Autism parents are highly vulnerable to pitches for quack "cures."
In The Politics of Autism, I write:
The conventional wisdom is that any kind of treatment is likely to be less effective as the child gets older, so parents of autistic children usually believe that they are working against the clock. They will not be satisfied with the ambiguities surrounding ABA, nor will they want to wait for some future research finding that might slightly increase its effectiveness. They want results now. Because there are no scientifically-validated drugs for the core symptoms of autism, they look outside the boundaries of mainstream medicine and FDA approval. Studies have found that anywhere from 28 to 54 percent of autistic children receive “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), and these numbers probably understate CAM usage.
The quacks have branched out from autism to COVID.
CORRECTED: As I've said before, the autism panics of the 1990s and 2000s set the precedent for modern-day snake oil about Covid. First with vaccines and now with junk science cures. The autism panics were to Covid what the Hobbit was to Lord of The Rings (with more Orcs). https://t.co/qiDZkwgOYU
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) November 25, 2022
