My son has ASD. And although he is high functioning, he struggles everyday with emotional and sensory issues. Did he get this condition from a vaccine? I really DGAF. I would rather have him alive and autistic then dead from a disease that took several other people out in it's wake. That being said..I seriously don't believe vaccines are the cause more than I believe that it's genetic. And the reason I believe this is because dozens of studies have not only identified the genes, but Canadian medical groups are now using those genes to identify autism in children as early as 6 weeks old. Anti-vaxxers need to pull there heads out of their collective a$$e$ and stop listening to celebrities that have no medical training of any kind...

My son is on the spectrum, and if given the opportunity to do everything all over again, I'd choose to vaccinate him again. He's a perfect child who brings joy to everyone who meets him. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism.

I must have missed that comment, so thanks for repeating yourself. In other news, Antivaxxer kids are getting themselves vaccinated, I saw that in the news this week. (NPR, i think. maybe it was the NYT website).

Thank you to everyone for your lovely responses, I really appreciate it. Vaccines absolutely do not cause autism and the fact this is still ongoing blows my mind. I also wonder if the anti vaccination people would have the same mentality if they lived in a country where death from these archaic diseases are still a reality. Would they still think the same, or would they walk for miles and miles and stand in line for hours and hours, to give their child the simple human right of being alive?

Thank you for making me more aware of how hurtful this is for someone who is on the spectrum. I hadn't really thought of that but you're right they are essentially saying the child is better off dead than autistic but what does that say about their opinion of people with autism? To answer your question I don't think they would lose sleep over someone else's completely preventable death. I mean they aren't even capable of thinking about their children.

Thank you Amina for saying it. Please, repeat yourself as often as necessary! Along with the harm, we need to know just how hurtful this attitude is to people on the spectrum.

You are missing the point. It's not "I'd rather be autistic than not vaccinated" ... there simply is NO CORRELATION between vaccinations and autism. Some people react to vaccines, but they do not get autism. So while you think you are supporting vaxxers you're actually supporting that non-existent link.