Trump and Autism

[hi2u_uk]

Im sorry but this has been annoying me. My opinion is that people with autism should not be treated as diseased people who need to be treated and removed from society as if they are some sort of undesirable parasite we need to prevent infecting society. His words sound sort of like eugenics cleansing to me. People with autism can live perfectly normal lives with support.
Im also happy to keep taking paracetamol

 

[Flying Snail]

2 very different topics mashed up there, Trump, Kennedy and idiot anti-science science is an easy one, their ignorant bullsh/t is not even worth debating, they are just wrong.

On your other topic; it is all very well for those "on the spectrum" to opine widely about how wonderful autism and the autistic are but you are obviously ignoring those with severe autism who cannot relate to the real world in any meaningful way and are unable to function without constant care and support.
As someone who worked with children/young adults with that type of autism I can tell you it is a crippling affliction for those with it and in many ways worse for the parents and loved ones, being faced with a lifetime of caring for a child like this is not something I would wish on anyone.

 

[dangie]

I feel it somewhat puzzling that Trump has singled out paracetamol, but has totally ignored the abundance of pharmaceuticals constantly advertised on US television, many of which have no medical certificate of safety.

 

[Bletchleyite]

High functioning autism (what used to be called Asperger's syndrome) certainly has its advantages. If nothing else it predisposes one to be good at careers in the likes of the IT industry and railway, the sort of well paid roles where "the rules" (in one form or another) are basically everything. It can also cause challenges in life, but along with those come advantages.

Low functioning autism, as @Flying Snail correctly says, is a severe affliction, not just a bit of neurodiversity. One cannot suggest that someone who can't exist independently in society has any kind of advantage - that isn't neurodiversity, that's a significant disability.

 

[brad465]

Kennedy and Trump are the pinnacle of what I'd describe as "reverse Darwinism". Under Darwinism, they'd be nowhere in life (if even still alive), but, instead they've been given elevated status and control in society, and their stances on Autism and vaccines are the prime demonstrations of this.

 

[Trainguy34]

Believe me, if there was a link or any sort of pattern between paracetamol and autism us autistics wouldve found it ages ago

 

[Chrius56000]

. . .It's about time the man was impeached and barred again for running for president ever again – the man's gone long past senility!!

 

[Sorcerer]

On your other topic; it is all very well for those "on the spectrum" to opine widely about how wonderful autism and the autistic are but you are obviously ignoring those with severe autism who cannot relate to the real world in any meaningful way and are unable to function without constant care and support.

I won't lie, I actually find more frustration in people who believe autism is some kind of wonderful superpower that predisposes one to being a super-genius than people who simply don't understand it. It's easy to forget that even those on the high-functioning end are still dealing with a condition that affects their socialisation, and often times they are self-aware enough to know about it which can lead to depression and anxiety. I wouldn't be surprised if a great deal of those who identified as involuntary celibate (non-hateful ones) were on the spectrum.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Believe me, if there was a link or any sort of pattern between paracetamol and autism us autistics wouldve found it ages ago

 

[najaB]

My opinion is that people with autism should not be treated as diseased people who need to be treated and removed from society as if they are some sort of undesirable parasite we need to prevent infecting society. His words sound sort of like eugenics cleansing to me.

To be fair, they aren't (yet!) suggesting that people with autism should be euthanised as that's reserved for the homeless.

People with autism can live perfectly normal lives with support.

Some can, some can't. I think that, regardless of this, if science was able to determine a simple "cause" for autism then it would be irresponsible to ignore it.

 

[Three-Nine]

I think it’s obvious by now Trump doesn’t have the slightest clue regards this subject; several years ago he was under the impression they give vaccines to babies using the same size syringes they use for horses. Kennedy has hitched his wagon to the anti-vax movement also for years now.

 

[dangie]

I think it’s obvious by now Trump doesn’t have the slightest clue regards this subject; several years ago he was under the impression they give vaccines to babies using the same size syringes they use for horses.

At the start of the Covid epidemic didn’t Trump suggest that Covid may be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Im sorry but this has been annoying me. My opinion is that people with autism should not be treated as diseased people who need to be treated and removed from society as if they are some sort of undesirable parasite we need to prevent infecting society. His words sound sort of like eugenics cleansing to me. People with autism can live perfectly normal lives with support.

I missed that Trump rant. My wife's wedded to X; I spend my time on Rail UK Forums.
Your comment I highlighted: it risks being as generalising as some of Trump's rhetoric.
I have a 23 year old stepson with low-ish functioning autism, dyspraxia and motor coordination & learning disabilities. His cognitive development remains at that of a 5-6 years old. He requires considerable day-to-day support by my wife and I.
Come the point we are too old to cope, his realistic option is to go into residential full-time care. The cost we have to fund for that, is eye watering.

 

[styles]

At the start of the Covid epidemic didn’t Trump suggest that Covid may be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body?

Yes.

For a while I was under the impression the CDC had reported a non-trivial number of cases of people following this advice.

I was considering mentioning it recently but wanted a source for the increase in number or percentage of such poisonings.

When I did search for that, I found an academic paper which found this wasn't the case at all. After studying toxicology case reports and hospital data, it appears as though barely anybody was daft enough to follow this advice.

Perhaps slightly comforting that even his most committed supporters aren't naïve enough to follow literally everything he says.

 

[BAFRA77]

Interesting that they're also pushing leucovorin as an alternative treatment - with one of it's biggest companies selling it being a firm called "iHerb".

One of their investors (we don't know if he has divested involvement with them or no) - is a certain Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Trump Administration...

 

[Flying Snail]

Interesting that they're also pushing leucovorin as an alternative treatment - with one of it's biggest companies selling it being a firm called "iHerb".

One of their investors (we don't know if he has divested involvement with them or no) - is a certain Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Trump Administration...

Just another grifter in the White House of lies and profiterring, I doubt there is an American right wing scumbag left in existence who hasn't attached themselves to Trump in order to make bank.

 

[Gourlish]

Trump's administration seems to have been treating certain pseudoscience stuff as factual, and this is quite concerning. As someone who is autistic myself, I feel his administration's attempt to look into folic acid to see if it can help reduce autistic symptoms might be something to trial, though I somewhat doubt there is that much scientific backing.

We do need to remember that during his first term, Trump suggested that injecting bleach into a person's body might be a cure for Covid, and I think his administration also announced plans to look for evidence that extraterritorial beings have visited Earth, which there is no credible evidence to suggest.

 

[jfollows]

It’s fascinating and disturbing how many people believe things politicians say. And in the case of Trump, when he promised the earth in his first term and didn’t deliver, the same people he let down voted for him again.

The one good thing was, despite the BBC reporting that our government was ‘telling us’ not to believe Trump, it was fortunately more nuanced than that. Wes Streeting said that Trump was wrong but that we shouldn’t believe him (Streeting), instead people should examine the facts and the truth available elsewhere.
And the one good thing these days is that the truth is out there if you look for it. Boris Johnson was dreadful on Covid, but at least ignoring him and discovering the truth was possible.

But many people don’t look and want to believe people like Trump and Boris.

 

[JohnMcL7]

It’s fascinating and disturbing how many people believe things politicians say. And in the case of Trump, when he promised the earth in his first term and didn’t deliver, the same people he let down voted for him again.

No Trump did deliver and had one of the best presidential terms ever then Biden got in and destroyed everything so Trump had to return and save America again, any problems during his term was the fault of the radical left. While it can be easily proved that it was pretty much the opposite that happened, plenty people believe the false narrative. What I found surprising was on a DJI drone forum where Trump has pretty much destroyed the hobby by blocking all DJI imports, people seemed to not hold that against Trump and one even commented on the subject that at least Kamala hadn't got in even though they'd be able to continue their hobby as normal if she had.

I feel it somewhat puzzling that Trump has singled out paracetamol, but has totally ignored the abundance of pharmaceuticals constantly advertised on US television, many of which have no medical certificate of safety.

I'm curious about the choice of Tylenol as well and I've not seen any discussion on that. I think the MMR vaccine was mentioned as well and that one has obviously been the big one with anti-vaccine people sine Wakefield made the false claims but I don't recall ever seeing paracetamol mentioned by anti-vaccine people and J&J are obviously a big American company and Tylenol is manufactured in the US. While Trump usually lies about everything there's usually a clear personal benefit or reason for doing so but I can't see that here.

 

[DerekC]

The NHS is obviously sufficiently concerned to send the following update out.

"Paracetamol and pregnancy - reminder that taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe

Patients should be reminded and reassured that there is no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children. Paracetamol is recommended as the first choice pain reliever for pregnant women, used at the lowest dose and for the shortest duration. It also acts as an antipyretic and is therefore used to treat fever. Patients should not stop taking their pain medicines as untreated pain and fever can pose risks to the unborn child."

The following webpage contains this information and considerably more, including a critique (i.e. demolition) of the research cited by the US FDA:
https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-upda...ing-paracetamol-during-pregnancy-remains-safe

 

[DelW]

I'm curious about the choice of Tylenol as well and I've not seen any discussion on that. I think the MMR vaccine was mentioned as well and that one has obviously been the big one with anti-vaccine people sine Wakefield made the false claims but I don't recall ever seeing paracetamol mentioned by anti-vaccine people and J&J are obviously a big American company and Tylenol is manufactured in the US. While Trump usually lies about everything there's usually a clear personal benefit or reason for doing so but I can't see that here.

The share price of the manufacturer dropped sharply, then recovered. Both of those movements would have offered money making opportunities to anyone who knew in advance what Trump would be saying - like (for example) Trump's family and cronies. Trump is taking every opportunity to use the presidency as a money making scheme.

 

[Tetchytyke]

While Trump usually lies about everything there's usually a clear personal benefit or reason for doing so but I can't see that here.

Tylenol isn't made by Johnson and Johnson, it is made by Kenvue, which is now a separate listed company to J&J.

As for what personal benefit, look at Kenvue's share price this month:

Above: picture of a graph showing Kenvue's share price has dropped by 24% in the last calendar month

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Trump's acolytes had a short position on Kenvue.

 

[JohnMcL7]

That's interesting, I knew J&J had spun off their consumer division but hadn't realised Tylenol was part of it. Surprisingly Wikipedia has this wrong since it's still showing Kenvue as being owned by J&J and while wikipedia is not always accurate I'd have thought that page will be getting a lot of attention at the moment.