Making autism into a partisan issue can only be harmful

You would be forgiven for thinking that the big story in autism last year was a claimed link between taking paracetamol (also called acetaminophen) in pregnancy and a child’s chance of being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. When the administration of Donald Trump floated this poorly evidenced connection, the media response was immediate and prolific, from both supporters and detractors. The same thing happened after the US president repeated long-disproven claims that certain vaccines increase a child’s likelihood of receiving an autism diagnosis.

Trump’s spreading of misinformation is both problematic and expected at this point. The sting here, though, is that in making autism a political issue, the administration is distracting from the serious work being done to advance support for autistic people.

It is true that autism diagnoses are rising, steeply and globally, with many experts pointing to an expanding diagnostic criteria and easier access to testing as the cause. Other complexities exist, like the tension between autism advocates who push for the condition to be viewed through the frame of neurodiversity – that it is a difference, one which autistic people may not wish to rid themselves of, given the choice – and those who argue that autism, particularly more acute cases in which someone may require round-the-clock care, should be treated firmly as a disability.

It is here that new research, such as that indicating that subtypes of autism may exist (see page 28), could prove useful. Such advancements represent potentially fresh ways of understanding autism and could see targeted support directed towards those who need it. Focusing our collective energy on research that could help autistic people move forward is doubtless a more effective use of time than getting lost in political noise over commonly used painkillers. Autism has no place being a partisan issue, despite Trump’s best efforts. Attempts to make it so must be dismissed.