Where are the autistic adults in their 30s and older?

[zachattack]

This is something you don't hear mentioned much by people, like me, who are against the vaccine schedule.

[heathergirl67]

Are you being serious? I know several. Many just weren't diagnosed.

[Addy's Mom]

High functioning ones are making millions in the tech industry.

Lower functioning ones are likely still living at home or in group homes.

[amnesiac]

Please note that discussion in this forum should pertain to vaccines specifically.

[AllyRae]

I used to work as a behavior specialist and residental counselor for severely autistic adults in New England. And there were quite a number of them. About 30ish years ago, it was also often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. Aspergers and HFA are relatively new diagnoses, but there are a lot of adults who were never diagnosed that would meet criteria--mostly in computer/tech/engineering fields but you can find ASD adults in many fields, including the entertainment industry.

There is an adult that lives around the corner from me that is likely autistic (and we met him because every time I cross the railroad tracks, he's there, watching the train...he knows the train schedule by heart, night and day, and never misses watching the train cross.)

And there's really no way to make this pertain to vaccines, because I think this was posted in the wrong forum. Except that I suppose if people think that vaccines are the only cause of autism and that if they think that autism is *just* a diagnosis of the past 10 years, they'd be wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

Now whether there is an actual bonefide rise in the rate of autism that exists (and not just diagnosed), that's debatable. But I don't know anyone who actually thinks that autism popped up when the vaccine schedule got heavy. There are plenty of autistic adults--I've worked with those who ranged from 18, to the oldest who was well over 60.

[caned & able]

NO. My mother and aunt have worked in special education since 1971; my aunt has a PhD. This is in California, Oregon, Ohio, Texas and Nevada. Neither of them ever saw so many autistic children until after 1992.

The ADA and other court decisions that mainstreamed special needs children into the classroom is a reason that most people would see autistics for the first time, but autism is definitely on the rise. There was a study to be done in Scotland comparing children with autism and adults with autism, and there was a paucity of adults for the study.

If you know of so many adult autistics in their 30s, tell them to go to Scotland.

Bruno Bettleheim worked with autistic children in the 1950s and 1960s and he blamed their mothers for their condition.

[lotusdebi]

I'm against the vaccine schedule.

But, vaccines didn't cause my father's autism. If he were still alive, he'd be in his late 60's now. Autism runs in my family. My brother and I (both in our 30's) would likely be diagnosed with high-functioning autism, just as my oldest son was.

As I've learned more about autism while raising my son, I've thought back to many, many people I grew up with who showed signs of high-functioning autism, but weren't diagnosed. We were weird. Teased. Bullied. We didn't fit in. We didn't play the social games that the other kids were so wrapped up in. Some of us lived in our own little worlds. Some of us had very obvious obsessions. We were usually a bit awkward - physically and socially. But, back then, we weren't labled autistic. And, back then, we had a completely different vaccine schedule.

[dealic]

They are in many of the group homes I work at. They were in residences but Ontario has closed all those. I remember when I was researching childhood schizophrenia for university, I had to avoid any study before 1981 or something because prior to that date, the qualifiers for that were what we would now call autism, and were not schizophrenia as its defined today.

Had it existed when I was a child, I would have been diagnosed with Aspergers I feel sure. Instead they labelled it ADHD and pushed Ritalin at 1 year old (Thankfully my mother is opposed to overmedication and I never got any).

[JERENAUD]

Originally Posted by dealic

They are in many of the group homes I work at. They were in residences but Ontario has closed all those.

That.

My uncle lives in one of these group homes. He's nearly 66 and has Autism. He was in an institution from the late 1950's until sometime in the 70s. There is an invisible generation of people with Autism - my grandparents didn't get any support in having him stay at home. My grandmother was blamed for causing his Autism. They created their own community supports but ultimately placed him in an institution in an effort to protect their other children. By placing him, they were doing what society had been pressuring them to do for the previous 12 years. He wouldn't have been integrated into school or attending day camp with his sisters. Disabilities were to be hidden.

Incidentally, even before it was a popular sentiment, my grandmother felt that there was a correlation between his vaccinations and the onset of the symptoms. Personally I think there's a lot more to it, and that is not my primary reason for not vaccinating my children.

Erica

[JBaxter]

One of my best friends has aspbergers. She works for Merk.. Her Father has aspbergers also

[muldey]

I'm almost positive my dad has Asperger's just like my ds.My ds has only had one hep b vax.

[siobhang]

My friend's dad works for NASA, he is 64 and from Iran originally (so no vax at all as a child). He was informally diagnosed with aspergers when he was in his late 50s and says that pretty much everyone who works at NASA is aspie. Ditto MIT, Silicon Valley, and many academic institutions.

High functioning became geeks and nerds or those quirky people that no one really understood. low functioning were warehoused and hidden, labeled mentally retarded, schizophrenic or other labels.

[caned & able]

Iran does vaccinate their children. My BIL was vaxed for TB as a child in Iran. The Pasteur Institute was established there in 1920 for the research and prevention of infectious diseases.

The polio vaccine is required for the pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj.

It is interesting now that everyone at NASA, MIT, Silicon Valley is being diagnosed post hoc as "an aspie". Who does this "Monday Morning diagnosing"?

Ten years ago, an article appeared that said that all Americans were ADHD types. That was the cultural cocktail hour discussion. The idea was that our ancestors were restless, wanting adventure so they set their sights on the New World. The fact that these people would have to focus attention and energy on this goal seemed to allude the writers of the article.

Does everyone at NASA have explosive diarrhea and intestinal distress also? Do they scream, bang their heads on the wall, walk on their toes, and flap their arms? Would a DAN! practitioner be on the payroll or would it be part of their healthcare package?

It may seem a ridiculous statement, but, these are the symptoms of autism and these actions and symptoms need to be taken into consideration. Just because someone is a "geek" does not make them autistic or on the asperger's spectrum.

[caned & able]

.

[caned & able]

I

[Kailey's mom]

I'm right here...although I can say for sure that I wasn't disabled until 10/12/99, this was a few days after my Hep B vaccine for work. I have been on SSDI ever since, not able to work.

eta: I'm 30

[heathergirl67]

Originally Posted by caned & able

Iran does vaccinate their children.

The polio vaccine is required for the pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj.

It is interesting now that everyone at NASA is being diagnosed post hoc as "an aspie". Who does this "Monday Morning diagnosing"?

Ten years ago, an article appeared that said that all Americans were ADHD types. That was the cultural cocktail hour discussion. The idea was that our ancestors were restless, wanting adventure so they set their sights on the New World.

Does everyone at NASA have explosive diarrhea and intestinal distress also? Do they scream, bang their heads on the wall, walk on their toes, and flap their arms? Would a DAN! practitioner be on the payroll or would it be part of their healthcare package?

I don't think that she meant that everyone at NASA has been formally diagnosed with Aspergers. It seemed to me like it was meant to be a funny generalization whose point, if any, was that many autistic adults were never formally diagnosed.

Autism is probably the most researched disorder regarding its link to vaccines. The results have been that there is no correlation. It seems to me that even most anti-vaxxers doubt that there's any link between the two. (I haven't taken a poll or anything, that's just the feeling I get)
http://www.pkids.org/pdf/AMJPRMED.pdf
http://www.pkids.org/pdf/PEDSarticle.pdf
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/JA...cle%5B1%5D.pdf

http://www.healing-arts.org/children...and_Autism.pdf
http://journal.shouxi.net/qikan/article.php?id=178814
http://www.contentnejmorg.zuom.info/...57/13/1281.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18180424

Caned&Able, your posts in this thread have seemed sort of... agressive? Hostile? Almost like you feel that you're being attacked. Is everything okay? I have the hardest time conveying feeling through text, so I can totally understand if that's it.

[caned & able]

I'm fine.

As most doctors, I do not believe in diagnosing from anecdotal details. It is plain silly.

I believe siobang can speak for herself.

[nia82]

Okay, this is personal experience. But I hadn't heard about autism until I was pregnant with my son. I grew up in a small village (1400 people) and I can assure you, if someone had autism, I would have known. There are a couple mildly retarded children I knew growing up (like slow learners ala Forrest Gump), and nobody was hiding them nor putting anyone into homes (that would be looked very down upon in our town and fiercely known and gossiped about). I was born in 1982, and I didn't even have a kid in my class with allergies. In fact, I didn't meet anyone with allergies until I was in college. We grew up in East Germany (vax schedule started at birth with BCG, then at 6/8/10/24 months with DTP/OPV and 12 months measles, then a booster of DT at age 5, that's all I got), we ate very little processed food (wasn't available) and spent our time outside (cause there was nothing on TV and nobody could afford a computer). The first time I had pizza I was 7, and the first time I went to a McDonalds I was 14.
And looking at all the data, despite changing diagnosis, ASD are on the rise. Why is a question to be answered, but nothing should be dismissed. I'd love to see the data David Kirby tried to get his hands on but the CDC never let the researchers have it, that's quite suspicious. The stuff I have seen from the CDC and FDA makes them anything but credible.

[newmum35]

Originally Posted by JERENAUD

That.

My uncle lives in one of these group homes. He's nearly 66 and has Autism. He was in an institution from the late 1950's until sometime in the 70s. There is an invisible generation of people with Autism - my grandparents didn't get any support in having him stay at home. My grandmother was blamed for causing his Autism. They created their own community supports but ultimately placed him in an institution in an effort to protect their other children. By placing him, they were doing what society had been pressuring them to do for the previous 12 years. He wouldn't have been integrated into school or attending day camp with his sisters. Disabilities were to be hidden.

Incidentally, even before it was a popular sentiment, my grandmother felt that there was a correlation between his vaccinations and the onset of the symptoms. Personally I think there's a lot more to it, and that is not my primary reason for not vaccinating my children.

Erica

I have to say I'm extremely fascinated at how insightful your grandmother must have been to make the connection. I don't believe there was any awareness back then like there is today. of course there are those who don't believe it today, but the awareness is at least there. Whether they believe it or not is up to them. For someone to be suspicious of vaccines way back then just wows me. She must have had a lot of guts, or, just not talked about it with her friends, who might have thought she was nuts!