Autism: Of Unmapped Territories, Eugenic(ide)s, and Anti-Vaxxers
by Don Carmilla
Being tipped off that I might have autism, the firsthand accounts of others born with it helped me the most.
Their descriptions of how they experience the world hit home: more than once, it felt like somebody had direct access to thoughts and emotions I had learned to hide from the world to survive therein. Confirmation bias? More than the "generally common traits" given examples for by people with autism, the minute details therein had the most impact.
What medically trained professionals and such had online was mainly copy and paste, sprinkled with something for the history books - and not only when it comes to autism. This, too, opens the medical field for scammers. One is born and lives with autism, which in itself isn't a health risk. People can be.
"Don't 'they' talk each other into something?" Generally, the opposite is true: doctors, social workers, psychotherapists, and other "experts" told me personally: "You can't have autism, because..." any of the wrong ideas this article refutes, which are just some of the most pervasive ones.
"Trauma-bonding?" In communication with other people with autism, trauma also came up, but was usually avoided. Guess why...
Having autism is only a part of who I am. My written diagnosis has value only insofar as others being denied one were excluded from help, if wanted. Wrong diagnoses abound, resulting in wrong medication and treatments, with sometimes life-threatening consequences.
Did You Notice?
A less defined signal-to-noise threshold means that everything can be a signal.
Some find it easier to filter, others more challenging. Any or all of the senses can be heightened to uncomfortable levels for people with autism:
• Hearing bats calling isn't an uncommon skill. The buzzing of strip-lights can be as annoying as a marten repellent system's sound. Being so focused on a task that one doesn't react to (immediately) can be a sign of undiagnosed autism, as ear specialists not finding anything wrong with the hearing capabilities know. "Perfect pitch" is also not uncommon.
• Being sensitive to touch may not only inform one's choice of clothes or trinkets, but food too: what gets mistaken as "being picky" can actually be discomfort with one's mouthfeel. This can get misdiagnosed as an "eating disorder."
• Bright lights can hurt: #redinstead is a campaign to counter the not so bright idea of using blue light to "increase awareness" about autism. Blue light hurts everyone's eyes, while red light is more comfortable, because science.
• That increased sensitivity for "input signals" not perceived as intense by the assumed average can get misdiagnosed as psychosis (a break from "reality"), or even as schizophrenia (roughly "chronic psychosis").
"Do vaccines cause autism?" No. One is born and lives with autism.
In 1992, a former physician from the U.K. published a now retracted study of five pages, done on 12 children, which suggested a link between autism and a combined vaccination against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR).
That same doctor had also applied for a patent for a vaccine against measles the year before. Among other things, his concoction claims to also "cure" a made-up disease allegedly causing autism. None of the follow-up studies done by others since then were able to prove any of his claims. A series of articles1 also revealed outside money involved to spread misinformation about vaccines, etc. Since 2009, he's not allowed to practice medicine in the U.K. anymore.
Other "causes" baselessly claimed:
Some other, very wrong ideas:
"Only 'boys' can have autism?!'
As can any human being - "real men" can too!
"Genius?!"
The Rain Man character was inspired by Kim Peek, a "savant" - having unusually high skills in one field, but often facing serious challenges in many aspects of everyday life. Other savants also have (had) autism, like Kim Peek. Q.E.D.
"Repetitive actions?!"
As a metal-head, I know: repetitive movements can help anyone to release tension. Blocking that valve to "seem normal" is a goal of the pseudo-scientific Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy (see above).
"Only one 'special' interest?!"
A specific interest can also serve as a bollard. People with autism I've come to know personally all have many more interests, and are generally more curious about the world than I'm used to.
"Can't socialize?!"
My friends don't seem to know that.
"Social cues" is information transferred as facial expressions, body language, and what's "between the lines." Correctly reading that subtext is hard for me, due to what I'd circumscribe as - no offense - "a weird form of dyslexia."
That truism "only a fraction of communication is actual content" - for me, the exact opposite is true! Constantly having to guess "What may the originator's actual intent have been?" in every communication is exhausting! And wouldn't reading your minds be a breach of privacy?
Then there's my "emotional blindness" (alexithymia): my inability to recognize my own emotions correctly. At best, I can describe them to others as movie scenes - usually highly amusing for everyone but me.
Honesty? Neutrally stating an obvious fact, with deathly precision, can be followed by decades of regret about the involuntarily damage caused - ask me how I know...
"No eye contact - not even for a split-second?!"
Holding eye contact can become very intimate for people. Maintaining it while simultaneously keeping several details in one's mind, with even more information being added through the expressiveness of eyes can be too much. Not being aware that avoiding eye contact is unconsciously taken as a sign of dishonesty can cause more unexpected trouble.
"Can't have intimate relationships?!"
Is that an order, incel?
"No sense of humor?!"
Among many others, also Fern Brady, Günther Paal, Hannah Gadsby, Daryl Hannah, and Anthony Hopkins will laugh at that!
"No empathy?!"
Other people's emotions can trigger a cacophony of feelings in me that can render me unable to react as expected. I can feel deeply with others, whether I like it or not.
"Be more spontaneous!"
This usually means I have to deal with other people's inability to keep up any agreement - especially in the workplace! Routines can be bollards in stormy times. Sticking to them can get wrongly diagnosed as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Worse, if these bollards are physical objects in one's own possession: some "experts" diagnose this as kleptomania, a compulsion to steal, even without any cases of actual theft!
And it gets worse:
"It's over-diagnosed, like burnout!!!"
Many other medical diagnoses also increased. And burnout is a thing: when I was in a treatment center for people with all kinds of mental trauma, I often heard: "Until it got me too, I also thought it was over-diagnosed."
There are no "autism meds" as such, and autism itself isn't a health risk. People can be: one is born and lives with autism, which attracts bullies with a pull that defies science. Anxiety, depressions, stress and its consequences are ailments acquired through the way people treat those who are somehow "different," thus disabling them from participating in everyday life.
Self-medication and alcohol abuse to "blend in" at any cost can be misdiagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
"You can speak?!"
This is text - but yes: some prefer to use the written word over its audible form, use online chats, sign language(s), have a talk show using a text-to-speech interface7, write articles...
Getting carried away when talking about a topic can be unconsciously releasing anxiety, wrongly taken as being full of oneself.
"...sometimes a bit autistic?"
Like "...a bit pregnant, sometimes?"
"You don't look..."
And one's nose shape tells you all about that person's faith, right?!
"People with autism have no feelings!"
F*** off!
Alleged "Cures" Against Autism
Another vaccine, maybe?
Among the fundraising organizations claiming to speak for "people like me," some also fund research to "cure" the world from autism - "a final solution," if you will.
"Eugenics" applies the concept of "only the best stock should reproduce" from animal breeding to humans. 1389 words so far - time for "Godwin's Law" to kick in:
In 1939, the German Reich started Aktion T4, the systematic murder of "life unworthy for life." It didn't come out of the blue: the year the National Socialists came to power (1933), a law came into effect forcing sterilization onto people with physical or mental "disabilities," thus deemed to pass on "inferior traits," like being of a certain ethnic group, assessed as having a "deviant lifestyle," being "incurably asocial," or genetically inferior.
Posters publicly decried the "overburdening" cost of socialized medicine, e.g. by depicting somebody in a wheelchair next to an amount of money needed to keep that person alive. The umbrella term was "ballastexistenz" - one's life being a ballast on others. This accompanied the Porajmos (Romani genocide), the Shoah, the slaughter of "Slavic sub-humans," etc.
The homicides took place, among others, at Am Spiegelgrund Children's Clinic and Schloss Hartheim. Involved therein was the pediatrician Dr. Hans Asperger - by writing assessments that got children sent to the killing facilities. It's still debated if he was fully aware of his actions' consequences. Until his retirement in 1977, he continued to work in the field of children's medicine, also teaching at the university. Based on his research, English psychiatrist Lorna Wing suggested in 1981 the term "Asperger Syndrome."
Former senior doctor overseeing the murders of children at Spiegelgrund clinic Heinrich Gross also had a long career afterwards: esteemed for his assessments written as court-appointed psychiatrist, and doing "research" on his victim's brains, which were kept until 2001 on the Spiegelgrund premises. Brought before a court in 1998 for his crimes, he was found unfit to stand trial due to poor health. A fate that also befell Schloss Hartheim's former medical director Dr. Georg Renno. Legal actions against him ended in the 1970s, also due to his bad health. In a 1997 interview, he stated: "I have peace of consciousness," and having "relieved" his victims through a "mercy death." "Euthanasia" is the act of knowingly ending the life of a person who had consciously consented to that. Otherwise, it's homicide.
Eugen Bleuler, who in 1911 coined the term "autism," also supported eugenics. In 2023, a baby with the DNA of three people was born.8
Let one's actions speak for one's personality? I fear actually well-meant, but misinformed actions the most. My own psychiatrist saved my life in more than one way, always explaining to me why which approach would - in my case - make the most sense. A very good doctor, at least!
"High-functioning autism" was another term for "Aspergers," with its equally demeaning twin "low-functioning" being a label still used in articles about autistic advocacy activist Mel Baggs - whose blog title "Ballastexistenz" hits where it should, for me.
Some other reputed "cures" used in 2024:
• Both ABA and its successor, "Gay Conversion Therapy," were co-developed by the same person:9 to enforce "desired" behavior, "undesired" actions get punished, e.g. through electroshocks.10
• "Facilitated Communication" (FC): to communicate, one's hand is "guided" by another person on a keyboard11 - not an Ouija board - to similar effects.
• "MMS - Miracle Mineral Supplement:" a liquid containing industrial bleach,12 given as enema,13 also advertised against cancer, made-up parasites...14
Ending on a happy note: The first time somebody said "I'm autistic" to me, I asked: "Means?" The answer "I'll tell you when something's wrong" is still perfect for me.
- Andrew Wakefield: The Fraud Investigation
- rationalwiki.org/wiki/Milk#Autism
- Leo Kanner - Refrigerator Mother Theory
- Pet Vaccinations Causing Pet Autism
- Does Peppa Pig Cause Autism?
- Pastor of Missouri Church Calls Autism 'Demonic,' Says It Can Be 'Healed' With Prayer
- Speechless with Carly Fleischmann
- Baby Born From Three People's DNA in U.K. First
- rationalwiki.org/wiki/Applied_behavior_analysis#A_history_of_evil
- Living Archive & Repository on the Judge Rotenberg Center's Abuses
- Facilitated Communication
- FDA Warns Consumers About the Dangerous and Potentially Life Threatening Side Effects of Miracle Mineral Solution
- Bleachgate
- Rope Worms: C'est la Merde