Autism on the Rise. What are your feelings?

United States
January 3, 2007 6:03am CST
I have 2 children on the autism spectrum. As a parent, when I first found out, I was devestated. Of course, it is still difficult and there are many trying times. Now, since my children have been diagnosed, I keep meeting and learning of other parents with autistic children. I've seen the public service announcements and know that 1 in 166 children are now diagnosed with autism of some sort. Some people say the higher amount of children being diagnosed is due to testing and criteria for fitting the diagnosis. Some people think the numbers are actually going up despite new testing standards. What are your feelings?
1 response
albert2412
@albert2412 (1782)
• United States
8 Jan 07
Autism was first discovered about 1943, about the same time that childhood vaccines became commonplace. Vaccines have used mercury as a preservative and, we strongly believe, the cause of autism. Rates of autism are going up dramatically. When our son developed autism at age 12 right after the MMR shot, autism was still rare. Now autism is becoming commonplace. Our son is gradually getting better with the treatment that we are using.