KJ Elizabeth

Some thoughts on Jenny McCarthy and Autism

I just watched Jenny McCarthy on Oprah talk about her child’s autism and wanted to write down some thoughts I had.

Jenny McCarthy says that vaccination, received just prior to 2 years of age, triggered her son’s autism. However she also said the signs of her son’s autism were present at age one, which was several months before he received the vaccination. She still blames the vaccination though.

I found it interesting that she mentioned her ex-husband’s aloofness and apparent lack of concern when their child was having seizures and also when he was diagnosed with autism. She explained this as how he dealt with the pain of it all. Maybe. Or maybe the father has traits of autism himself, which their son may have inherited.

Jenny McCarthy also talks about her child as if he is healing from autism and has hardly any signs of autism left “he’s in constant recovery”. I think this kind of talk gives people false hope. If he’s in constant recovery, he still constantly has autism. She’s not healing her son’s autism, she’s managing the condition. Successfully apparently, so all power to her. But to call it recovery… that’s a stretch.

McCarthy joins the chorus of parents who say vaccinations cause autism. These parents always point to the massive increase in autism diagnosis in the past two decades to support their claim. “Rates of autism are on the rise” is the phrase they use. This is a misleading statement. The rate of *diagnosis* of autism is on the rise, and there are many reasons for this. It may be because there are in fact more cases of autism, but it may also be because detection of autism is significantly better than it used to be thanks to better awareness and education about autism among doctors and the public at large. The condition has been underdiagnosed for decades, past rates of autism did not reflect the actual rates. It is also the case that Asperger’s Syndrome, at the mild end of the autism spectrum, has only been recognised and diagnosed in the past 15 years or so. This in of itself is a significant reason why rates of autism diagnosis are higher than they used to be.

To say rates of autism are on the rise without acknowledging these factors is misleading. Under-diagnosis and the relatively recent recognition of Asperger’s Syndrome probably cannot account for the increase in rates of diagnosis on their own, but they would play a significant part. There probably is another factor - but I’m not convinced vaccination is it, although I remain open to the possibility.

Another two points on the vaccination issue, autism existed before children were universally vaccinated, and although all children are vaccinated, boys are more likely to have autism than girls.

If autism is on the rise, I think it will be shown to be due to an increase in thyroid dysfunction and hormone problems in pregnant women. Preliminary research has indicated an association between thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and autism. I think this research will yield more answers than the issue of vaccination.