Did autistic people exist before vaccines?

Some anti-vaccine activists often say they did not know any autistic people when they were growing up. Then they claim that more children are autistic today because children get more vaccines now.

It’s true that 40 years ago, you didn’t see kids with autism in the schools. That’s not because there were no kids with autism. But because most were hidden away.

At that time, autism was not understood the way it is today. Doctors usually only diagnosed children who needed the most help. Many children with autism were missed.

Also, before a law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, many children with disabilities were not included in public schools. Only about 1 out of 5 children with disabilities went to public school. Many others were taught in separate places, kept at home, or sent to institutions.

So when people say they did not see children with autism in school years ago, that is often because those children were left out, not because they were not there.

Importantly, vaccines do not cause autism. Studies show that autism is mostly caused by genetics and starts very early, even before a baby is born. The brain differences seen in people with autism begin during early development in the womb, not because of vaccines or anything that happens later.