In Apr 2025, NAS chose to uphold a complaint made against me (at the time, I was the chair of the volunteer-led branch in Highland, Scotland) for saying autism is genetic and not the result of vaccine injury. Needless to say, I am less than impressed with today’s 180.
Genetics is part of the story, but it's not carrying the argument on its own. My cross-national research across 55 countries found that prevalence tracks something closer to detection culture. How individualistic a country is, and whether it runs mandatory autism screening, predicts diagnosis rates almost as strongly as anything biological we've measured. Mandatory-screening countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan break the pattern entirely, which is exactly what you'd expect if policy and culture are doing real work here. If prevalence were purely genetic, national culture shouldn't move the needle at all. It does, a lot. So before we call it settled, let's ask who's actually being counted, and who isn't.
In Apr 2025, NAS chose to uphold a complaint made against me (at the time, I was the chair of the volunteer-led branch in Highland, Scotland) for saying autism is genetic and not the result of vaccine injury. Needless to say, I am less than impressed with today’s 180.
Really great article and even greater news. But of course we already knew this.
Still, this is a landmark and will hopefully lead to policy changes and better programs and accommodations.
Genetics is part of the story, but it's not carrying the argument on its own. My cross-national research across 55 countries found that prevalence tracks something closer to detection culture. How individualistic a country is, and whether it runs mandatory autism screening, predicts diagnosis rates almost as strongly as anything biological we've measured. Mandatory-screening countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan break the pattern entirely, which is exactly what you'd expect if policy and culture are doing real work here. If prevalence were purely genetic, national culture shouldn't move the needle at all. It does, a lot. So before we call it settled, let's ask who's actually being counted, and who isn't.
Great news!