Back when I was a young Dave-El, I had no context for my perception of the world around me.
But I had a feeling, an instinct that something was... for lack of a better word, wrong.
Why was everyone else in this world coping with things that caused me nothing but frustration, confusion, anger?
I could see and hear the evidence presented by the world around me: I was different from the other kids.
I would "act out" in bursts of temper fueled by rage, anxiety, fear, a veritable storm of emotions I had no control over.
After one such outburst, my mother frustrated over my behavior told me that a counselor at school said I needed to talk to someone but my mother said she didn't want people to think I was crazy.
Given my episodes of irrational behaviour, I think that ship had already sailed. If my mother wanted to shame me with the label of being crazy, that was NOT what I took from that.
"Wait! I could TALK to someone about this?"
That wouldn't happen for many years until I was an adult.
Do I hold my mother's reticence from getting me help against her? God rest her soul, no, I do not. It was a different time, a different culture.
The word "autism" was a whispered threat that parents were not prepared to cope with.
It was not until I was in my late 50's that I was diagnosed with ADHD, a condition on the autism spectrum.
At least I know now it's not my fault.
I was a victim of the Tylenol Terror!
Last week, before he headed off to do battle with evil escalators (see today's earlier post), Donald Trump held a press conference to declare Tylenol is the cause of autism and telling pregnant women not to take it!
Really? Maybe I misunderstood. Mr. Trump, could you clarify what you mean?
"DON'T TAKE TYLENOL! There's no downside. Nothing bad can happen! It can only good happen!"
(That's not a typo. He really said it that way.)
Standing behind him was Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Secretary of Health and Human Services basking in the glow of a job well done.
RFK Jr has long been a proponent that there are external causes of the dread scourge known as autism, accusing vaccines and over the counter medications of leading to the rise in autism. Such as the pain killer acetaminophen.
Trump singled out the brand Tylenol because he can't pronounce "acetaminophen".
(To be fair, neither can I.)
RFK Jr has no credible scientific basis for this. But by God, he promised Li'l Donnie he was going to deliver a report on the cause of autism by September.
Then the worm in RFK Jr's brain reminded him there was only a week left to go in September. "Oh shit! I better get on that!"
So RFK Jr spun through his Rolodex of conspiracy theories to foist one on Trump as the cause of autism.
- Lemon meringue
- Aluminum foil
- Flintstone's vitamins
- Pepperoni
- Cheddar cheese
- Aglets (the little things on the end of shoe laces)
- Bush's Baked beans
- Jell-O Pudding Cups
- Grape soda
- Doritos Locos Tacos
- Mountain Dew Baha Blast
- Pokemon
- 4 Out Of 5 Dentists
- Major League Baseball
- Ostriches
- Tylenol
A-HA! Tylenol! That'll make Der Führer happy!
So Trump held his little press conference and urged pregnant women to "tough it out" and don't take aceta.... aceta.... TYLENOL! Don't take Tylenol.
Ok, everybody! Time to go to work!
(Yes, Wikipedia has a very large page dedicated to Trump's lies. How cool is that?)
Medical experts immediately pushed back Trump's declaration, on claims that acetaminophen causes autism are misleading and not at all backed by science.
The Food and Drug Administration also later clarified that "while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature."
What Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr's brain worm fails to understand is that there is not an increase in incidents of autism but just a stronger awareness of it and improved diagnosis and understanding of autism. Autism has ALWAYS been there. We couldn't see it or didn't understand it when we did.
There is also widening definition of an autism diagnosis, from the more famous examples in media (such as Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man) involving more extreme limitations of communication and social interaction to those of us who can suck it up for a few minutes at a time and try to blend in with the so called normies.
Trump is creating a crisis where one does not exist, creating another category of "them" to ostracize and marginalize.
Autism may be a problem but there are already solutions involving therapy, medication and the simple act of awareness and human kindness.
Human kindness? Well, that leaves Donald Trump out.
And why he's resorting to pushing the Tylenol Terror.
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