Autism has, in the past, been unfairly treated in the press. The whole idea that MMR is to blame for autism, which is bogus, was created by some of the more scaremongering parts of the press. On the other end of the scale, you have certain individuals/organisations who believe that autism can be ‘cured’, which is impossible at this moment in time. It felt like an insult to those, like me, who are diagnosed with the condition. However, there are some autism-related stories that are reported so well that you can’t help but feel think that we’ve reached the beginning of the end of the scandalous levels news reports of the past.
The story that featured on page 4 of yesterday’s Guardian (taking up a whole page) was news of possibly revelatory breakthroughs in autism research. The Guardian’s report is pretty much grounded in the facts of the findings by the Autism Genome Project. They also give readers a very fair and accurate idea of what autism is in their Q&A sidebox and there is also a terrific case study of a parent who reflects on these findings and, quite rightly in my opinion, thinks that no one should be set on finding a cure for autism, but instead focus on figuring out how to deal with the effects that autism has on families and friends. If only all reporting of the condition was as good as this.
