The Story of Autism: How We Got Here, How We Heal

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

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

In 2016, the nonprofit Moms Across America sent five childhood vaccines to Microbe Inotech Laboratories to be tested for glyphosate. Using the ELISA test, glyphosate was found in all five vaccines, at 0.107 to 2.671 parts per billion.81 The MMR vaccine, which is grown as a live culture on gelatin, contained the most glyphosate. Additional tests fro... 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 .”

Instead of learning from others, autistic individuals gained knowledge out of their own experiences and theories and methods. This made some of their behavior “particularly original and delightful,” wrote Asperger. They had “a special creative attitude towards language,” which they tended to process literally, making them not “get” most jokes and b... See more

Nutrients, fasting, grounding (touching Earth with bare feet or other body parts), sunlight, sleep, and exercise facilitate the body’s detoxifying, self-healing abilities. Animal organs are ample, underused sources of fat-soluble vitamins. Silicon-rich mineral water removes aluminum from the body.125 Bacillus subtilis , a rod-shaped bacteria, can d... See more

In NeuroTribes , Silberman writes that many in Silicon Valley, in the tech industry, seem autistic. I’ve noticed that many autobiographical authors and graphic novelists do too. There’s a connection between autobiographical self-expression and autism, or auto-ism , from the Greek word auto , meaning “self” or “self-referential.” Pain and discomfort... See more