Douglas_MacNeill wrote:
I suspect they might have been called
changelings or the corresponding term
for whatever fairies left behind in place of a child.
The idea would be that the child that the parents had
known and loved was taken away from them by
someone or something; I suspect that Autism Speaks
and similar organizations think about autism in
something like this manner.
That actually might be how the myth came to be because of many parrents stories even today how autism onsets in late infanthood. I have to say my sister who was never dx but I was changed very quickly at about 2 years of age. She became very fussy, did not want to be held at all, became withdrawn, and her language skills quickly degressed. She now has some social difficulties, but her high inteligence fills in the gap. So it is possible that late infanthood onset AS could expain the belief in the myth because their child quickly changed from being social and cuddly to fussy, withdrawn and not really wanting to be held. I know with my sister, it happened right after a very high fever of 106 when she had a severe reaction to a vaccine. So the vaccine theory is plausible from what I seen, however I dont think it was the vaccine per sey, but her reaction to it. She has always had crazy allergies. As for me, mine is a result of brain damage during infanthood....of course, I dont remember.
_________________
All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.
-James Baldwin
17 Nov 2010, 2:15 am
