The pleasure, bonding, satisfaction, meaning, fulfillment, and stimulation—the opioids, oxytocin, endocannabinoids, dopamine, etc.—normally achieved through human relationships, in the autist is instead diverted, beginning in the formative years when the brain is rapidly developing, to non-social activities with self-invented goals. This explains s... See more

Scientists have been unable to define how autism is genetic. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of genes have been blamed in causing the disorder. It’s now argued that 500 to 1,000 genes are involved,37 which amounts to 7 to 14 percent of all the genes used in brain function. This is like saying a cut on a leg is caused by genetics, an... See more

The genetic theory also can’t explain “acquired autism,” when symptoms appear after years of normal development;62 why 30 to 50 percent of autists regress, becoming suddenly more autistic;63 or why, according to studies in Pediatrics International ,64 Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ,65 and other journals, an estimated 10 to 20 percent o... See more

They had what Kanner called “an anxiously obsessive desire for the maintenance of sameness .”

The United States—which as of 2011 had the highest first-day infant death rate in the industrialized world124—might succumb to autism, becoming a cautionary example for other countries. The autism rate here has doubled an average of every five years since 1970. At this rate, the majority of American boys will be autistic by 2036, and by around 2045... See more

These days, among two million Americans, around 20,000 have ankylosing spondylitis (an autoimmune disease I have that can lead to a crooked spine), 50,000 are mentally retarded,112 at least 50,000 are schizophrenic,113 35,000 have dementia (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.),114 10,000 are severely autistic, and 650 are deaf-blind.115

To me, the answer seems clear: because corporations have convinced most governments, scientists, journalists, and media outlets that their products are safe.

After stopping pills in 2013 and 2014, I continued learning about natural treatments. I read Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., Dyslexia, A.D.H.D., Depression, Schizophrenia (2010) by Natasha Campbell-McBride, a former neurosurgeon who reversed her son’s autism. I read Bugs, Brains, and Bowels (2013), an a... See more

Autistic individuals are less likely to conform, in part because conformity feels less gratifying and comforting to them than to other people. Autists’ inbuilt resistance to peer pressure and authority, combined with their outsider status and precise language, allows them to notice and describe society’s flaws better than those comfortably immersed... See more