Why do some people think that there are no unvaccinated Amish children with autism.
The usual suspects…
There Are Unvaccinated Amish Children With Autism
But how do we know that there are unvaccinated Amish children with autism?
Well, for one thing, there are plenty of autistic kids who are unvaccinated kids!
That’s no secret…
What else?
“Strauss also sees plenty of Amish children showing symptoms of autism.”
Autism and the Amish
Even if they aren’t formally diagnosed, there are autistic children and adults who are Amish.
And that’s the thing behind there being no published case studies or reports about autism among the Amish. Since Amish folks are much less likely to utilize traditional medical care, they are much less likely to get formally diagnosed with autism and other chronic conditions.
And that ‘published’ Amish autism study that Donald Trump posted about?
It was not a published study.
It was an unpublished study whose abstract was posted at the 2010 International Meeting for Autism Research.
“From September 2008 to October 2009, 1899 Amish children were screened in the two Amish communities.”
International Meeting for Autism Research: Prevalence Rates of Autism Spectrum Disorders Among the Old Order Amish
Furthermore, it was an unpublished study that almost certainly did not screen everyone between the ages of 3 and 21 in those two Amish communities!
What’s missing?
The number of eligible children in those two communities?
How many eligible children refused to participate?
So how many did they miss and did they miss a lot of autistic children who were hidden away?
What else?
Well, for one thing, the Amish communities in Holmes County, Ohio and Elkhart-Lagrange County, Indiana were made up of about 35,000 people when the study was done. And that’s only if you count the named counties and not the broader Amish settlements in the surrounding areas.
As for the share of younger people in these communities that were said to be screened, between the ages of 3 and 21?
They would make up over 35 to 50% of the total population, so about 12 to 17,000 people - far more than the number screened.
And why is that important?
We have no idea if there is a difference between whom they screened and who they didn’t screen.
But that wasn’t the point of the preliminary study…
The point was just to show that there were autistic Amish children and adults.
“We know that that statement is untrue simply because ... Amish parents will write about their children with autism (in Amish publications). They use that word,” said Steven M. Nolt, interim director at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies and professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College.
Yes, There Is Autism Among The Amish. But How Much?
And there’s more!
the Amish have had special education classrooms since the 1970s
the Amish publish a national newsletter, Life’s Special Sunbeams, for parents of children with disabilities
the Clinic for Special Children describes Amish children with “autistic behaviors”
the DDC Clinic–Center for Special Needs Children in Middlefield, Ohio provides care for Amish children with autism
Plus, people who have left the Amish community describe having autistic family members.
“I do have one cousin, but that and he just recently passed away and he was my age and he he may have been on the spectrum cuz I had a conversation with my mom the last time that I was at home and he had just passed away. Like he passed away last month, died in his sleep.
And I remember kind of like who he was growing up and he never got married, anything like that. And I, my mom and I were having a conversation and I was like, “Oh yeah, I remember.” I was like, “I think he might have actually been on the spectrum and she’s like, “What do you mean?” And I was like, “Oh, he may have been autistic.”
I don’t know. They never did the proper testing for that kind of stuff. But knowing what I know now, it’s very possible that he was autistic. But I’m not making those claims. I’m just saying it’s possible. But they they wouldn’t have done the testing for it.”
Amish Health Secrets: Autism, ADHD, Vaccines & What No One Talks About
But of course, they had no idea what it meant to be autistic when they were still Amish!
Bottom line - there are unvaccinated autistic Amish children and adults. And it is shameful that Donald Trump is spreading this kind of propaganda again days after an Amish baby died because his unvaccinated mother had measles.