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Canards

I’ve wanted to put this page together for some time. It will give me an easy point of reference for when newbies turn up.

These are canards related to autism, me, Megan etc. You may find some are good to link to yourself in blog postings of your own, some might be too personal to me to be of use. This page will be an ever growing collection. Feel free to contribute by sending your canard to kevleitchATgmailDOTcom – you will be credited so send a link if you want one.

1. You’re a Big Pharma Shill
I really wish I was. Then at least I might get paid for tackling this stuff. In reality, my sole source of income is what I earn as a Web Developer. Occasionally an author might send me a book on autism they’ve written which is always nice but comes with no assurances that I’ll either like it or review it.

2. Because you don’t think X causes autism you don’t know what you’re talking about
Really, what’s being said here is ‘I can’t stand the fact you don’t agree with me, therefore you must know nothing’. Quite the ego! In actual fact, what I try and do is look at the scientific veracity of X (be it vaccines, TV, flying monkeys or whatever). If there is no science behind the claim then that’s what informs my opinion.

3. Your daughter doesn’t have ‘real’ autism
This one is wheeled out by people who think that the autistic population of the web is made up entirely of people with Aspergers Syndrome, which is not true in general (and even if it was, would still be ‘real’ autism) and certainly not true in my daughters case. She has a diagnosis of severe autism with associated learning difficulties.

4. There are studies coming out soon that will prove X causes autism
Really? Fascinating. Then why don’t you post them then? Right now, its just gossip.

5. My child regressed after X was administered
MMR
Borrowed from NHS Blog Doc

6. I find it odd/suspicious that you spend so much time blogging these things
I find it odd/suspicious that you find it odd/suspicious. The simple truth is that autism has had woo and quackery inflicted upon it for a very long time. In part, this stops or hinders the much more desirous process of a) Concentrating on advocating for educational/work resources and b) Removing stigmatised views of autistic people as ‘diseased’, ‘empty shells’, ‘train wrecks’, ‘soulless’ and various other slurs. Anything I can do to challenge this infliction of woo upon autism I will gladly do.

7. You’re in denial! Didn’t you once think your daughters autism was caused by the DTP vaccine?
Yes I did. I readily admit that and my feelings at the time are documented on this blog. However, I was forced to abandon that belief when I read the science involved. That’s when I became aware of the importance of thinking critically.

8. Because you’re not trying Treatment Y you want your daughter to suffer
An example of this are the people who say that not chelating an autistic child is child abuse. Of course, its rubbish, uttered mostly because these people have a psychological need to justify their own use of quackery (which is often expensive – and sometimes dangerous – rubbish).

9. There are hundreds of studies proving X causes autism
Is that so? Are these studies peer reviewed? Are these studies published in a PubMed indexed journal? Have these studies been replicated? The fact is that anyone can write a study and get it published. Writing a good study that gets published in a decent journal is very much harder. This is because this means applying a level of quality to the study in question.

10. Yeah right! You mean its a Gvmt/Pharma/Illuminati ploy to hide science which disagrees with them
No, I really don’t. The peer review process is an international, independant process. Decent journals exist all over the world. Unless they are all controlled by an international Illuminati-esque cabal then there’s no way that can be true. If you really believe there is such an international cabal then please – grow up, the X-Files finished a long time ago.

11. You can’t know the science! Are you really the parent of an autistic child?
Well, yeah, actually I am. But even if I wasn’t, the idea that only parents of autistic kids know ‘the science’ is silly. Parents of autistic kids have no special insights into anything except their own kids. If you happen to be debating science with someone who isn’t parenting an autistic child then their opinion is just as valid as yours.

12. Because you think there’s nothing wrong with being autistic you do nothing to treat your daughter!
Again, no. A lot of it depends on your definition of ‘wrong’ and ‘treat’. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with the state of being autistic and I have no interest in making my daughter ‘not autistic’. However, I definitely intervene (treat, if you prefer) in some situations. For example, she undergoes speech therapy. She receives melatonin when she’s sleeping badly. She has Omega-3 fish oils. What I think you really mean is that, unlike you, I don’t pursue dangerous, meaningless quackery like chelation, HBOT, Lupron etc.
Suggested by Steve

13. Autism and vaccines
All from Shinga:
a] Measles Is A Trivial Illness, There’s No Point to Vaccination: The Myth
b] Mercury in MMR

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