I understand your struggle a lot more than you may think.
As a parent of a high functioning autistic child who has started college, what RFK has to say about autism is profoundly important. Too many children and families have been wrecked by it. Mine is one of the fortunate 30% who can still get on with life.
As an educator, I get to meet the MANY families of low functioning kids who have little hope.
And don't tell me that studies show no connection to vaccines. This is a lie. The safety data is obscured and very under-evaluated and almost none of the vaccine ingredients have even been studied.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/rfk-autism-controversy-manufactured-outrage-plain-and-simple
Discussion
how so?
Half of your first sentence.
Got it. It's a tough road for most. Not terrible for us. We have to be able to have real conversations about this without the offense lobby losing its collective mind in exchange for hits on social media.
My son sent me one clip of some high functioning woman acting outraged that she was being marginalized. I had to explain to him how he is in the minority of people with autism and a conversation about how to help the rest is totally valid. He of course didn't realize that 50-70% of people on the spectrum are at the low end.
Does he also have the gift of being highly intelligent in a particular category? That's the mind blowing, "WTF, how in the hell did they do that?" moments.
It can be quick and brief but gives you that glimpse of hope that they will be independent enough to one day live on their own. As a father this is what you want for your child.
Some understand.
He has perfect pitch and a deep knowledge of music (plays it and listens to it).
I was listening to some Billy Idol music last night when I came across his obscure 1990 Cyberpunk album. It was the kind of thing my son might like, so I texted him the link. From the other room he texted back that it was already in his music library and was underrated. He then asked me what the background of it was, so I explained it.
Among other things, Idol has read Neuromancer and Snow Crash while recovering from a broken leg then thought a lot about a cybertech future.
My son got excited because he just checked out Snow Crash from the library and is waiting for Neuromancer. What that shows me is that he makes connections on areas of interest and puts the pieces together himself.