Kids with autism and their parents need support and solidarity, not misinformation
As both a parent of a child with autism and a professional who works in the field of autism support and advocacy, I know how unsettling it is when misinformation is used in ways that touch the lives of our children (“Trump links Tylenol to autism,” Page A1, Sept. 23). Parents of children with autism already carry more than enough on their shoulders. They deserve solidarity, not scapegoating.
When leaders make sweeping claims, without solid evidence, about what supposedly causes autism, as the president did during Monday’s fear-driven White House press conference, it doesn’t help families. The latest attempt to link acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism is one more example of fear taking the place of facts.
The truth is, science has not proved such a link. Several extensive studies, following millions of births, have shown no causal connection at all. Autism is not something that can be explained away by a single pill or a single decision during pregnancy. It is far more complex, shaped by genetics, biology, and the environment in ways that researchers are still trying to understand. Suggesting otherwise reduces that complexity to a sound bite and unfairly points a finger at mothers.
Parents deserve better than that. They deserve clear information, access to therapies and supports, and leaders who see the dignity and strengths of their children. Families raising children with autism need communities that stand beside them, not headlines that deepen guilt or spread confusion.
Advertisement
So to every parent with an autistic child who may have heard these claims and felt a knot of worry: You did not cause your child’s autism by reaching for medicine to lower a fever or ease pain.
Advertisement
Let’s keep our energy on what matters most: creating a world where individuals with autism, and their families, are met with respect, resources, and a chance to thrive.
Lia Spiliotes
President and CEO
Crossroads Continuum
Hudson
Trump administration’s bad science is harmful
Bad science does no one any favors. As the mother of a 32-year-old man with profound autism, I can recall the parade of fake causes and miracle cures that have been reported since his diagnosis at age 2½: secretin (an intestinal hormone), highly restrictive diets, an invasive process for removing metals from the blood stream, the withholding of vaccines that prevent against serious illness.
Bad science not only exposes our already vulnerable children to interventions that are, at best, merely unpleasant and, at worst, dangerous to their health; it also unnecessarily increases the stress and unproductive, unwarranted feelings of guilt among already-stressed parents, who are devoted to providing the best possible care for their loved one.
In the meantime, the current administration has defunded scientifically sound research into the causes of autism and ways to improve the lives of people with this condition. Instead of accelerating progress, the rush to judgment using bad science will only delay it.
Helen Golding
Belmont
Get me rewrite!
May I suggest an alternative to the main headline and drophead for Tuesday’s front-page story? Instead of “Trump links Tylenol to autism: Citing unproven claim, advises pregnant women to ‘fight like hell’ to avoid painkiller,” I might instead have written the following (forgive the length): “President Trump, with virtually no scientific or medical evidence, and a stumbling inability even to pronounce ‘acetaminophen,’ cautions pregnant women about the potential harms that Tylenol might produce: Many still remember his suggestions during COVID-19 that cures can be effected by employing bogus, dangerous remedies like injecting bleach.”
Advertisement
David Hoyler
Lee, N.H.