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I am an autistic adult who also has ADHD and I would like to say something about the remarks that our president has made about autism and the use of Tylenol by pregnant women.
Whenever my mom was pregnant with me, she did not use Tylenol nor any over the counter medication.
Nor did she smoke or drink alcohol or do any sort of drugs while pregnant with me.
Autism is older than Tylenol.
It is thought that people such as Sir Isaac Newton and Mozart had autism long before Tylenol existed.
I do not hate President Trump. I respect and admire him very much. I think that he really doesn't understand the issue.
The problem with autism and things like ADHD and other mental health struggles is not that we need someone to cure us. We need things like understanding, acceptance and support.
Due to a lack of information on autism, I was not diagnosed with autism until 2022, even though a doctor 30 years earlier who specialized in autism suggested to my parents that I had autism.
I was not diagnosed with ADHD until 2023. Before that, I was misdiagnosed with other mental health problems.
Like many women with autism in the 1990s, I was given the misdiagnosis of having a mixed personality disorder in 1992 rather than autism.
I know for certain that my problem was not a personality disorder because personality disorders are caused by severe abuse and neglect in the first three years of life, and my parents did not abuse or neglect us when we were infants and toddlers.
Whenever I questioned my diagnosis in my 20s, I was shamed and bullied by mental health professionals into saying that a diagnosis I knew was wrong was right.
Whenever I had the courage to say I think that I have autism, I was told that, "well if you survived this long without help for autism, then you don't need it."
Whenever I finally got my autism assessment and was diagnosed with autism and anticipated getting services for my autism, I was told that there are no services other than the mental health services that I am already receiving and that all autism services were for children and not adults.
Autistic children grow up to be autistic adults.
What I have achieved by getting diagnosed is that I have been able to go on YouTube, and I educated myself on ways that others who have autism and ADHD have helped themselves.
I am an autistic person who can achieve things academically, but I struggle every day to be able to do things that others take for granted to take care of myself and survive.
People with autism don't need to be told that Tylenol caused our autism. We need support and understanding.
Karen Mary Mandrick resides in Altoona.