like aluminum and formaldyhyde is STILL in there. That doesn't make any sense because those ingredients could also have the same potential right? So apparently it is ok for the other stuff just not thimerisol. So - you can't put everyone who is wondering about environmental connections into the same catagory.