Autism Argumentative Essay

Autism. To some people it can be just a word, or a disorder. What Autism means to me, is being able to be closer to my little brother. My 7 year old brother has Autism and that doesn’t define him as a human being, his capabilities defines who he is. He is the reason why I am where I am today, a paraeducator that thrives to help kids in need. Being a paraeducator, our job is to help our students become more independent to prepare them for the real world after school. In order to get a student to be an independent person, is to use strategies. A few strategies I would use is how to properly use fidgets, what the social norm is and ways to improve, and the four questions for a structured task.

Let’s say you have a box of crayons. It represents ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), now inside the box you have different colors of crayons. Each color/crayon is a different disorder. The color we want to talk about today is teal, the official color for autism. Stuart Duncan once said, “Autism, like a rainbow, has a bright side and a dark side and even though it can mean rough waters it can be beautiful.” Autism isn’t a label, it’s a diagnoses. People with autism can be just as successful as neurotypical people. People with autism have been the subject of stereotypes and neglect for decades. Only in the last 150 years or so have things started to change. We don’t know what causes autism, but thanks to increased research and awareness we’re making more progress than ever. People with autism face many challenges everyday, autism is a spectrum. It’s not the same for everyone. Due to it being a spectrum it can be hard for people without autism to understand the challenges autistic people face, and how to go about interacting with autistic people. There are lots of autistic people worldwide, it’s time we start making them feel more like people.

Thimerosal is a mercury containing organ mercurial that is found in many vaccines. In 1999, concerns from parents and health administrations were raised on the theory that vaccinating children under the age of two would cause autism. By 2001, thimerosal was taken out of all childhood vaccines in the United States, with the exception of various flu vaccines, in regard to these concerns and merely as a safety precaution. However, there has proven to be no link between autism and vaccines containing thimerosal through various scientific studies by officials.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Safety Datalink, “Preliminary results from the VSD Thimerosal Screening Study published in 2003 did not find an association between thimerosal exposure and autism risk and recent ecological studies has not found a correlation between thimerosal content of vaccines and autism rates”. Numerous studies by many scientists have been done and prove that Thimerosal and autism are not related. Examples: Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Multiple studies have shown that thimerosal in vaccines does not cause autism”.

Research has been done, but there still is no definitive answer to whether or not vaccines are directly involved with the onset of autism. An ingredient within children’s vaccines is a mercurial substance called thimerosal has been blamed for being the actual cause of autism in children receiving vaccines (Madsen and Kreesten 1.) The National Academy of Sciences stated “methylmercury (thimerosal) exposure alone may cause neurological problems in 60,000 children in the United States annually” (Rimland, Bernard, and McGinnis 4.)

Also being linked to Autism and most vaccinations is Thimerosal. Thimerosal is the preservative in vaccinations used to keep them free of fungi and bacteria, also known as mercury. In 2001 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released results from a study that found levels of mercury in immunizations were 2 times what the Environmental Protection Agency deemed safe. (Park, 2008) Another study found the likeliness of neurodevelopment disorder increased 4 fold, on average, following an additional 75-100 microgram dosage in thimerosal-containing vaccinations in comparison to thimerosal-free vaccinations. (Geier & Geier, 2003) Following studies such as these the FDA took into consideration all of the concern and “theoretical potential for neurotoxicity” and decided to reduce the amount of thimerosal in vaccinations. In most cases the preservative has been removed completely. (FDA / Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, 2009)

When I am reading, I can see that thimerosal is a preservative in some vaccines mentioned as a definition to the thimerosol beside the word itself.

Growing up, vaccinations were a normal part of childhood along with a loose tooth and a scraped knee. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that vaccinations will prevent more than 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among children born in the last 20 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). However, in recent years, vaccinations have become a controversial issue among parents, with many choosing not to vaccinate their children. This dangerous trend has emerged largely due to a discredited link between vaccines and Autism, and caused a resurgence of several life-threatening diseases which had been all but eradicated. With the safety of all people in mind, as well as easing the financial strain on our health care system from treating preventable diseases, vaccines for children should be mandatory.

Some base their allegations that it leads to autism on certain ingredients in the vaccines. An article published from the CDC states that, “Since 2003, there have been nine CDC-funded or conducted studies that have found no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD, as well as no link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and ASD in children.” Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used to prevent contamination of multi-dose vials of vaccines. While this isn’t the only vaccine ingredient people have had concerns about, no vaccine ingredients have been found to cause

Vaccinations have been around for years and recently they have been a big topic of conversation. The big decision that parents are dealing with now is, is it healthy and should they vaccinate their young children or not. Some diseases have become so common over the years that choosing not to get vaccinated is a risk to natural infection, which is a form of immunity against the diseases (Merino-2). It is not believed that any of the vaccines offered are absolutely harmless to your immune system, however, vaccinations are recommended to protect people from diseases and to help prevent having outbreaks within the society.

Throughout the century, diseases have claimed many lives. Trying to fight those diseases, medical professionals have tried to find methods to prevent the circulation of those diseases. One of the methods they used to fight those diseases are vaccines. Vaccine is defined by dictionary.com (n.d.) as “any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production.” With the help of vaccination, many diseases have been eradicated and the threat of diseases have been severely reduced. However, it is precisely due to this shortage of disease that some people currently

Vaccines have played a critical role in modern medicine since 1796. They have been used to treat and prevent illnesses and causing great harm or even death. Diseases that were common a generation ago are rare now and some are completely eradicated. Common vaccines are for the seasonal flu, hepatitis, MMR, and DTF. Today many people get vaccinated regularly, but there are few people that firmly believe that vaccines are not necessary and lead to autism and they choose to not vaccinate themselves and their loved ones. This can be very detrimental to not only themselves and their children but to everyone in their community around them who can be easily exposed to these viruses.

Diseases have been around since the beginning of time. In response of disease, vaccinations were developed. Since the 1800’s, vaccines have been protecting adults and children from fatal diseases by building up immunity within the human body against such communicable diseases like smallpox, measles, and tuberculosis. Throughout history, vaccines have been widely accepted as mandatory for life events such as travel and school. While most of the world population welcomed vaccines enthusiastically, there are groups of people that believe the vaccines are more harmful than helpful.

Since the 1700’s vaccinations have been an advancement in the health care. Vaccination introduces antigens into the body so that they can stimulate against a specific pathogen in the body. Typically, the body is exposed to dead cells of the disease and has to teach the immune system to fight them off. Vaccines are one of the greatest advances in health and have diminished certain diseases and the number of deaths afflicted with those diseases. Although vaccination has been a great advancement throughout the years, it has also become controversial. Many individuals believe vaccination is immoral. However, infants and those with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of getting diseases, which is why it is essential for them to get vaccinated. Without vaccines millions of people worldwide would be suffering from severe illnesses and would not be able to overcome them, thus would result in an increase in the number of deaths. Although some individuals are lead to believe that vaccines are not essential in preventing the spread of diseases, this belief might be inaccurate because the consequences and risks are too high to ignore.

To the world vaccinations are a wonderful thing, but are they really, great for us? Vaccinations have changed from when they first came about in the 1760’s, to now in the 21st century. Vaccinations are the administration of antigenic material to stimulate an individual’s immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate, which is to improve, morbidity from infection. Vaccinations are the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases. But, do we ever stop and ask ourselves, what do vaccines really do for us? Do they protect us? What is in a vaccination? What are the side-effects? Can it cause life threatening diseases or issues for us? It has been known that vaccinations have massive side effects caused by the ingredients, have a connection with autism, and a connection with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS.