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Facts About Autism

People used to believe that bad parenting caused autism. Often, mothers of autistic children were sent to therapy to "fix" themselves so their children would no longer be autistic.

Autism is not a mental illness - it is a disorder of development.

Autistic people like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man" are the minority. Although some autistics are savants -meaning they have special abilities, most do not.

Autistic people have a wide range of emotions. They may have trouble expressing their emotions appropriately, but they do indeed have them.

Although there are ongoing studies, there is no scientific evidence linking autism with vaccines, even those that have the preservative thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound. One study in Britain - studying only TWELVE children - said the MMR vaccine could cause autism, but a second, follow-up study - studying FIVE HUNDRED CHILDREN - disproved the first, inadequate study. And thimerosal didn't contain nearly enough mercury to cause the neurologic problems blamed on it. But the studies disproving the association between autism and vaccines never get nearly as much media coverage as the ones "proving" the link.