A Short History of Autism 57have compromised immune systems. However, it should be noted that thi-
merosal poses serious risks to the young vaccinees, especially if they are
younger than 18 months of age. We have addressed this issue in detail in
Chapter 9.
One of the more controversial characters in the autism story is Bruno
Bettelheim [16]. The University of Chicago’s Sonia Shankman Orthogenic
School was his creation, and he used it as a platform from which to argue his
perspectives about how to treat children with disorders. He became popular
and spread theories that were not only inaccurate but very hurtful to parents
who were already hurting. It was he who blamed parents, particularly mothers,
for toxic parenting, that is, for excessive coldness that drove children to autism.
Bettelheim’s unfounded and guilt‐producing focus on parental culpability was
abetted by the post World War II emphasis on the theories of Sigmund Freud.
The climate for heaping guilt on mothers was also conditioned by controversy
over whether mothers, especially now that the war was over, should primarily
spend their time at home or continue in the workplace. During World War II,
mothers at work outside the home were viewed as an emergency necessity and
now that the war was over, there was more choice in the matter and substantial
debate ensued.
Bettelheim stated that institutions would need to provide the cures to com-
pensate for these “refrigerator mothers.” He and others had found a convenient
scapegoat and proclaimed a potential cure for autism that conveniently blamed
parents, and especially mothers, for autistic conditions that afflicted their chil-
dren. This unscientific approach was appealing because if the problem was as
simple as bad parenting, then it could be reversed by teaching good parenting.
One was a function of the other and improving one variable (parenting) would
improve the other (autism). This emphasis on nurturing children to prevent a
supposedly genetic problem was, of course, scientifically irresponsible and
practically unrealistic. Still, humans have been found in many situations to
tend to prize scapegoats over serious solutions when faced with seemingly
intractable problems. Unscientific positions that parade as truth are unfortu-
nate, dangerous, and harmful. Note that the genetic nature of autism is, itself,
subject to considerable controversy currrently. A major thrust of our work is to
persuade readers and researchers that while autism has a genetic base, it is not
a hereditary base in the sense that it is passed down from generation to genera-
tion like sickle cell anemia or Huntingdon’s disease. Rather, we maintain,
genetic alteration through rapid mutation due to environmental assaults on the
fetus and developing child are what cause genetic alterations and autistic con-
ditions [2–15].
The same unfortunate patterns of misperceptions regarding health con-
ditions and relying on scapegoats has been seen in other areas, including
HIV. Because initially HIV was so commonly found in gay men, and because
there was considerable social prejudice against the behavior of these men,