As a parent with an autistic daughter, I have been floored
by the rise of autism. My child was born in 1997. It took me seven years
to get an official diagonsis, even though, now, when you look at a chart of
symptoms, she has easily 12 out of 15.
I have watched the
numbers go from 1 in 500 when she was born, to 1 in 120 in the span of a
decade.
What causes this rise? I can't be sure. I do think
more awareness by physicians plays a crucial role. Autism is better understood now. When
Austen, my daughter was little, she was dismissed by her GP and neurologists on the
misguided information that "girls don't get autism." Clearly they do. Perhaps not at the
same rate as boys, but their numbers are climbing exponentially. Of the 12 kids in my
daughter's special needs class, four are girls with
autism.
There has been a LOT of debate about the role of
vaccines in causing autism. I am of the opinion that the science has proven that
vaccines are NOT a cause of autism. However, I know many, many autistic parents that
swear they had a neurotypical child until given vaccines. Now, they have a child with
autism.
Still, I tend to believe the science. I think
vaccines may play a role but they are not a sole factor. Perhaps
they work in conjunction with genetics and environmental factors. The cocktail, as it
were, may be the trigger for autism.
I have two children;
my autistic daughter and my neurotypical son. My son had exactly the same course of
vaccines as my daughter, but no autism.
There is no clear
answer.
One thing I personally would like to see
investigated is the role that inducing labor may play in the onset of autism. The rates
of inducing have risen exponentially over the last 25 years, as have the rates of
autism. Could a fetus being introduced to those powerful chemicals play a role in the
trigger? My daughter was induced; my son was not. Again, circumstatial evidence but
perhaps worth investigating.
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