lack of autism in Amish culture page 2

[runnergal]

I believe a lot of the difference is indeed in diagnosis. People not familiar with autism intimately tend to think of only the most severe cases. But a large % of autistic kids are completely mainstreamed and you would not know. You might just think them shy or odd.

20, even 10 years ago most of the milder cases and many of the moderate to severe would NOT have been diagnosed and I suspect they still would not be in the Amish community. At times, I wonder if my own husband in todays world would have been diagnosed mild Aspergers.

And yes, I grew up in Lancaster, they eat plenty of crap.

[geostump]

Here in Ohio, its more or less the Mennonites you see that eat more crap. For those that don't know, Mennonite is a sect of the Amish that live with some modern conveniences such as vehicles, electricity and even the internet. I'm about 40 miles from "Amish country" in any direction but I have drove out to an area to get meat and some dairy and will continue to do so. Good stuff.

[ProtoAlex]

Of course autistic rates correlate to parents who conceive at a later age. If you're developmentally disabled in some sense (autism) then it's going to take you on average a lot longer to do "normal" human life stuff like marrying and having children. Seeing as how autism has a genetic component to it then it only stand to figure that these developmentally disabled folks who don't have kids until later on in their years end up having a higher rate of autistic kids.

Another fun tidbit: Gluten intolerance can damage the same part of the brain that is found damaged in autistic and schizophrenic patients.

[cillakat]

I've seen a few references to the debate about vaccinations and their relationship to autism around the forum and I saw this article.

http://healthwyze.org/index.php/the-...8214b26b4c%2C0

This is total crap. The Amish absolutely have autistic kids. And terrible health in general....heart disease, diabetes etc. But because they operate mostly outside the boundaries of typical medical and social service systems that are in place, their rates of disease aren't factored in. I have many midwife friends that work in Amish communities. It's not all peaches and cream.

And vaccines don't cause autism. Period. It's been looked and at looked at and looked at. But 10 infants in Cali did die because their parents believed the anti-vaccine rhetoric spewed by Jenny McCarthy and her ilk and didn't vaccinate their children.

]It is interesting to me that they are ONLY looking at the lack of vaccinations in the Amish culture here as the result of low occurrence of autism and not really following up on the fact that there is no processed foods at all, that all their meat and vegetables are organic and that although they eat grain it is not to the portion that most North Americans consume it.

They eat a ton of grain, sugar and salt. A ton. Veggies and meat are not typically organic. Though they have been in trouble multiple times for mislabeling as such. There was always some bruhaha going on with the Amish population in Indiana when I was living in Michigan regarding horrible farming practices being advertised as 'free range' or 'organic'.

[Owly]

I also think we should keep in mind that autism is the name for a general set of symptoms for which there are likely multiple causes (genetic, environmental, and otherwise) and is a constructed category for a group of behaviours. Also, it's not a sentence to failure. Lots of people on the spectrum have jobs, get married, have kids, and all the rest. I have two siblings on the AS spectrum, and they're both great young men who have pretty normal lives. Yes, some people with autism need quite a bit of help relating to the rest of the world, but we're talking about a broad range of conditions and symptoms here.

I would guess that in an Amish community, someone we might call autistic might fall under an entirely different social category.

[cillakat]

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

In 20 years, we'll have good evidence supporting the causal role of vitamin d deficiency in autism.

[Angieh]

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/

In 20 years, we'll have good evidence supporting the causal role of vitamin d deficiency in autism.

Interesting... there are so many things connected to vitamin D deficiency - it's mind blowing. I do supplement but sure wish the sun would come out around here!