Autistic Family Essay

Do we as humans realize just how vulnerable we are? How about those with families that participate in school functions and leisure activities after school? Do they too realize how bless they are with that society considers them to be a “normal” family? But do families that may have an autistic family member realize just how lucky they are, they too have been blessed. A quote from Temple Gradin, an animal behavior expert and author of The Autistic Brain states, “I am different, not less.” To fully understand the effects of this disability, one must understand the characteristics of an individual living with autism. Autism, also known as, autism spectrum disorder comes from the Greek word auto, which means “self.” The term was first introduced in 1908 by Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist. Eugen Bleuler used the term “autism” to characterize certain schizophrenics who appeared to have their own style of thinking. This style of thinking was considered to be “autistic …show more content…
The main reason for this association is the increasing prevalence of autism and the increase of vaccination coverage. With close proximity to the vaccine it may be coincidental with the apparent onset of autism. In 1998 there was a study published in The Lancet that suggested this connection, it was later found baseless, nonetheless, it was not until 2000 the vaccine manufactures removed thimerosal ( a mercury-based preservative) from all routinely children vaccines due to the high number of public fear. Even though, again the vaccine was not proven to cause autism(3). Cases of autism after the one year mark (regressive autism) may have an onset, however, with the single epidemiological study no association with MMR vaccination was found. Currently, there is no evident that supports a causal association between the MMR vaccine, or any other vaccines and