Yesterday, Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy and others met in the Oval Office to announce an executive order on vaccines and autism. I have a simple message for them:
Don’t pretend that you are helping my kid, me or my family.
Don’t act like you are speaking for us or our wants or desires.
There is so much that needs to be done. I could go on and on (and on and on) with specifics, but for now, allow me to just focus on the fact that the vaccines-cause-autism lie is the most damaging thing that has happened to our communities since Bettleheim promoted the “refrigerator mother” idea.
I haven’t heard another autism parent bring up the vaccine lie in many years. Yes, there is a loud minority that still clings to it, but the idea is dead. Even in our communities.
Would I like the money spent on studies that rehash the vaccine-causation lie spent on something else? You bet. But, more to the point:
The vaccine lie causes real harm.
It is no coincidence that charlatans who push fake–and often abusive–therapies are closely tied to the vaccine-causation lie. One of Robert Kennedy’s first hires when he became the Secretary of HHS was David Geier. You can read many stories here about Mr. Geier and his father (use the search box or this link). And many elsewhere. One of the most egregious acts was the “Lupron Protocol”, where the Geiers wrongly diagnosed autistic children with precious puberty and then sold them Lupron (a drug that shuts down sex hormone production). If you don’t agree with me that this was abuse of disabled children, I weep for your lack of humanity. How did the Geiers sell this? Largely by telling parents that their kids were “vaccine injured” and that by shutting down testosterone production they could help remove mercury from their children’s bodies.
David Geier is just one of many charlatans that preyed on our community. And Lupron is just one fake cure.
My kid is much better off because we didn’t believe they were damaged. We didn’t treat our kid as being damaged, less than human or someone to be experimented upon with fake cures.
The rest of our family is better off because we didn’t buy into the guilt and shame and the rest of the anti-vaccine culture.
We didn’t spend a fortune on fake cures. We didn’t spend our money donating to charlatans like Robert Kennedy and his allies.
Are things perfect? Far from it. So much could be made better for my kid and their peers. But, instead, we get the President of the United States promoting an idea that has never done a single good thing for our communities.
Left Brain Right Brain 
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