Continued Rise In Autism Diagnoses Puzzles Researchers, Galvanizes Advocates 558
sciencehabit (1205606) writes "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has raised eyebrows, and concern among current and prospective parents, with a new report documenting that the rate of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in the United States jumped 30% between 2008 and 2010, from one in 88 to one in 68 children. CDC officials don't know, however, whether the startling increase is due to skyrocketing rates of the disorder or more sensitive screening, or a combination of both."
Re:Or endless 'vaccinations' (Score:5, Informative)
Re:really? really. (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Clearly vaccination is to blame! (Score:3, Informative)
Not knowing what causes autism and yet knowing beyond reasonable doubt that vaccines don't is entirely consistent with all the medical evidence. Confusing these facts does not demonstrate that medical science is wrong.
Re:really? really. (Score:1, Informative)
pure bollocks.
It's nothing to do with iq or lazyness, go fucking read some proper information instead of sprouting shit!
A good many autistics are much more intelligent and hard working than you will ever be.
Re: Clearly vaccination is to blame! (Score:2, Informative)
They aren't. The question as to whether vaccines are related to autism has been heavily studied. We may not know what causes it, but we are quite certain as to the fact that vaccines do not. One can exclude a possibility without settling on an answer, you know. You may never figure out who was stealing from your cookie jar, but you can still be certain it wasn't Richard Nixon.
Re: Clearly vaccination is to blame! (Score:5, Informative)
Doctors will NEVER admit they're wrong.
And you're right, they don't know what causes it, why are they so quick to say the vaccines aren't connected?
"Are so quick"? Several different Universities have done research on the subject over many years and all came to the same conclusion, Autism rates are the same in people who get vaccines as people who don't.
Re: Clearly vaccination is to blame! (Score:5, Informative)
Is this a serious question? There was one study which suggested a link (Wakefield). This study's data was fabricated, and was later retracted Wakefield's license was revoked. There were then a flurry of studies showing no link between vaccines and autism. You really think that's "quick to say"?
Re:Education funding and excessive medicallisation (Score:0, Informative)
Despite clear evidence the DNA in your family tree is rotten, you went ahead and had children anyway. Good job, asshole.
Re:Medicalizing Normality (Score:2, Informative)
Over-simplification ftw! (Score:4, Informative)
LMAO, you don't know how evolution works, do you? What possible advantage could autism provide, when it renders most afflicted persons unsociable and awkward and therefore highly unlikely to pass on their genes?
LMAO, you don't know how evolution works, do you? What possible advantage could sickle-cell anemia provide [wikipedia.org], when it renders most afflicted persons breathless and weak and prematurely dead and therefore highly unlikely to pass on their genes? The real story here is probably more complicated than this, but it's a *hell* of a lot more complicated than that.
Re:Medicalizing Normality (Score:5, Informative)
My youngest son has high-functioning autism with pdd. From my point of view, you're both right and wrong (in that extremely insensitive way only an ignorant person can be.) So let me reflect.
You're right - there is a 'craze'. It involves things like throwing Risperdal and/or non-gluten-casein diets at a problem that science can't even define, let alone treat. Jenny McArthy's book, all that crap. It is crap, you're right about that. It is the same as all infant science - as much voodoo as fact. But that goes for a lot of medicine these days, so let's not judge too harshly.
You're wrong (in a fuck-you-generating way) that this is 'just' a craze. My son is a very different type of human. In fact this is how we break in new care givers: "Imagine a space craft landed and dropped off one of their children. Everything he does is normal on his home planet, and most of the things we do are weird and strange to him. That's Scott."
He can't really relate to people in a natural way. Eye contact is poison. He mixes up the concepts of 'love' and 'need' (he'll be the first to tell you he 'loves to fart', for example.) He'll probably never have a 'normal job', but could work in a specialized environment, etc.
There are upsides, too. Some of them are basically superpowers. For example, if he saw a calendar at any time during his life, he remembers it forever. So you can ask him, 'what was the Wednesday before April 7th, 2006' and he'll tell you. I have no idea how useful this would be to anyone, but it's still pretty remarkable. His circadian rhythms are pretty much infallible. Stuff like that.
In short, he's unique enough to have a 'thing' that deserves a name. The existence of the 'craze' doesn't invalidate the 'thing'.
It isn't all bad