\n<\/p>\n
This week the Trump administration linked paracetamol use in pregnancy to autism (Trump attacks Tylenol as officials unveil highly contentious conclusions on autism, 22 September). We support the position of leading autism organisations \u2013 Ambitious about Autism, Autism Alliance, Autistica and the National Autistic Society \u2013 which have rightly\u00a0highlighted that the evidence\u00a0for such a link is extremely\u00a0weak, based on poorly conducted studies, and contradicted by high-quality research.<\/p>\n
But beyond the question of evidence, we are deeply concerned by the language used. When powerful figures describe autism as a tragedy or something to fear, it reinforces damaging stereotypes. It risks making autistic people feel that their existence is a problem, rather than recognising them as valued members of our communities who bring talent, perspective and diversity.<\/p>\n
As a charity that supports disabled people with complex needs, including many autistic people, Sense believes it is vital that leaders, organisations and the media speak responsibly. Words matter. They shape attitudes, influence policy and can either open doors to inclusion or build barriers of stigma and exclusion.<\/p>\n
Autistic people and their families deserve respect and acceptance \u2013 not blame or shame. We call on those in positions of influence to choose their words carefully. Autism is not \u201ca condition denoting communication and social difficulties, along with repetitive behaviours\u201d, as your article says \u2013 it is a condition that covers an incredibly wide spectrum, which includes feeling things and reacting differently to them compared with non-autistic people.<\/p>\n Autistic people may <\/em>find socialising tiring, they may <\/em>become overwhelmed in loud or busy places, they may<\/em> have intense interests, they may <\/em>prefer order and\u00a0routine. And they may not.<\/p>\n I have an autistic child and she is sociable, bright, academically able and empathetic \u2013 she doesn\u2019t have communication or social difficulties and no sign of repetitive behaviours.<\/p>\n Pigeonholing autistic people is deeply damaging, reducing complex human beings with unique talents and diverse perspectives to narrow stereotypes\u00a0that distort how they are perceived and understood. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week the Trump administration linked paracetamol use in pregnancy to autism (Trump attacks Tylenol as officials unveil highly contentious conclusions on autism, 22 September). We support the position of leading autism organisations \u2013 Ambitious about Autism, Autism Alliance, Autistica and the National Autistic Society \u2013 which have rightly\u00a0highlighted that the evidence\u00a0for such a link<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[5814,14505,2820,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-23814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-autism","9":"tag-careless","10":"tag-damaging","11":"tag-talk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
James Watson-O\u2019Neill<\/strong>
Chief executive, Sense<\/em><\/p>\n
Name and address supplied<\/strong><\/p>\n