autism awareness month
Autism Myths You Should Ignore
There are a lot of stereotypes about autism spectrum disorder that just aren’t true—here are the five biggest misconceptions. By Katelin Walling
Despite what many people may think, individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder do like spending time with peers. In fact, interacting with people on the spectrum is the best way to battle these misconceptions.
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hile the awareness of autism spectrum disorder has grown due to social media, increased research, Autism Awareness Month, and more, there are still many misconceptions about ASD, from its causes to the characteristics and abilities of those on the spectrum. As its name denotes, autism is a spectrum, meaning not everyone diagnosed with autism displays the same traits, exhibits the same behaviors, or has the same abilities—just like you or me. Applying blanket statements to those on the spectrum would be like saying girls can’t throw or boys don’t cry. We spoke to experts about stereotypes of ASD and uncovered the truth behind five big misconceptions about the disorder and those diagnosed with it.
Myth 1: Vaccines cause autism. Unfortunately, we do still hear the misconception that autism is related to vaccinations, commonly the measles, mumps, rubella vaccination, says Sarah Kuriakose, Ph.D., BCBA-D, statewide director of psychology services at NYS Office of Mental Health. “Not only was the initial study that showed that a fraudulent 28
April 2021 | nymetroparents.com
study, but follow-up studies have debunked that many times,” she explains. There are other concerns that autism is caused by “various environmental factors that a pregnant mother may be exposed to and in utero some of those environmental causative factors may have somehow affected the fetus,” says John Pfeifer, assistant executive director at Life’s WORC, a Long Island nonprofit that supports people with developmental disabilities and autism. “There’s still ongoing research about the expansion of electromagnetic technology and various environmental chemicals and such that may be at play, but not knowing everything in the environment that may be affecting a fetus, either seen or unseen, makes it hard to decipher that.” “What we do know about autism is there seems to be a genetic component, and about 10- to 20-percent of cases with ASD are linked to an identified genetic disorder,” Dr. Kuriakose says. “We anticipate that that number will go up with more genetics research. But even in identical twins, the concordance rate is not 100-percent, so we know there is some factor that is not genetic as well.”
