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Speaker 1: I didn't really want to touch on this yesterday. I

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Speaker 1: really hope the story about President Trump coming out and

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Speaker 1: declaring that pregnant mothers taking paracetamol was the cause of

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Speaker 1: autism would just die quick death in the news, but

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Speaker 1: it made an impact. As you may have seen, comments

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Speaker 1: like Trump's are hugely frustrating and unhelpful. They cause concern

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Speaker 1: among expectant mothers about the use of paracetamol, and, as

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Speaker 1: stated by the New Zealand College of Midwives yesterday, high

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Speaker 1: quality scientific evidence does not demonstrate a causal link or

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Speaker 1: association between paracetamol use and autism or other development concerns.

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Speaker 1: Large high quality studies, including population data from Sweden involving

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Speaker 1: over two million children, found no increased risk of autism,

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Speaker 1: ADHD or intellectual disability from paracetamol use during pregnancy. You

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Speaker 1: could also ask mothers of autistic children, the ones I

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Speaker 1: know are scratching their heads because they didn't use paracetamol

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Speaker 1: when pregnant. Please, if you're a pregnant mum out there,

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Speaker 1: follow their vaus of your doctor, not a politician. Reputable

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Speaker 1: clinicians and researchers have been working for decas caids to

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Speaker 1: understand this complex neurodevelopmental syndrome, and the widely held view

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Speaker 1: of researches is that there is no single cause. Rather,

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Speaker 1: it is thought to be the result of a complex

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Speaker 1: mix of mostly genetic and to a lesser extent, environmental factors.

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Speaker 1: When you have autism in the family, you don't think

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Speaker 1: about cure or cause. You're focus on helping that person

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Speaker 1: live their best life, and they can live a great life.

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Speaker 1: The rise in reported autism cases is not a horrible

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Speaker 1: crisis as Trump has described it. There is a simple

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Speaker 1: reason why the number of cases has increased, and it's

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Speaker 1: not because of vaccines, but rather the result of changes

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Speaker 1: in the way autism is defined and assessed. In the

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, autism was tightly defined and considered extremely rare.

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Speaker 1: Then Asperger's syndrome, which is much milder in severity than

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Speaker 1: classic autism and much more common, was added as a diagnosis,

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Speaker 1: and then in twenty thirteen, Asperger syndrome was eliminated as

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Speaker 1: a standalone diagnosis and folded into the newly introduced concept

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Speaker 1: of autism spectrum disorder. Hence an increase in diagnosises under

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Speaker 1: that one umbrella. That and more general awareness of ASD

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Speaker 1: has led to more people getting themselves or their children assessed.

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Speaker 1: And yes, the difficulty of diagnosing autism can lead to

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Speaker 1: misdiagnosis as well, but implying autism is something to fear,

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Speaker 1: something that needs to be raised, is offensive. Yes, there

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Speaker 1: are high support need cases which are hugely challenging for families,

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Speaker 1: and yes, living with the disability in a world that

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Speaker 1: isn't designed for you is difficult. But with support, autistic

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Speaker 1: people live productive, interesting and rich lives, and quite frankly,

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Speaker 1: the world would be much less without them. For more

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Speaker 1: from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news

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Speaker 1: Talks that Be from five am weekdays, or follow the

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Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio