The Real Cause of Autism

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Here for spreading far and wide is a graphical reminder of the important distinction between correlation and causation.

Redditor Jasonp55 writes that he was practicing Graph Pad when he produced the chart above and discovered the "real" cause of autism: organic food.

His tongue is obviously planted firmly in his cheek here, but the chart is nonetheless a simple and compelling example of how susceptible we can be to logical fallacies, cognitive biases, and extracting what we believe to be meaningful information from insignificant or coincidental data. As Cory Doctorow notes over at Boing Boing, "this a potentially useful chart for discussing this issue with friends who won't vaccinate themselves and their kids."

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/01/correlation-between-autism-dia.html

Don't be an idiot, get yourself and your kids vaccinated

 

[KevanG]

Nope still FLU SHOTS!

Try better next time OBAMA!

 

[Manic]

I wonder how many people will just look at the chart and react to that without actually reading what the article says...

 

[KevanG]

I did.

OBAMA!

 

[enterthemadness]

I don't believe in getting myself vaccinated, but i my workplace wanted me to, if I was bored enough, or say...I was in food service, I'd probably get one.

And then knowing me, I'd probably get sick for a week lol.

 

[KevanG]

I don't need to get vaccinated. My friends all have kids ranging from 2-7, I'm getting sick no matter what.

 

[Feenix]

I hate the anti-vaccine crowd. They went all ape **** when the "controversy" surrounding the MMR vaccine came up and crusaded against it. They inadvertently injured/killed thousands of children.

 

[KevanG]

Jeez Pinchy. Don't be so paranoid. They saved them from the tyrannical lizard overlords who want mind control chips put in the bodies of the young through flu vaccinations so they can force them to cause climate change through psychically manipulating the atmosphere.

 

[Feenix]

Jeez Pinchy. Don't be so paranoid. They saved them from the tyrannical lizard overlords who want mind control chips put in the bodies of the young through flu vaccinations so they can force them to cause climate change through psychically manipulating the atmosphere.

You're right! It's a good thing I wear my tin foil hat to protect myself from the lizard overloads. It confuses them, you see.

 

[cherokeesam]

The *real* cause of autism is simple enough: autism "increased" as awareness of the disorder increased. Medical and psychiatric professionals began (mis)diagnosing the hell out of it in the 90s and Naughts without even remotely understanding what it was or where it came from. Autism has probably been around for centuries; it was just given a name in the 90s, and the buzzword was slapped on every "different" kid out there. Just like ADD or ADHD.

 

[Hotwire]

The *real* cause of autism is simple enough: autism "increased" as awareness of the disorder increased. Medical and psychiatric professionals began (mis)diagnosing the hell out of it in the 90s and Naughts without even remotely understanding what it was or where it came from. Autism has probably been around for centuries; it was just given a name in the 90s, and the buzzword was slapped on every "different" kid out there. Just like ADD or ADHD.

And just how much experience do you have with these disorders?

 

[Feenix]

Well, it's no secret that we're an over medicated, over diagnosed society.

 

[Hotwire]

Well, it's no secret that we're an over medicated, over diagnosed society.

As with many other disorders/conditions, there's a bit of a severity scale. With autism, it's referred to as the spectrum. My daughter is at the high functioning end of it. One of my friends has a son at the low functioning end.

 

[Anita18]

Reminds me of this: http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

Lack of pirates is causing global warming!

Like with many things, I don't think there's a simple explanation for why autism rates are going up. It's likely a combination of better/more diagnoses, increased chemical exposure (not just vaccines but everything around us), and genetic things.

 

[cherokeesam]

And just how much experience do you have with these disorders?

Deep experience with them, thanks for asking. My 11-year old son lost all of his speech shortly after turning 2 years old (and yes, it was *immediately* after getting the MMR shot; thanks for all the tinfoil hat sneerage in this thread, y'all...). We didn't think he would ever speak again, and a never-ending rotation of doctors and psychiatrists kept coming back with autism or severe ADHD, even though he's always been a very social and loving child and displayed none of the antisocial behavior usually associated with this. Finally, after 2 years of despair, we found a brilliant neurologist a couple of hours away who ran some EEGs on my son and determined that he *had* suffered neurological damage from the MMR shot that was causing him to experience a very rare form of epilepsy called Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. He prescribed an anti-seizure medication for him, and it was like a goddamn lightbulb turned on. He *immediately* started talking again, and progressed quickly into fairly normal speech patterns. He eventually got "weaned" off the medication by age 8, and is still doing fine, but he's lost a couple of years of speech, and is still considered "developmentally delayed," even though he's a very smart kid.

 

[Anita18]

Man, I'm really sorry to hear that. I'm glad that he got proper treatment and that he's improving to the point where he doesn't need medication anymore. He's young and undoubtedly resilient. I think he will continue to make amazing progress.

I won't deny that some people have very bad reactions to vaccines. But it is supposed to be a rare occurrence (I know, not that it makes you feel better about what happened to your son) and I hope doctors will become more knowledgeable about what to do when it does happen. Hopefully a diagnostic test can be used to find hidden allergies or whatnot.

For every child who has a reaction to a vaccine, there is likely another (or more than one) who has died from the disease it's supposed to be preventing. I don't think talking people out of getting vaccinated is the solution, but I think more knowledge about potential reactions and their treatments would go a long way. Every medical procedure has its dangers. We just need to decide between benefits and potential consequences.

 

[Mike_D202]

I got the flu vaccine and STILL got the flu.

 

[NickNitro]

lol you can take any 2 things that are on the same rise/decline and try and connect them.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Autism vaccine? In this age everyone will be like the giraffe in Madagascar

 

[Siby]

Deep experience with them, thanks for asking. My 11-year old son lost all of his speech shortly after turning 2 years old (and yes, it was *immediately* after getting the MMR shot; thanks for all the tinfoil hat sneerage in this thread, y'all...). We didn't think he would ever speak again, and a never-ending rotation of doctors and psychiatrists kept coming back with autism or severe ADHD, even though he's always been a very social and loving child and displayed none of the antisocial behavior usually associated with this. Finally, after 2 years of despair, we found a brilliant neurologist a couple of hours away who ran some EEGs on my son and determined that he *had* suffered neurological damage from the MMR shot that was causing him to experience a very rare form of epilepsy called Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. He prescribed an anti-seizure medication for him, and it was like a goddamn lightbulb turned on. He *immediately* started talking again, and progressed quickly into fairly normal speech patterns. He eventually got "weaned" off the medication by age 8, and is still doing fine, but he's lost a couple of years of speech, and is still considered "developmentally delayed," even though he's a very smart kid.

I'm happy to hear things are going in the right direction for your son and family. Your previous post was spot on about "slapping" diagnoses on children and adults.

I came into this thread dreading what nonsense the crackpots are going to say is the etiology of Autism. I'm glad it was just the opposite.

 

[Anita18]

I got the flu vaccine and STILL got the flu.

Unfortunately, flu virus has a bunch of different strains and mutates like whoa so the vaccine is only an educated guess about which strain is going to strike the populace that year. That's it - it's a guess.

So yeah, getting the flu after receiving a flu vaccine not uncommon. Bad luck, unfortunately.

Little buggers like bacteria and viruses are trying to survive too. Evolution, b****es!

 

[Mike_D202]

Unfortunately, flu virus has a bunch of different strains and mutates like whoa so the vaccine is only an educated guess about which strain is going to strike the populace that year. That's it - it's a guess.

So yeah, getting the flu after receiving a flu vaccine not uncommon. Bad luck, unfortunately.

Little buggers like bacteria and viruses are trying to survive too. Evolution, b****es!

Pffft, that's the last time I get that vaccine. It dragged my body down for nearly 2 weeks, and here I thought I was armored up for the winter. NOPE.

But, I guess I am immune to at LEAST two strains now.

 

[KevanG]

Unfortunately, flu virus has a bunch of different strains and mutates like whoa so the vaccine is only an educated guess about which strain is going to strike the populace that year. That's it - it's a guess.

So yeah, getting the flu after receiving a flu vaccine not uncommon. Bad luck, unfortunately.

Little buggers like bacteria and viruses are trying to survive too. Evolution, b****es!

You can't prove evolution's real! No matter how much fossil evidence or testing with quickly evolving organisms you have!

 

[Anita18]

Pffft, that's the last time I get that vaccine. It dragged my body down for nearly 2 weeks, and here I thought I was armored up for the winter. NOPE.

But, I guess I am immune to at LEAST two strains now.

Best protection is still probably washing your hands a lot. And avoiding crowds if you can...

 

[warhorse78]

I got the flu vaccine and STILL got the flu.

That happened to me like 10 years ago. My parents were never for the vaccination, but here I am, living my own life, so I decided I was going to get the flu shot. BIG MISTAKE!

I was sick for nearly a month, real sick, bed ridden. After that, I never had a flu shot again, and I've been doing pretty damn good!