The Really Big Lie About Autism Continues: One in 50
In 2006 and in 2007, I wrote stories on "The Really Big Lie About Autism." This is of course the insane claim that the autism epidemic is simply the result of an expanded definition and greater awareness.
Back in 2006, the rate was one in every 166 children and in 2007, it became one in every 150 children. Regardless, whatever the rate, it's always because of the same thing: No real increase--greater recognition.
It's just been announced that we now have an autism rate of one in every 50 children, one in every 31 boys. The official disclaimer is unchanged as we can see in these reports:
ABC News: 1 in 50 School Kids Has Autism
"Health officials say the new number doesn't mean autism is occurring more often. But it does suggest that doctors are diagnosing autism more frequently, especially in children with milder problems."
FOX News said exactly the same thing. Health officials: 1 in 50 school kids have autismWebMD: 1 in 50 School-Aged Children in US Has Autism
"The main reason for the increase in the prevalence of autism appears to be better diagnoses, especially in older children.
USA Today: Autism numbers rise in latest count
"The higher numbers recorded in the new study suggest that officials are getting better at counting kids with autism - not that more have the condition, several experts said."
Forbes: Autism Prevalence Is Now At 1 In 50 Children
"Together, these findings suggest that the increase in prevalence of parent-reported ASD may have resulted from improved ascertainment of ASD by doctors and other health care professionals in recent years, especially when the symptoms are mild."
Reuters: U.S. autism estimates climb to 1 in 50 school-age children
"As many as one in 50 U.S. school age children have a diagnosis of autism, up 72 percent since 2007, but much of the increase involves milder cases, suggesting the rise is linked to better recognition of autism symptoms and not more cases..."
US News: One in 50 School-Aged Children in U.S. Has Autism: CDC
Yahoo News: Autism Rate Rises to 1 in 50 Kids
"[T]he findings suggest that doctors and other healthcare
professionals are getting better at identifying and diagnosing mild forms of
autism, said study researcher Stephen Blumberg, of the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention's National Center for Health
Statistics, the organization the released the report."
CBS News: Autism: One in 50 children in U.S. have it, study says (21 seconds)
"The new numbers may simply be the result of better reporting."
NBC Today Show: Study: One in 50 schoolchildren in U.S. have autism (Time: 30 seconds)
"The CDC says it's new numbers don't necessarily mean autism is occurring more often, but it may indicate that it is being diagnosed more frequently than before."
NBC Nightly News: Diagnosing Autism (Time: 2:09)
Mother says: "I think it's scary. I think we obviously need to figure out what is going on."
Chief science correspondent, Robert Bazell: "But experts say the new numbers do not necessarily point to a genuine increase...."
Dr. Zachary Warren, Vanderbilt University Medical Center: "Awareness is changing....Clinicians are recognizing it much more frequently."
I was a little surprised to see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announce an update in the autism rate right before April--Autism Awareness Month. Wouldn't this be a major cause for concern? Wouldn't there finally be a demand for answers?
Evidently not. It was actually a very clever way to make the public aware of just how bad things are and at the same time downplay the results. All the news outlets are telling it just the way the CDC wants. Without exception they're saying that it's not really an increase, just better, more accurate diagnostics. The point that's being missed here is that the CDC is referring to the previous estimate of one every 88 children, one in every 54 boys, announced last year. Maybe the one in 88 more correctly should have been one in every 50.
The public isn't getting that message however. They're being told, as always, that regardless of the jaw-dropping rate, there's never a real increase. We're so used to it now, that the numbers simply don't matter. The rate could be announced at one in 25 and people like Dr. Robert Bazell at NBC would be saying that it's merely the addition of milder forms of autism.
Not one of the reporters at these national news outlets could ask the really important questions:
Why is it that we're always talking about children with autism? Why hasn't anyone ever been able to show us a comparable rate among adults?
What's going to happen when a million disabled childeren reach adulthood? How are we ever going to pay for them?
How do you explain the fact that our schools are filled with children who can't speak, can't learn, and can't behave and who come with a myriad of labels for learning disorders? Where were all the children like this 25, 30, and 40 years ago?
Why is such a common disorder so baffling to experts, despite spending millions of research dollars over two decades? When will anyone have an explanation?
Why have officials admitted that there are environmental triggers for autism but no one has ever given us conclusive proof on which ones are behind the epidemic? Why is there nothing a new mother can do to make sure her healthy, normally developing baby doesn't also have autism by age two?
Why do the number continue to dramatically increase when the definition was changed almost 20 years ago? Shouldn't the rate have leveled some time ago?
Should we expect that the numbers will continue to increase until having at least one child with autism will be the norm for a family?
Is the rate ever going to get bad enough that the CDC will actually declare autism to be a health care crisis?
Members of the press never ask the hard questions. They take whatever the CDC says as infallible and they'll continue "The Really Big Lie About Autism" until we simply don't remember a world without chronically ill and disabled children everywhere.
As long as the press and the public swallow the fiction that autism was always here but somehow was under the radar, no one can be held responsible for anything. If the lie is finally exposed, we'd have to take the autism numbers seriously. There would be a demand for answers. We'd all want to know who was asleep at the switch and didn't sound an alarm. Imagine how everything would unravel.
At all costs, April will again mean nice stories about blue lights, walks for awareness, and no one being really worried about 2 percent of our children now with autism.
there seems to be many cases where the child is taken in for the vaccines and later at home the child starts with the high pitched screaming that gos on and on and the child is never the same. The child is then confirmed as autistic.This is what many parents are claiming.Something is going on here. They tell the doctor how it went.Nothing.
Posted by: Windy | June 19, 2017 at 07:19 PM
For Cristina :
https://www.vaccinationnews.org/Scandals/Feb_15_02/comparison_symptoms.htm
Posted by: Hans Hitten | June 19, 2017 at 07:17 AM
Posted by: Cristina | June 19, 2017 at 01:15 AM
It sounds like Ethyl Mercury poisoning to me .
One of the outcomes is the behaviour you talk of.
Looking for the link to show you.
Posted by: Hans Hitten | June 19, 2017 at 06:29 AM
I think we should start looking more on to the drugs used in hospitals to induce labor, Pitocin.There is an article by a GYN Dr that reveals her theory between the major hormone Oxytocin that the unborn baby is exposed during the long 8 to 24 hours of induced labor damaging some how the capacity for normal function , anything from mild or several autism, asperger's , ADHD, ADD, ODD,and any other mental behavioral that starts being notice some right away in the first year of life others later on .I talked to many mother's with behavioral problematic kids and all have been induced during labor.I am one of them I have a 8 year old boy that from the first months of life never smile as a baby, he started to talk very late like 2-2 1/2 always complaining to my Pediatrician, he said nothing is wrong with him.He always had very bad behavioral problems, I was told is normal the terrible 2, and them 3,4,5,6,7 now going to 8 he is always upset with everything, always complaining about everything like everyday tasks, crying and screaming is the norm for him, I also had another boy without any iducinng labor drugs, he is now 5 , even though he grow up watching his bigger brother being so miserable he ask me" why he is always complaining?" It breaks my heart and I know that a very dark future is ahead for him.I just wanted to make more people aware of this, there are more boys than girls because when measuring the femur bone on the fetuses ultrasounds most of the time the boys are bigger than the girls and are missdiagnosed on the date that are "supposed to be born "on the "full term" so when that date comes and there are no contractions some doctors are very eager to "take that baby out" in health babys and healthy mother's that is wrong, what about letting nature decide when the baby is ready to come out?
Posted by: Cristina | June 19, 2017 at 01:15 AM
We are all labelled as something - it is human nature to feel as we belong to a culture or a club. The problem is, is that Autism is now termed as a 'culture.' I don't buy into that at all. It is dismissing everyone else. It is just another way to be select, but as I say, it is human nature, so there is very little we can do about unless we peeve a lot of people off in the process for thinking outside the box...
Posted by: Sarah | March 13, 2017 at 10:21 AM
Dear Anonymous,
Your comment here consists mainly of insulting others here and asserting that they are ignorant. Ironically about the only piece of supposedly scientific information in your own comment is that "Autism is genetic and related to a number of different disorders. This is well known and documented."
But you don't show us any of that alleged documentation. Like I will do in the following.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21727249
Hallmayer J, Cleveland S, Torres A, Phillips J, Cohen B, Torigoe T, Miller J, Fedele A, Collins J, Smith K, Lotspeich L, Croen LA, Ozonoff S, Lajonchere C, Grether JK, Risch N. (2011) Genetic heritability and shared environmental factors among twin pairs with autism. Arch Gen Psychiatry 68:1095-102.
Their conclusion: "Susceptibility to ASD has moderate genetic heritability and a substantial shared twin environmental component." The authors calculate that shared environment accounts for 55% of the risk of autism and genetic heritability for 37%.
And as I predicted long ago in Clarke 1993, " If a rare perinatal adversity were to become somewhat more common, then obviously, autism of the environmental category would become more prevalent." And exactly that change has now happened as confirmed by that large Hallmayer study.
Fuller explanation of what's going on can be found in free chapters of the forthcoming book Experts Lying to You at http://www.pseudoexpertise.com
Posted by: Robin Clarke, end of comment | March 06, 2017 at 08:02 AM
@Anonymous
Autism is certainly not genetic in most cases; just look at the rates!
This is a condition that can have a few different causes; the diagnosis is vague enough. The best cases can be made for Thimerosal and Vitamin D as being the primary agents IMO.
Vaccines still have aluminum; and this can end-up in the brain! This is not a good thing.
Posted by: Narad | November 06, 2016 at 02:55 AM
Anonymous,
Pro-vaxxers like yourself can't keep saying that vaccines are safe and don't cause autism when the NVICP (the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program) "compensates" for vaccine-caused brain damage and autism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfG2kTcOvOU
It's a pity that the highest-functioning autistics can't see that they are being used to spread misinformation about autism and pro-vax propaganda.
Posted by: ATSC | November 05, 2016 at 07:31 PM
Hey Anonymous,
Listen to this pediatric nurse:
https://www.periscope.tv/teamvaxxed/1mnxejYVQpoKX?
Posted by: ATSC | November 05, 2016 at 07:39 AM
NOTE: We're publishing this comment against our usual moderation guidelines. The angry commenter who is quick to call us names does not use his own. We apologize for his vulgarity. If he has autism, we'll excuse his lack of social skills. Kim Here's the comment:
This is the most ridiculous shitstorm of uninformed people I have ever seen. Autism is genetic and related to a number of different disorders. This is well known and documented.
I have high functioning autism and I'm 27. Life has already been very difficult with the stigma attached to something that I need people to understand. Instead we have a bunch of troglodytes that don't understand the scientific process spreading misinformation and paranoia about vaccines and other tripe. This only makes my life harder. This article and multiple commenters are misinformed and ableistic. From an Autistic adult: fuck off. Your interference and ignorance is neither needed or wanted, it is reviled.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 04, 2016 at 07:17 PM
According to this timeline the DTP was given to infants up until 1996 in the US when it was replaced by the DTaP:
http://www.immunize.org/timeline/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/hv.29576?needAccess=true&
"The US first licensed DTaP vaccines for use in infants in 1996 "
Interesting that the Timeline above doesn't mention the MMR II:
https://vaccinesbytheoutliers.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/the-use-of-human-fetal-cells-in-vaccines/
Posted by: ATSC | October 26, 2016 at 07:16 AM
Vaccineread a comment about the tainted food we buy @ fast food places or ready to cook & eat T.V. dinners or paservatives which are used to keep food longer in you're fridge or freezer or longer shelf life for foods due to the preservatives. Most beef & poultry we buy are tainted with injections of hormones, antibiotics & other injections which have been known to cause diseases especially cancer & vachildhood diseases. Another thing, why are children having to get more Vaccines today than ever? That's because the FDA says it's necessary. This is a brunch of crap. The FDA makes money off every food & drugs which are pushed towards us. Therefore we are getting more sick & paying out more to the doctors, prescribed drugs which by the way keeps the pockets of the FDA lined. It's a damn shame that the mass is not aware of this & if they are aware then many don't care enough to change their eating habits or say no to getting their child immunizations. EDUCATE YOURSELF ON WHAT'S IN YOUR FOOD & WHAT'S IN THE IMMUNIZATIONS BEFORE EATING OR SAYING YES TO ALL OF THE IMMUNIZATIONS. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECLINE IMMUNIZATIONS.
Posted by: kim | October 26, 2016 at 03:38 AM
Birgit Calhoun: Thank you for your comment. Very interesting. No doubt they did, and do today, things differently in Germany than here. The DTaP was developed because the DPT was too dangerous. The DPT was first used in the U.S. in the late '40's, but not widely so. I may have gotten it, or in single shots; I don't know. The only ones I remember are the smallpox and the two polio, injected and sugar cube (many years later I had LSD on a sugar cube, and it was the same shade of pink as the vaccine, but much more fun).
Posted by: Gary Ogden | October 25, 2016 at 10:17 PM
Beverley: What you have written is perfectly absurd. I am 67. We got smallpox (not given since 1972), Salk polio in grade school, and Sabin polio, on a sugar cube, in junior high. Some, but nowhere near all, got the DPT. That is the complete list. None of these were required for school attendance (in California prior to 1961). None of the childhood vaccines used today had been invented until long after we both reached adulthood. None of the ones we were given have been used for decades, the Salk, Sabin, and DPT because they were too dangerous, and smallpox because the last U.S. case was in 1949. We got 3-6, none in infancy, and today's schedule contains 72, with dozens given in infancy.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | October 25, 2016 at 09:56 PM
I think we all understood Birgit , LOL.
I went back and reread mine -- Sigh --all of mine are a mess.
I noticed I said was four weeks pregnant - no I was close to four months.
So you think that we as we were growing up did not have the three in one vaccine., the DPT?
I know my Mother just had a series of just the pertussis vaccine, so now I wonder if we just had single doses.
I do know that in the 70s was when so many children started having trouble with the DPT vaccine. Barbara Fisher's children were affected in the 70s. 60 Minutes had a show on it at that time. My professor was claiming parents were just mistaken about these vaccine reactions and just wanting something to blame. All in the 70s.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 25, 2016 at 08:13 PM
I didn't mean for anyone to correct me on when I came to this country. I inserted the sentence in the wrong place. I would like to be corrected about all that other stuff.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | October 25, 2016 at 05:09 PM
Beverly! I am 75 years old. There was no MMR vaccine until 1971. Rubella vaccine was first used by itself in 1969. As far as TDaP goes, the tri-valent vaccine was not used until about 1977. Before that Diptheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccines were given as single shots. I remember getting a single tetanus shot once. The shot was contained in a glass ampoule. The doctor would saw off the top of the ampoule and then inject the toxoid as an individual shot. Much of my experience relates to Germany. I arrived in this country in 1965. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong about that! I could not find a lot about when the practice of multi-valent vaccinations started. Many of the vaccines used nowadays did not exist when I was young. I had a smallpox vaccination before I was 5 years old. I got a sugar cube containing a polio vaccine. The way I see it there is a huge problem with the practice of injecting multi-valent vaccines.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | October 25, 2016 at 04:18 PM
@ Theresa, Even if your child is a very mild case, please do give him all the simple, but very effective treatments given in biomed- the sublingual B 12, B complex, fish oil, vitamin C, etc. It does a world of good over time. Good luck
Posted by: Cherry Misra | October 25, 2016 at 02:35 PM
To Garbo- You have made an excellent point. It is important to know if most of the new cases of autism are mild- for example.. I once read that most of the autistic kids in Europe are so mild that their parents are astonished to discover what autism means in the U.S. (I dont have any confirmation of that however)
Posted by: Cherry Misra | October 25, 2016 at 02:27 PM
To Vanessa, Sometimes a kid who just looks "a little bit odd" is - as an example, a kid who does not make a single friend till he is 11. That's just not right. And if he does not make a friend till he is 11, you can be sure that there are other oddities about that child, that you do not see It may be hard for observers to realize, but it does not work out too well in this world for a child to be different from other children.
To Gary, thanks for the link. If you have not watched him already, watch Dr. Boyd E Haley on youtube, speaking about Alzheimers and Autism and Mercury in dentistry. He has made some very good speeches at the IAOMT conventions. Those are on youtube. The mercury toxicologists have amazing things to tell us about Alzheimers and Autism and related topics but my impression is that they have more or less given up trying to tell mainstream doctors what they ought to know. Those doctors just dont want to listen/dont want to learn, There are many people in this world who are happier with things that way.
Posted by: Cherry Misra | October 25, 2016 at 02:23 PM
There is no way that the woman, Beverly who says she is 70, got the same vaccines as today when she was in grade school. The first measles vaccinations began in 1963 and the MMR was introduced in 1971. I am going to be 65 and was raised in Michigan. I got a polio shot and a tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (a vaccine known as Tdap). That is it because that what was available in those years in Wayne County.
The study that has been completely condemned and ruined the life of Andrew Wakefield suggested that there might be a link between autism and the MMR given together in one dose. Many countries give the measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations separately which is a prudent course of action considering that not enough time has passed for us to know absolutely that the MMR is not harmful. Here is a list of the known, albeit rare, side effects of the MMR. This is according to the CDC.
Moderate problems
Seizure (jerking or staring) caused by fever (about 1 out of 3,000 doses)
Temporary pain and stiffness in the joints, mostly in teenage or adult women (up to 1 out of 4)
Temporary low platelet count, which can cause a bleeding disorder (about 1 out of 30,000 doses)
Severe problems (very rare)
Serious allergic reaction (less than 1 out of a million doses)
Several other severe problems have been reported after a child gets MMR vaccine, including:
Deafness
Long-term seizures, coma, or lowered consciousness
Permanent brain damage
These are so rare that it is hard to tell whether they are caused by the vaccine.
Clearly, anyone who says the MMR is safe completely safe is wrong.
Clearly, anyone who says the MMR causes autism is wrong.
More research needs to be done.
Posted by: JeriLynn | October 25, 2016 at 01:46 AM
hear valve - I meant heart valve. Lower left chamber - on his first DPT shot.
Posted by: Benedetta | May 14, 2016 at 01:34 PM
Beverly. I am 60.
I did not have an MMR.
I do wonder how many DPT I had? Did I have three the first year and then an additional booster the second year, and then an additional booster when I was five?
I did have one when I was 21 - and a few weeks later had my first ever yeast infection - the first of many. The second one I had at 28 - I was pregnant and lost that child a few weeks later--- I was four weeks along when I lost it.
The next child, I had 1 and 1/2 year later reacted to each and every DPT shot with high temps, swollen up hear chamber, finally a seizure like episode - it was bad.
I worked in an environmental lab testing pesticides on rats, rabbits, rainbow trout.
Some times these things that act on the nervous system by the endocrine, immune - hypothalamus - has a small effect if any on the first couple of generations but as it is continued each generation is effected more and more. That is why the EPA requires Dow Chemical and other big chemical companies to test 12 - to 20 generations of rats.
I kid you not.
Vaccines - From what I can find out - read - some are barely tested for three weeks - test subjects barely observed for that long - and only one vaccine not a combo.
Your observation is a bit simple - but at least you are thinking about it.
Posted by: Benedetta | May 14, 2016 at 01:33 PM
Hi Beverley,
this link shows what you would have had, versus what kids have today. And by the way, today babies start their vaccines( Hep B) on the day of birth. No one gave you anything on your first day of life.
( If you click on it, the link will bring up the web page. I know some people of your generation are extremely good with computers, some are still learning about them, so not meaning to sound impolite if you are one of those who can run rings around me on the computer. )
https://vactruth.com/history-of-vaccine-schedule/
So; in 1950, 7 vaccines by the age of 6.
By 1974, kids were getting 10 vaccines,
In 2013, kids are getting 36 vaccines
There is no comparison between what you got and what children get today. Most of the current vaccines weren't put on the children's schedule until the 1980's, after congress granted vaccine manufacturers immunity from lawsuits.
Hope this is useful to you, as I am sure that, like people here, the multiple health problems of this generation worry you.
Posted by: Hera | May 14, 2016 at 11:11 AM
Beverly,
Babies were not being vaccinated like this in the 1940s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJqx6NtwKTA
"Children received ten vaccinations in the 1980s before the age of five. Today they get 36 vaccines beginning often in utero, or from the first day of life..." - Dr Suzanne Humphries.
Aluminum is toxic to all life forms: The case against aluminum in vaccines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe99K12740
Posted by: ATSC | May 14, 2016 at 09:56 AM
Beverly,
I have no knowledge of what vaccines were given 65 years or so ago, but here is a comparison of the vaccine schedule from 1983 with today with age designated in months (most infants are now getting more vaccines in the first year or two than my generation born around 1970 did before college, and the toxicological impacts are more significant in a small infant than in a 5-18 year old individual):
http://www.drmomma.org/2011/01/cdc-mandatory-vaccine-schedule-1983-vs.html
Note: many of these vaccines were newly licensed in the late 80s, 90s, and more recently and many have undergone reformulations, so it seems highly unlikely one can compare what they do now with 50 or 60 years ago.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | May 13, 2016 at 05:11 PM
I am 70 years old. When I went to grade school we were required to have the same vaccinations that are required today. (yes really, way back then). We did not get large numbers of kids with Autism. So if vaccines cause it why didn't great numbers of children have it then? No it is not about vaccines. If you really think about that it is very clear.
Posted by: beverly | May 13, 2016 at 03:03 PM
ok so to all you that think its not vaccines prove to me beyond a shadow of a dough what causes autism? o what you have no freaking idea so until you raze a kid with autism
I think it would be best to shut your mouths about people that chose not to inject there kids with a deadly diseases that has no cure. Autistic children are not the easiest raise.
Also on a side note just because you get a vaccine doesn't mean your body will except it you may have a polio vaccine but that doesn't mean that you wont end up with polio.
so all you pro vaccine people may be you need to do some research on vaccines and see what your government is lying to you about
Posted by: ross | November 14, 2015 at 11:38 AM
Vanessa;
A teacher don't know it all.
As you can see - look at my comment below.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 24, 2015 at 10:10 AM
I too was in the school system a lot. I taught it all - lower grades, middle school, high school - english, history, science, music, regular special ed, severe special ed, mixed classes of regular students and special ed, contained classes on and on and on.
All you know when you are teaching is the kid needs extra help learning, has some problems. Has a plan that you should follow on how to teach, so they can have optimum learning. That is all you know.
As a mother - of a child that I witnessed three different times have a vaccine reaction and the third was really bad -- that has been through the school system-- they have a psych that comes in and gives lots of test and follows protocol.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 24, 2015 at 10:08 AM
I have spent some time in schools and an experienced teacher told me that, if there is doubt about a child having autism, or ASD, the diagnosis is made, in order that funding for extra support can be provided. From what I can see, a lot of people are bandying around the term "on the spectrum" for any child who is a little bit odd or who has behavioural issues
Posted by: Vanessa Thompson | August 24, 2015 at 12:21 AM
I came across your article, “The Really Big Lie About Autism Continues: One in 50,” when I was checking out the latest autism statistics and made a note to contact you when I finished the last part of an article series I was working on that included autism and its causes, etc.
I think I can answer some of the questions you posed in your own article, though I’m not sure you’ll necessarily like the answers. Still, they’re backed up by the facts, and I have a pretty extensive background in the sciences from which to draw on, so you might want to check out the article.
U.S. doctors ignore causes and prevention of Alzheimer’s, cancer, AUTISM pt 3
http://www.examiner.com/article/u-s-doctors-ignore-causes-and-prevention-of-alzheimer-s-cancer-autism-pt-3
I too am outraged about the soaring rates of autism, along with the abnormal rates of other disease conditions.
Best Regards,
Gary Friedman
Posted by: Gary Friedman | June 17, 2015 at 12:53 PM
I am reading Dan and Mark's New book - Vaccines 2.
Perhaps it is easier as they are doing to point out that 1 out of 6 kids have a developmental delay issue and be done with it
So far in the book -- they may cover it later - they have kind of glossed over the 70s that lead up to Congress passing the 1986 vaccine court issue.
But I am thinking - what went on in my college classrooms, someone in the pharma was working it hard way back then.
Good book though - love the way things are phrased.
Posted by: Benedetta | April 06, 2015 at 10:37 AM
ATSC
I am not sure you could conclude that in the case of Theresa that labelling would be spurious. I am very fed up with people who suggest parents go out of their was to get a label when it is a devastating thing to come to terms with and most people would be resistant. It is of course just a label but whatever delay, deficits Theresa's child had they likely deserved attention even if it meant a label.
Case in point would be the Autism Speaks Goyang City project where an attempt to screen and label a population led to withdrawal by families of more than three-quarters of the positively screened cases.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/02/autism-speaks-sock-puppet-for-the-cdc.html
John
Posted by: John Stone | April 06, 2015 at 04:50 AM
I think the range of ASD is far, far too broad. People tend to think of low functioning vs high functioning, and ignore the vast majority in the moderate range who lack the special gifts and employable skills that appear to be so prevalent in the highest functioning. It's hard to get a clear picture of autism, or understand what people are talking about when, for example, on the one hand we have well-known Canadian author, poet and artist Colleen Ranney who is married with children, and on the other, Jayden Lake who will be totally dependent on people for the rest of his life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JFeZygXL4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwL4fqhutwQ
I don't see how we can make any generalisations about autism, not today, especially when children are being labelled with autism to get services - as Theresa said earlier, "Feeling really bullied right now by my child's kindergarten teacher to label my child autistic as that's the only way I'm going to receive funding for his language processing issues and slightly odd behaviour!" Funding should not be dependent upon a label, and misdiagnosing children in this way is doing a lot of harm by falsely inflating the rate, and giving everyone who meets these children the wrong impression of what autism is.
Posted by: ATSC | April 05, 2015 at 09:49 PM
Hi Cia,
Interesting information about autistic employment prospects. I am not sure about the empathy business. Everyone has theirr own personality and their different patterns of impairment but I have never found empathy as such something that was missing among autistic people - not so good at reading social cues perhaps.
I do think that sometimes more able autistic people fail to understand the plight of the less able (but many do - many have great insight).
Another thing is that as the pool of autistic labour becomes bigger the fewer suitable jobs there will be - with all the ingenuity in the world it is almost bound to get worse.
John
Posted by: John Stone | April 05, 2015 at 06:06 PM
For Jason,
Loved your well-deserved put-downs!
Cia
Posted by: cia parker | April 05, 2015 at 05:36 PM
Colleen,
82% of adult autists are unemployed. However, it is true that autism tends to cause a lack of empathy for the situation of others, which may be why you don't appear to care that the vast majority of autistic people are never able to live independently.
Posted by: cia parker | April 05, 2015 at 05:33 PM
Robin P. Clarke, Your comment fits exactly with my own experiences over the last four decades. My sons and I have amassed a huge amount of evidence against the DSS (DWP) and the NHS but have been unable to find anyone sympathetic to our plight. I think if people really got together to fight these forces it would make a big difference. Look at the success there has been with defeating the attempts to make vaccines mandatory in the US recently. If you, or anyone else here, would like more information about what we know please contact me at [email protected]
Grace.
Posted by: Grace Green | April 05, 2015 at 09:07 AM
Sarah,
It might be that the apparent reduced severity of diagnosed autism is because of the reduced amount of mercury in the vaccines kids get. Both mercury and the encephalitic reaction of the individual immune system to the vaccine can cause autism, but it may be that the encephalitis often is of a short enough duration to only cause mild autism rather than severe.
Posted by: cia parker | April 04, 2015 at 12:45 PM
Jason
We will bear your opinion in mind.
Colleen
No one doubts that some autistic people manage. On the other hand calculations of the annual net cost to the British economy (as a researched example) lie in the territory of $50b - a country one fifth the size of the US. Mapped onto the US that would be a trillion dollars every four years. This is of course just the financial measure of harm.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/06/still-covering-up-the-new-autism-speaksjama-study-of-the-cost-of-autism.html
The figure admittedly is based on an over-estimate of the number of adults in the population but also unfortunately on an under mis-calculation of the cost of the disability by several times.
Tim
Ah yes shoot the messenger. Very helpful.
Posted by: For Jason etc | April 04, 2015 at 06:10 AM
Conspiracy theorist anti-vaccine illiterate dipshits
Posted by: Jason | April 03, 2015 at 11:29 PM
Not every person who has autism needs someone to provide for them. The statement what happens when all these people grow up that have autism (disabled) how is society going to pay for them is so ignorant!!.
I earn money and I have Autism. _oh shock!
Posted by: Colleen | March 05, 2015 at 06:52 AM
You are putting children at risk with your brand of crazy! Please shoot yourself immediately!
Posted by: Tim | February 02, 2015 at 12:21 AM
I don't have facts other then when i went to school and there was one kid with autism. Now today i have a child with autism and my in laws have a child with autism and i have 3 younger children that could it could not have it also. I'm 34 years old. Something has changed i don't belive it's got anything to do with they are more accurate. Someone some where has poised our family's and giving us story's that aren't true. I'm tired of it. I did hear something recently about pesticides could be linked to the posible cause. But then again there was no denifitive proof!
Posted by: vincent | July 21, 2014 at 03:26 AM
Thanks John
I had never heard of Royal Free Disease. This seems like a helpful link for the background:
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.axford/articl02.htm
John
Posted by: John Stone | June 24, 2014 at 03:57 AM
Doing some work on the Royal Free Outbreak 1955, I came across a report on autism for 1970 in the UK.
It was an illness/disorder or small importance affecting VERY FEW people a few persons per 10 000 had this diagnosis.
The calculation was that in the whole of the UK there could be 3 000 people MAX.
Compare to today with more than 100 times this number AND RISING FAST.
Way past EPIDEMIC
Way past PANDEMIC
Approaching a half hearted failed GENOCIDE POLICY though?
But the interesting idea in the 1970 report was the valid complaint that the diagnosis of autism in 1970 was VASTLY over diagnosed.
Making the NONSENSE of those who claim that it is better diagnosis today that has caused most of this increase.
It is clearly a FAILURE to appreciate that if for example an ADULT REFUSES his vaccines that it is NOT a good idea to foist what adults refuse onto the one day baby.
Add to this a sprinkling of harmless THIMEROSAL (WE would never give mercury to a one day baby - tell that to your chemistry professor). OK today replace with ten times the amount of a 10 times lesser problem: ALUMINIUM compounds.
Add some organophoshorus compounds designed and developed by A Hitler Esq and add to your vaccines.
Add some retro viral matter and add that to your vaccines.
And
HEY PRESTO what have you got?
The 2014 USA vaccine policy!
Mix with the same elsewhere in food, air and environment to make sure your child is HEALTHY by USA 21st standards of the science academy:
USA Today POORER HEALTH and SHORTER LIVES.
2 (dis)advantages not shown in USA 30 years ago when USA
Was the HEALTHIEST NATION anywhere in the world.
Is it wonder there is an EQUALLY unrealistic backlash?
HONESTY, INTERGRITY and TRUTH
But in modern society it is
DISHONESTY, COVER UP and LIES.
And the cover up until 2020 for OP's has just been extended to a cover up until 2070 or so!
Posted by: John Fryer | June 24, 2014 at 03:14 AM
Mary Livingston says that GMO material called food is not a problem for the European countries.
I've said it a thousand times and still nobody listens.
The World Trade Agreement FORCES EU countries to import GMO material called food by the millions of tons or face BANKRUPTCY from USA governmentfor breaking this agreement.
The change in health here in France does not need multi million dollar studies, just uncareful observation as people once slim are now getting fatter than ANY person I saw as a child etc etc etc.
My own health took a shock 5 to 10 years ago and with mostly ORGANIC food eg organic potatoes at less than 2 euros a kilo et al my health has improved.
When I had this shock I discovered several friends with vaguely similar conditions - bleeding in places where blood shouldnt be!
Both the others got operations; my own way out CHANGE THE DIET away from matter contaminated directly or indirectly with GMO techniques necessarily using RETRO VIRUS and E COLI in part or total.
Posted by: John Fryer | June 24, 2014 at 02:53 AM
Feeling really bullied right now by my child's kindergarten teacher to label my child autistic as that's the only way I'm going to receive funding for his language processing issues and slightly odd behaviour! How sad is that?
Posted by: Theresa | April 22, 2014 at 11:44 PM
Is the increase in autism mostly in America? GMO advocates have been touting that the experiment on safety of GMO foods has been in progress for 20 years; America has been getting GMO foods for that long, while Europe has been GMO free for comparison purposes. GMO proponents say there has been no discernible difference in the health quality between the two continents. My view is that it is an uncontrolled experiment and their confident assurances are based on the lack of direct comparisons.
I am reminded of how margarine was advertised as a healthful alternative to butter - before anyone knew how harmful trans fats were.
The only way to get to the bottom of this without authority intervention is to gather the data ourselves, and analyze it! http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data.html?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share
Posted by: Mary Livingston | April 06, 2014 at 03:32 PM
Writing from the UK, I can say that I personally know of two people over 50 yo who have UTTERLY bogus aut/asp "diagnoses". And that must be put in the context that I know very few people and certainly not such as to know what diagnoses they might have been given.
Meanwhile, recent leaks have exposed that the DWP has been pursuing a secret policy of deceitfullly persecuting disability/jobless claimants while pretending publicly that they are not. There is clearly a similar secret agenda of deceit being operated in the NHS, whereby
(1) (proper) diagnoses of mercury poisoning are systematically *prevented* by the system of lies you can see exposed here: www.bit.ly/foihg; and
(2) diagnoses of supposedly newly discovered aut/asp are systematically *pretended* into existence in older people as per my own knowledge.
The purpose being to cover up the catastrophe caused by non-gamma-2 dental amalgam mercury and to cover up the reality of the autism increase (as part of it).
There's clearly an epidemic of dishonesty in the large "prestigious"/"reputable" organisations. Quite what can be done about it is not so clear - any suggestions?
Posted by: Robin P Clarke (end of comment) | April 08, 2013 at 09:07 PM
Do you folks know about Dr. Jeff Bradstreet discovering that 80% of his autism patients testing to have elevated levels of nagalase (cancers, some viruses, and pregnancy)? It prevents activating macrophages by making GcMAF the potent macrophage activating factor. I presume they only tried GcMAF with those with elevated nagalase but they got some positive responses with 80% of those who got GcMAF. There is more data at GcMAF.eu and other sites such as those for Bradstreet in particular. I'm pretty sure there are serious clues here about the underlying problems.
Posted by: Richard Karpinski | March 29, 2013 at 11:00 PM
Correction to comment below:
The rate of one in 88 is 1.14 percent--NOT 11.4 percent. The reference in the comment below to the CDC Morbidity quote does not apply.
Nonetheless, whether reporting a rate of 1.14 percent or 2.0 percent (per the reference provided by Sarah) these are incredibly high rates.
Posted by: Jim Thompson | March 29, 2013 at 07:37 PM
Again they say we have no idea what causes autism, the only thing we know for sure is that it is not vaccines.
There is so much corruption and propaganda related to autism research,studies,treatment and so many powerful politicians and media people taking bribes from pharma that it will take an act of God to fix this evil.
Posted by: Richard | March 29, 2013 at 07:28 PM
I was so mad to hear these new numbers basically dismissed by the news anchor morons that I've started calling my legislators. Specifically I want to know at what number each will finally decide the autism epidemic is truly a problem and look at doing something about it! If 1 in 50 doesn't concern them, what about 1 in 9 in 9 years? If not that, then 1 in 5 or 1 in 3 or 1 in 2? As I get these numbers from legislators, I am going to start compiling them and posting them online. I would suggest that all of you do the same. At what number does each decide enough is enough and we really do have a problem?
Posted by: helpingspecialkids | March 29, 2013 at 05:33 PM
"If the number of flu-caused deaths exceeds 7.7 percent of the total, then the United States officially has an epidemic on its hands."
IMO we will have a bio-weapons attack with a flu like bio-weapon. The numbers of "flu" deaths has rarely if ever even APPROACHED 1% on a yearly basis.
It is very important we understand this health FACT. This lie about flu deaths is what is causing our seniors to give themselves Alzheimer's by being injected with 100,000,000,000 atoms of mercury every year. The simple CURE for seasonal flu (10% of flu like symptoms) and ALL viral attacks is VITAMIN D.
For example in the UK with somewhat honest flu death reporting in the year 2009 the death total from seasonal flu was .04% of the total from ALL RESPIRATORY deaths.
If you but take a little time this protocol will demonstrate the following.
The CDC has CONTINUOUSLY overstated the mortality of seasonal influenza often by over 100 fold. For many decades the CDC told us each and every year that influenza killed 36,000 of us each year. They are NOW saying they have no idea how many die from the seasonal flu. We know it is less than 700/year for MOST years, perhaps MUCH less if based on serological results. Only slightly overstated figures from the UK imply less than 200/year die in the USA from influenza A or B. Based on serological results my guess is it is a mere handful.
http://healthyprotocols.com/2_flu_shot_intro.htm
Posted by: Lou | March 29, 2013 at 04:40 PM
It is very clear where this is going IF WE ALLOW IT.
"Today the CDC announced since ALL the boys born in 2023 had autism and one third of the girls had autism, autism is no longer considered a medical condition and has become an evolutionary destination."
We can stop autism, the ASDs and many other medical problems which result from "Vaccination".
NO VACCINATIONS! Please spread the word; no one else will.
Posted by: Lou | March 29, 2013 at 03:34 PM
The same tune we heard in 1995 when my daughter was dx'ed!
Posted by: Elaine Hickey | March 29, 2013 at 11:31 AM
Garbo;
I was thinking the same thing.
How many people brings their babies home and thinks if I raise it right - get it to church, talk to it about drugs, and all that it won't become a drug addict.
Yet, we have an epidemic of drug addicts.
Mild and then really- really - really mild might equal drug addiction.
Drug addiction is comorbid with mental health problems.
A normal healthy brain does not reach out for help in drugs - legal or otherwise.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 29, 2013 at 11:01 AM
The full paper is available for free on line here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr065.pdf
If you read it, you can see that
1. The biggest increase was seen in boys age 6-17, i.e. these are not diagnoses of young children
2. For children diagnosed before 2007, 16.9% were severe, 33.6 were moderate, and 49.5 were mild. For children diagnosed in 2008 or later, only 6.9% were severe, 34.8% were moderate and 58.3 were mild.
When the numbers went 1.16% to 2%, it is because older, more mildly affected children were diagnosed.
Posted by: Sarah | March 28, 2013 at 10:23 PM
In 1958 the CDC in alliance with Big Tobacco announced:
"cigarettes do not cause cancer".
In the 70's modeling that same "hide the truth at all costs" tactic, the sugar industry launched a major PR campaign to convince the public sugar really wasn't at the root of many modern day illnesses. Now following suite, the vaccine industry in alliance with the CDC will spend billions persuading us via media outlets, the AMA, AAP and anyone else they can "buy out" that vaccines do not cause autism. History repeating itself....wake up time!
Posted by: Maureen McDonnell, RN | March 28, 2013 at 09:55 PM
Appalling that these pronouncements of numbers -- for ten years running now -- NEVER manage to break down the percentages of mild vs. severe cases. How many are non-verbal? Have no ability for self-care? Need 1:1 aides? What does breakdown by age or region tell us? Isn't that kind of analysis SUPER IMPORTANT for both medical and fiscal planning? How can they get away with this lackadaisical approach, year after year? "Geez, we have a shitload more autism, but don't worry no biggie." Because it's the only way they are able to hide behind the "better diagnosis" mantra. You can't really miss severe austism. Are newer cases ALL milder? Really?? And will they stay that way in the face of continual triggers? I know 3 high functioning kids who had to be pulled from school this year because they fell off the deep end. The old proverb comes to mind, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." How many "blind" do we have? How many one-eyed men?
Posted by: Garbo | March 28, 2013 at 08:19 PM
I think the reason that the public is not shouting about these new statistics is that autism is so common now that everyone knows a child diagnosed with it, and and they therefore have personal knowledge that not all children are on the severe end of the spectrum. That's why there is not outcry. People know that much milder kids are being diagnosed these days. Almost every day on my autism support group, there are parents of newly diagnosed children who are 8, 12, 16 years old. And the problems they describe are mild ones - trouble fitting in at school, problems with attention, problems with keeping up with academics, being social misfits.
Those of us with children on the more severe end of the spectrum can no longer assume that their children are representative.
Posted by: Elaine Hill | March 28, 2013 at 07:09 PM
Autism is an expensive illness which for most lasts a lifetime and costs huge sums of money.
A reasonable number also have gut issues but not as high as that assumed by the Royal Free which was a hospital specialising in gut problems.
In our guts or on us there are many bugs for which we get vaccines.
Can anyone explain why we need to get vaccines if we already are protected and/or have these bugs anyway?
Inflammation is caused by raised IgE levels?
Vaccines work by raising IgE levels?
Are vaccines therefore theoreticallly a cause and one often proved by researchers who always are then accused of sloppy science.
IgE levels dont seem to incur the same wrath as most people are too dumb to see where this research is leading ie to show vaccines do have to save us from killer illnesses and if they save us from what some or most already have then that invokes also ANAPHYLAXIS events which have to be dealt with or at least more INFLAMMATION and CASCADE events to harm?
Are there too many dumb people about?*
And why do we not get discussions about fundamentals of vaccine science?
And why dont we get knowledge of what goes into them? The wild claims that mercury is out from 1999 or as soon as was convenient doesnt match with 2012 laws to allow mercury to STAY in vaccines for example.
The dumbness may be as dumb as the vaccine experts telling chemists in 1999 that no vaccine scientist would EVER put mercury in a childs vaccine.
Since that time many experts and dumb people (the same?) have altered the science of mercury so that of all the toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic properties of mercury compounds, THIMEROSAL almost alone is no more toxic than lemon juice. Will someone tell them you are ENTITLED to your OPINIONS but you can change FACTS.
All mercury compounds are harmful and THIMEROSAL was chosen as it was the MOST harmful that could be found to KILL bugs in vaccines (the effect on humans, tested as we know to be harmless to grown men for one day but dont ask about them three weeks later when they were all DEAD!)
Posted by: John Fryer | March 28, 2013 at 05:19 PM
Why is there not one news outlet asking the question, what percentage of these kids have classical autism? I am not down playing PDD-NOS or Aspergers by any means but based on the past CDC report releasing the figures on children born in the year 2000, almost half the children have classical autism. The NJ data also reflects that half the children have the severe form of autism (classical autism). We need to get the message across that this not a case of milder form of autism being diagnosed that is making these rates grow, there is something in the environment that is damaging our children.
Posted by: Jillba | March 28, 2013 at 04:17 PM
If ...anyone... gets on live TV next week could they please say that Autism is somewhere between 50-100 times more common than polio, and a new case occurs every 11 damn minutes in the United States.
and that after 20 years of study the CDC could at least have "the cause A FEW" of the MILLION cases figured out.
Perhaps Mr. Wright could release his April 2nd comments in advance for some help with editing if needed...
Posted by: cmo | March 28, 2013 at 01:44 PM
Autism impacts my family on a personal level, and it impacts me on a professional level as well. Currently I am working with a local center where I live that provides ABA therapy for children with autism.
I think that there is a huge problem that we as parents, as a community (and even our government) need address:
1. The increase fro 1 in 88 to 1 in 50 is a combination of better diagnosing AND more children being born with autism.
2. WE DON'T KNOW what causes autism.
3. Parents don't know what to look for, don't know the warning signs.
4. They don't know what treatment options are out there, and they don't know what options are backed by research and are proven to work.
5. Autism therapy is expensive and insurance companies are being allowed to deny coverage.
6. We expect our schools (that are understaffed and underfunded) to help these children.
The Blue Lights, the walks, the fundraising, the research are all important. Raising awareness is essential but until we all get together and figure out a way to help these children and their families we as a community will suffer. I work with these children every day, I see their families... I live with it at home... I know how difficult it is.
We have to stop hoping that it will get better and instead take actions to make it better.
Posted by: jen | March 28, 2013 at 01:23 PM
"Members of the press never ask the hard questions. They take whatever the CDC says as infallible....."
WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT IS? COULD IT BE THAT THEY ARE JUST AS MUCH A BUNCH OF SHEEP AS THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL? JUST FOLLOWING THEIR SHEPHERDS WHO KEEP THEM EMPLOYED.
As long as the press and the public swallow the fiction that autism was always here but somehow was under the radar, no one can be held responsible for anything.
AND THATS REALLY THE POINT ISN'T IT. AVOID ACCOUNTABILITY AT ALL COSTS. AND THE PUBLIC WILL KEEP SWALLOWING IT UNTIL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM IS AFFECTED DIRECTLY AND EVEN THEN THERE BE MANY WHO WILL REFUSE TO SEE THE TRUTH BECAUSE THE IMPLICATIONS ARE TOO OVERWHELMING FOR GOVERNMENT / AUTHORITY DEPENDENT MINDS TO CONSIDER. "THE GOVERNMENT WOULDN'T ALLOW US TO BE POISONED BY INDUSTRY" THEY'LL SAY. "THEY'D BE TOO AFRAID OF BEING FOUND OUT." HENCE THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF RESOURCES SPENT ON PR SO THE SHEEP DON'T FIND OUT.
Posted by: Adam M | March 28, 2013 at 12:33 PM
I'm not sure what is worse - that people with vested interests keep repeating these lies, or that sheeple without vested interests keep believing them.
Posted by: Twyla | March 28, 2013 at 10:49 AM
Oh boy if this isn't the truth. As an adult who was diagnosed with autism at age 5 and who more or less completely recovered due to lots of therapies and bio-med, I can only hope and pray that eventually the FDA and government and everyone else will wake up. I was very fortunate because we had insurance that paid for a large portion of it and my parents were able to pay the rest and my mom wasn't working and was able to work with me but many other children aren't so lucky.
Posted by: AnnaLaura Brown | March 28, 2013 at 10:41 AM
Yes, autism is soooooo hard for doctors to dignose back in the day - with the 15 minute visit and all.
The schools however have had to deal with non verbal in the early grades ---like up to the third grade to fourth grade - to never-- and seizures and sometimes those starring spells.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 28, 2013 at 09:12 AM
Anne, you are truly a hero, asking the real questions that the news professionals are too timid to ask, year after year. Just like in medicine, the field of journalism is full of COWARDS.
Posted by: Taquero | March 28, 2013 at 08:55 AM
Thank you Anne.
According to the ABC report "Less than a quarter of the parents contacted agreed to answer questions..." So, an outer confidence limit of this statistical inference (reported at one in fifty) could approach one in two hundred. See http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/health-officials-50-school-kids-autism-18768933 .
Nonetheless, look at the widely accepted CDC estimated rate of autism of one in 88 and then look at what was reported by Slate in 2009:
“In terms of the flu, the difference between an outbreak and an epidemic is the percentage of overall deaths caused by the disease. Every week, the CDC gathers morbidity data from hospitals in 122 cities nationwide and figures out what percentage of the decedents died of pneumonia, cancer, and other prolific killers. If the number of flu-caused deaths exceeds 7.7 percent of the total, then the United States officially has an epidemic on its hands. According to the latest survey, only 7.2 percent of last week's deaths were due to influenza, so there's no epidemic yet.” See http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/recycled/2009/04/outbreaks_vs_epidemics.html
So, in terms of percent of total children in the U.S., the CDC accepted autism rate of one in 88 ( 11.4 percent) is an epidemic!
Posted by: Jim Thompson | March 28, 2013 at 08:28 AM