Autism, disability and early death-Is your doctor trying to kill you?

Trigger warning: Contains references to drug use and suicide.

Reference link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/early-death-asds-silent-scandal-prof-ian-hale-phd-dr-ian-c-e-hale

I’m a professor of neurodiversity and a person with severe Asperger's and Autism, coupled with an IQ of 180+, an author, public figure and speaker. I have a voice. This article is dedicated to those who do not, whether Autistic, Neurodiverse or disabled in some other way. ?To each brother, sister, carer, teacher, Doctor, parent or employer who is touched by neurodiversity.

It is an absolute scandal that people with ASDs are generally DEAD-YES DEAD by the age of 40. The reference below proves that and outlines some of the reasons for this genocide. A fact which has been going on for decades, across almost all nations, with no one yet held accountable or responsibility taken.

Before I tell a story of my own-one of many- I want to add further to the list of causes of early death.

People with ASDs find it hard to get and then to hold down jobs. As a result, we often experience both poverty and homelessness. Many of us we are unable to apply for help because of Learning difficulties, dyslexia, lack of a mobile phone/laptop/internet access. We are often called "lazy" or "work-shy". When homeless try applying for a job when you haven't eaten, showered or slept properly in 3 weeks- with filthy clothes and hair. Often, we don’t get medical care-infections don’t get treated, we don’t get tooth care, eye care, vaccinations-and die. Often if we do Doctors ignore us or just say "anxiety/depression" and give out pills. Well, yes- sleeping in derelict buildings with untreated toothache or skin disease, waiting for the police flashlight-or worse is VERY depressing and anxiety-inducing. Pills don't cure poverty or trauma. That’s why people with ASDs self-medicate with alcohol and street drugs-just for a few hours escape from the pain of isolation and being shunned and persecuted by society, then being criminalized on top of that. Often ending in institutions of one sort or another, we are 4 times more likely to die of communicable disease-being packed up and forgotten. The figure for Covid deaths is even higher as a result! Given all those factors, is the suicide rate really a surprise-or caused?

I had a happy home-great parents, nice house, successful at school, both academically and in sport and a beloved doggie called Raggy with whom there were many fun adventures over 20 years...and between the age of 13 and 15 I used heroin periodically-it wasn't hard to get if you knew a registered addict. I did it to not be Ian for a while-to take a time-out. To sleep, to feel warm and comforted, to not care about being an outsider, being "different”, being misunderstood, unable to communicate my feelings and a 100 more reasons. Fortunately, I realized in time, after it became hard to get (the law changed) that it had become a lifestyle choice-one I chose not to do, so I quit. Not nice, but necessary-and no one ever knew-I was that good at covering up/masking.

Advice for ASD health:

All of us with ASDs should wear a Medic Alert tag, we should, where possible be taught to swim. Death by drowning is the biggest single cause of death among ASD 4–8-year-olds. These children tend to wander, mostly out of curiosity of the wider world, they are natural explorers. People who wander, whether because of ASDs or in later life through dementia should wear a GPS chip ring or necklace.

All with ASDs should be regularly screened for heart health, gut problems, like Coeliac Disease, allergies, intolerances, cancer and epilepsy-these are all decades-old known co-morbidities of being neurodiverse and it's appalling that so few doctors seem to know or care enough to do it. Or perhaps they do... a few seem to have a more sinister agenda in mind.

Then there is the second biggest killer after epileptic-seizures, suicide. The taboo Elephant in the closet. It's known, but never spoken of. Well, it's out now.

I have had so many friends, acquaintances and colleagues kill themselves. Not from pain or poverty-although some- but from frustration, loneliness, anger, and countless rejections of all sorts, from emotional to economic, to social, to artistic. They died because they asked and weren't listened to, they went un-noticed. We are 3 times more likely to suicide than non-ASD people. Females are 6 times more likely to kill themselves because they are so frequently undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as "hormonal" or: hysterical" or "over-sensitive". Girls present Autism differently from boys, as I point out in my book "Asperger's, Autism &You" IFERS, 2021. Beverley Hills, Ca on Amazon. Again, incompetent or uncaring Doctors and psychologists, untrained teachers and social workers miss vital, but obvious clues they should not-again, we are overlooked. After a few years of being treated as if you mean nothing, you feel you are nothing- nothing the world wants.

And now-about a minority of Doctors: I have had a sleep problem since birth. As with many on the Spectrum I have an unusual, non-industrial sleep pattern, -discussed in my previous article ?on the human survival value of neurodiversity. I’m nocturnal and to get by in the 9-5pm world I have been prescribed sleep medication, for that and to prevent withdrawal seizures for over 50 years now. On one occasion a pack of pills was damaged. I asked a doctor to replace them.?He said I was lying, that I either lied about them being damaged, because I took too many or because I was street-dealing (he kept changing his mind on that). The Dr claimed he knew me and that I was a dealer-until reminded I had never even been to the surgery, let alone seen him. No apology-but a change of attack.

The Dr then demanded (illegally) to see evidence-then demanded the evidence be given to the police and he be given a CRIME number before replacing this vital medication- the surgery made the same demand. I explained how long and why I had been taking that medication and that suddenly stopping could easily provoke a fatal seizure. The response was " People like you shouldn't have been allowed to live, I hope you do die" and a few other phrases along the same lines regarding neurodiverse people. Fortunately, I had a very good, legally experienced and chill friend who sorted things very quickly.

The police gave a LOST REPORT number-and added that the Dr and practice had behaved illegally in asking for a crime report, when there was no evidence of crime. But they could take no action as it was the surgery’s word against mine. Even so I had mini-seizures after 24 hours and was still very shaky even 3 days later and back on the right meds....

Now what if I'd been 20, homeless, no friends, no books written, no name, -what would have been the outcome? Another grieving family? Another forgotten statistic? Truth is, that's not the first medic who has expressed those Nazi eugenics views. I have heard plenty of disabled people, both physically and mentally hearing the same thing about themselves, or about their child-mainly if the child is Down’s Syndrome. Our appalling early death figure is NOT "one of those things" it is not "bad luck". It is not Autism which kills us so young. It's a system which rejects us and a society which doesn't care so no one is ever held to account for our deaths, most of which are 100% preventable-and that’s CRIMINAL to my mind.

Please share-to create a wave of protest to get justice. “None of us is safe, until all of us are safe” ?Dr Ian Hale.

?References: Pls Link to extended article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/early-death-asds-silent-scandal-prof-ian-hale-phd-dr-ian-c-e-hale