Autism Awareness Month: Correcting Misconceptions

April is Autism Awareness month.

I have written about this before.

But with Robert Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, my condition informs policy decisions made by the Trump administration whether I like it or not (I very much do not).

In addition, in 2021, Elon Musk claimed he was autistic. While his claim may or may not be true, I need an official diagnosis from a doctor. Musk has been loose with the truth at best. Regardless of Musks’s brain chemistry, Tesla is wildly overvalued, and he has possibly done more damage than Trump himself to the United States. The jury is still out on that one.

But it is time to bust some myths about autism.

For the Love of God, Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism

I don’t know how many times this evil lie can be disproven before it gets through people’s heads.

Andrew Wakefield, the “doctor” who started this lie, did so in order to sue vaccine companies. In addition to providing the means for lethal diseases to come roaring back to life, Andrew Wakefield committed several serious ethical medical violations during his “study.”

If it were up to me, Wakefield would be in prison for fraud.

Get your kids vaccinated, along with yourself. I don’t like needles myself, but I get my shots for my own health and that of others.

The rise in autism diagnoses throughout the world has less to do with vaccines and more to do with awareness and how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, defines autism.

Doctors now know what to look for in young children for symptoms of autism. Same for adult patients.

You could reasonably argue that the definition of autism spectrum disorder is overly broad, but that is something to take up with the DSM, not a medical technology that has saved countless lives.

I don’t get that worked up about how neurotypicals describe my condition. At worst, I get mildly annoyed.

Advocating for policies that will get people killed is a time in which I go beyond mild annoyance into rage.

Misconceptions

Many neurotypicals seem to perceive autistic folks the way many civilians perceive special forces.

I know many of you are looking at me weirdly, but just hear me out.

Individual special forces operators are incredibly tough and well trained. In fact, I would argue they are some of the best trained and most lethal units in human history. They are extremely valuable military assets and essential for America’s security.

But contrary to what Hollywood and Call of Duty depict, they cannot single-handedly win wars.

They are operators trained to carry out extremely difficult missions in situations that regular military units cannot carry out. Most often, special forces depend heavily on the element of surprise.

There must be follow-up with regular military forces. Otherwise, even these elite forces will suffer attrition and fatigue.

See the German invasion of Crete (a pyrrhic victory that crippled the Wehrmacht’s paratroopers division) and Operation Market Garden (an entire airborne division was almost wiped out, and the operation was a catastrophic failure) for what happens when special forces are used carelessly or incorrectly.

Considering the washout rate for most special forces training regimes in the United States and the casualties they sustain on their missions, these operators must be used carefully.

Now on to autistic people.

I find it believable that many members of DOGE are themselves autistic based on who Musk said he was bringing in to “fix” the federal government.

Programmers that worked for him at Twitter and in other endeavors.

Keep in mind that autism is about brain chemistry, not morality. My people can be just as awful as anyone else.

I have seen comments in support of DOGE saying that because Musk was bringing in autistic computer programmers to fix things, they would surely uncover fraud and single-handedly balance the federal budget.

Needless to say, that is not happening.

In some areas of modern life, autistic folks can have an advantage over neurotypicals.

We can focus for intensely long periods of time if the topic is of interest to us. We can be incredibly driven. Most of us have quite a strong no-nonsense attitude at work.

However, there are some steep costs to being autistic.

I have a difficult time forming connections with people. I can only handle certain types of sensory stimuli for so long before I get overwhelmed (although that has gotten much better over the years). And outside certain contexts, I have a hard time navigating social situations.

It helps that my special interest in politics and the social sciences can be made profitable or at least useful. Not to mention that I arguably gained most of my understanding of human emotions and how people think from working on political campaigns. But not all special interests are lucrative or even practical.

In fact, many of my fellow autistic people pay a far heavier price than I do for their brain chemistry in exchange for a particular set of skills or knowledge.

Some of my fellow autistic people will never be able to function on their own. They will require care for the rest of their lives.

A fate I dread more than premature death or going to prison.

So autistic folks can exceed neurotypicals in some areas, depending on the situation. But we are not the next stage in human evolution nor do we have better brain chemistry.

Just different brain chemistry.

In my case, it feels like I am one of the few people in America who understands the importance of expertise and past records when deciding for whom to vote. Sometimes, the most painful part of my condition is having to watch the decision-making process of neurotypicals when it comes to voting and politics.

I do believe that my people’s tendency to focus heavily on one topic and develop a high level of competency in that area can lead to incredible results.

Just look at how Dr. Temple Grandin changed the animal agricultural industry to make it less horrific for cows.

But autistic folks and neurotypicals alike must understand the costs involved, along with what conditions and circumstances autistic people can thrive in.

Policy

There is still plenty to do regarding supporting autistic people on a policy level.

First and foremost, early detection and intervention is essential. The faster you detect that someone’s brain chemistry is different or there are delays in childhood development, the better the outcomes will be.

Unfortunately, girls often go undiagnosed, so they do not get the support they need when they are young. Kids of color are frequently undiagnosed for too long or are even misdiagnosed with things like oppositional defiance disorder. So make sure to advocate at the state and local levels for these kids to get the resources they need.

The earlier the intervention, the better.

Especially if the child in question will require care for the rest of their life.

Happy Autism Awareness month, everyone.