Neurodiversity is a gift. Severe, non-verbal autism is not.
I listened to Terry Gross interview Steve Silberman about the history of—and myths about—autism with great interest.
I’ve always loved Fresh Air. And I’m usually impressed by the host, Terry Gross.
Steve Silberman’s incorrect assertions
But I was sorry to hear Steve Silberman make several incorrect assertions. These included mistakes about the prevalence of autism in America.
Steve Silberman may be the darling of the mainstream media right now. But some of what Steve Silberman said to Terry Gross was unfortunately, and dangerously, wrong. Steve Silberman is an award-winning science journalist. Notwithstanding, he made many mistakes in the NPR interview.
Autism is an umbrella term. We apply it to children and adults who have very different illnesses.
I agree with Steve Silberman. That is to say, when autism is neurodiversity, we can and should celebrate it.
Those with autism or ADHD or ADD or ______ [add your label here] are unique, wonderful, and blessed. Indeed, we should honor them and their gifts. Some, like Temple Grandin, Ph.D., lead healthy, happy, productive lives. They organize retreats like the one Steve Silberman attended. They read and comment on articles like mine.
Neurodiversity not the same as debilitating autism
However, there’s a problem. Steve Silberman conflates people who have neurodiversity with people suffering from severe autism. Severe autism has related health issues. These include gastrointestinal problems and debilitating pain.
Silberman claims that the numbers of people who are neurologically different have not increased exponentially. That may be correct. But he is incorrect in his assertion that we have only seen a “tiny” increase in severe autism.
Dr. Paul Thomas, M.D., a science-forward medical doctor (and my co-author) explains it best.
Dr. Paul Thomas responds to Steve Silberman
As Dr. Thomas wrote to NPR this morning:
I am a Dartmouth-trained M.D. and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics in private practice in Portland, Oregon. I have over 11,000 children in my practice. And I can tell you definitively that autism rates among America’s children, particularly boys, have risen exponentially since I began practicing in the 1980s.
This is not a ‘tiny’ increase. And it is not a question of ‘neurodiversity.’ I am talking about children with severe autism. These children cannot speak. They still wear diapers at age 9. Sadly, they do not grow up to be adults who are able to organize or attend retreats.
The California Department of Developmental Services keeps the country’s most reliable statistics. They report a 21 percent increase in severe autism in a 5-year period. At the same time, a peer-reviewed article by Stanford-trained researcher Cynthia Nevison, Ph.D., confirms that, though changes in diagnostic criteria may account for 20-25% of the increase in autism, between 75-80% of the reported increases are due to a real rise in the disease.
“Diagnosed autism prevalence has risen dramatically in the U.S over the last several decades and continued to trend upward as of birth year 2005. The increase is mainly real and has occurred mostly since the late 1980s.”
Finding the real causes
Steve Silberman is correct. We’ve wasted millions of dollars looking for a genetic cause of autism.
But he is also incorrect. We should not stop looking for a cause or stop putting money into finding cures.
Researchers have wasted millions of dollars trying to isolate genetic causes. Genes alone do not cause severe autism. Not the autism accompanied by other health problems.
Perhaps the blame falls on more than one toxic exposure. But it is clear that something in the environment is causing brain damage to our children. And we call that environmentally-induced brain damage autism.
Sometimes, not always, that brain damage we call autism is reversible. However, this is another point that Steve Silberman ignores in his book.
3 biologically plausible causes of autism overlooked by Steve Silberman
1) Prenatal exposure to ultrasound
Exposure to ultrasound disrupts cell membranes. It also encourages brain cells to divide and migrate when they should not.
2) Prenatal and post-natal exposure to acetaminophen
Acetaminophen is the main ingredient in Tylenol. It is a coal-derived medication. Unfortunately, we know that it interferes with the body’s production of glutathione. Glutathione is a chemical necessary to rid the body of neurotoxins like aluminum and mercury.
Read one family’s story about how vaccines and Tylenol caused their son’s autism here. Indeed, acetaminophen is likely a causative factor, according to a growing body of scientific literature.
3) A combination of toxic environmental exposures
This combination likely includes glyphosate as well as vaccine ingredients. Indeed, we know that certain vaccine ingredients, including aluminum, create an inflammatory response. Inflammation can lead to brain and autoimmune dysfunction.
I’m glad that Steve Silberman’s book, NeuroTribes, is drawing attention to autism. We must pay more attention to the needs of people with autism. Their caregivers need our support too.
Finally, I look forward to the day when the doctors, researchers, and journalists, including Steve Silberman, look honestly at the autism epidemic. And when they apologize to America’s children.
Related articles:
A balanced review of Steve Silberman’s book and his concept of neurodiversity
Comparison of temporal trends in United States autism prevalence to trends in suspected environmental factors (PDF of full article)
Do Tylenol and Vaccines Cause Autism?
Published: September 4, 2015
Updated: December 8, 2022
Thank you for writing this post. I listened to the interview and was perplexed by what seemed a simplistic way of looking at the problem. Severe autism has indeed greatly increased over the last decades. I was interested to read that you believe glyphosate may play a part. Whatever the cause, let’s hope scientists figure it out soon so measures can be taken to diminish the numbers of children with autism.
Jennifer, thank you for writing this. It did sound like neurodiversity was getting confused with severe autism – diversity is important, but autism is tragic. We know how to prevent this devastating illness through good nutrition and avoiding toxins – especially those known to be neurotoxic.
So neurodiverity only applies to those whose divergence is minimal? Those of us who can pass as neurotypical in ways considered crucial by societal standards of fulfilling our “function” in a capitalist society?
You imply that that proud Autistic people and our allies aren’t interested in finding solutions to mitigating conditions that are common among Autistic people such as gastrointestinal problems and autoimmune conditions. Helping fellow Autistic people get to more happily inhabit bodies is on of my passions as an herbalist, and most of my Autistic patients have become amateur medical scholars of their own conditions — we get obsessive about or special interests, or so the diagnostic manuals say. One thing many of have found is that conditions we are most prone to are also common among trauma survivors. To a large extent, they are likely linked to the experience of being neurodivergent in a culture of compulsory neurotypicality.
More troubling is your position that that we need to make a distinction between “adults who have some neurodiversity” and “children and young adults who are suffering from severe autism.”
As I have written elsewhere, such a distinction is false, and serves to further capitalist agendas that value us according to our ability to participate in the creation of wealth. Those of us who are assigned the category of “high functioning” maintain a performance of neurotypicality at a high cost to our health in order to get access to the things we need to survive in this culture. And, just as the late Dr. Oliver Sacks found with silent Parkinson’s patients who were presumed to be mentally vacant, we are discovering that non-speaking Autistics have inner worlds that are rich and uncannily similar to those of speaking Autistics.
Tolerating those of us whose visible divergence is minimal while pathologizing those whose obvious divergence is more dramatic defeats the point of even acknowledging neurodiversity. It mimics discourses about another aspect of human diversity that was pathologized until recently — sexuality. “Quiet gays are ok, but not the flamboyant ones. Don’t shove it in our faces.” We will take none of that.
The ignorance of this and the mental gymnastics you did to arrive at your conclusion astounds me. Also, nice job contributing to the use of functioning labels as if human beings are hard drives or can openers whose value only matters if they “give back” to society. They don’t matter because they’re human? Really? Because that’s what you’re saying.
I’m autistic and I’m irked by this journal, but you don’t care what autistic people have to say and you’ll call me “high functioning” because I can write(it doesn’t matter that I can’t speak, take a shower or dress myself without help, right? Any excuse to ignore autistic voices!) so I expect this comment won’t even get published.
Stop listening to quack scientists, Autism is genetic. It’s becoming more prevalent because people are better at spotting and diagnosing it in infancy. Genes determine when the autism “turns on” and in some children that means they appear to regress and others show it almost from birth.
Get off your high horse and stop calling me an epidemic.
This response is full of assumptions about the author. She obviously cares deeply about this topic. She most certainly isn’t ignorant.
Thank you for this article. I appreciate you insight and professional knowledge.
Beautifully written. What continues to amaze me is that any time vaccines come into question so many just turn a blind eye. Autism is not genetic and is a result of a number of factors including vaccines. I am a nurse and I have worked with children. I am heartbroken over the current state of health of our children. We give theost aggressive vaccine schedule to our kids yet they are sicker than previous generations. We need to stop giving so many vaccines and clean up their diets. Our govt is so corrupt and it’s the children suffering as a result. Sen Posey’s testimony regarding the whistler blower and the CDC cover up linking African American children and autism is bein ignored and out govt is doing all they can to protect Monsanto while other countries are banning GMO foods. Wake up America!! You have been sold out by Pharma and your govt.
Sadly, vaccine makers have no incentive to change their ways. They make huge profits but are totally protected from lawsuits because
Congress granted them immunity in 1986. Families are paying for the damages vaccines are causing. If you want to change this, please
sign this petition
petitions.moveon.org/sign/repeal-immunity-for-drug
facebook.com/pages/Repeal-The-National-Childhood-Vaccine-Injury-Act-of-1986/693229134132332
Protect kids, not drug makers!The law is corrupt and immoral.
Kindly pass this on to everyone you know. Together, hopefully, we can make a difference! LIKES are good, but PLEASE sign and share!!
I firmly believe there is a genetic component to autism. The fact that autistic persons have higher levels of porphyrins and testosterone and lower levels of glutathione, to me as a scientist, shows that that portion of the population has always been around, we just perhaps have more toxins in the environment to trigger the cascade that leads to autism (much like diabetes has a genetic predisposition but is triggered by environmental factors such as illness). If vaccines caused autism, just in and of themselves, everyone vaccinated would be autistic, and no one unvaccinated would be. However, we see autism in unvaccinated persons as well so clearly vaccines are not the only culprit.
Hi Jennifer! Thanks for writing this articles so that I can understand more about plausible culprits. Really appreciate about that and hope you can write more articles 🙂
Silberman is an industry plant to protect big pharma. How does one who doesn’t have kids, nor is autistic propped up in the liberal media and can afford to reside in San Francisco seem to go above and beyond to smear and slander on social media anyone who makes strides to the truth, aka vaccines and their side effects? May I add he’s also a writer/commentator on the grateful dead and seems to enjoy political mud slinging, so that’s something to take into consideration. Look into his early life etc, I’m sure you’ll be shocked. (Sarcasm)